Considering Coherence: Teacher Perceptions of the Competing Agendas of RTI and an Existing Special Education Model

Abstract

In 2005, the Ontario Ministry of Education introduced Responsiveness to Inter-vention (RTI) to the Ontario school system. RTI is a tiered approach involving increasing levels of support for students who are at risk for later learning difficul-ties. However, the introduction of this different support structure was not accompanied by a substantial shift in Ontario’s process of identifying and sup-porting struggling students. This paper uses focus group data to describe the perspectives of teachers who participated in the implementation of RTI and the tensions they experienced due to the lack of coherence between RTI and a special education framework where psycho-educational testing is the gateway to addi-tional support.