Middle School Teacher Perceptions About Response to Intervention Instruction to Improve Literacy in English-Language Arts Classrooms

The local problem under study was that a non-Title I school implemented a 25-minute response-to-intervention (RTI) remediation block to address the fact that students were scoring below proficiency on literacy assessments; however, teachers were unsure of how to best use this time to improve literacy instruction and were unsure which RTI strategies would work best in the time provided. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher perceptions when implementing RTI strategies within the remediation period to improve student literacy. The conceptual framework for this qualitative study was based on Piaget, Vygotsky, and Dewey’s constructivism theory. The research questions addressed teacher perceptions of reasons for declining literacy rates and the effectiveness of the 25-minute remediation block and RTI interventions to improve student literacy. 10 Interviews were conducted with purposefully sampled participants who taught English-Language Arts at the focus school. Data were analyzed inductively using segment and thematic coding. Results indicated that teachers needed fluidity when implementing the 25-minute remediation period, instruction should be based on student need, and teachers felt they needed a “resource toolbox” to refer to for specific reading deficits. Using the findings of this study, secondary schools could provide school-wide professional development to improve teacher understanding when implementing a new program such as RTI. This study contributes to social change by potentially increasing teacher understanding of implementing RTI, which could, in turn, increase student literacy achievement since it may strengthen the effectiveness of implementing RTI in the secondary classroom