A Quantitative Examination of School Leadership and Response to Intervention

There has been growing dissatisfaction with the ability-achievement method for identifying students with specific learning disabilities that had been used ever since the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) of 1975 (Shinn, 2007). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004) mandated that states allow school districts to use Response to Intervention (RTI) as an alternative method. For the past ten years principals across the country have been leading schools in making all the changes necessary for successful implementation of RTI. This study sought to provide educational researchers, policy-makers, and professionals with empirical data on how well schools have implemented RTI as well as which leadership behaviors have been associated with successful implementation. Ratings data were collected from school staff in the states of Georgia, New York, and Ohio who were closely involved in the RTI process. This sample, comprised primarily of school psychologists, rated their schools on RTI implementation using the RTI Essential Components Integrity Rubric (National Center on Response to Intervention, 2010) and their school principals on leadership style using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X (Avolio & Bass, 2009). Descriptive data indicate that while schools have made progress, they have fallen far short of having fully implemented the RTI model. These results indicate that RTI alone may not be a viable method for the identification of students with specific learning disabilities. Multiple regression analysis identified transformational leadership as the predictive factor for RTI implementation, highlighting the importance of effective school leadership for any change initiative.TABLE OF CONTENTS | Chapter I: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 1 | Statement of the Problem 4 | Conceptual Framework 5 | Purpose of the Study 9 | Research Questions 9 | Definition of Terms 11 | Methodology 14 | Data Collection 15 | Variables 16 | Instrumentation 17 | Data Analysis 17 | Significance 18 | Organization of the Study 19 | Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW 20 | Organizational Behavior 21 | Climate and Culture 21 | Organizational Change 23 | Impact of Leadership on Organizations 25 | Leadership 28 | Definitions and Models of Leadership 29 | Evolution of Transformational Leadership 36 | Response to Intervention 40 | Implementation of Response to Intervention 44 | Chapter III: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 52 | Research Design 53 | Participants 54 | Research Questions 56 | Outcome (Predicted) Variable 58 | Predictor Variables 59 | Transformational Leadership Behaviors 59 | Transactional Leadership Behaviors 60 | Passive/Avoidant Behaviors 60 | Instrumentation 61 | Data Analysis 63 | Summary 66 | Chapter IV: RESULTS 68 | Variables 68 | Participants 69 | Assumptions, Model Fit, and Outliers 70 | Research Questions 1 and 2 71 | RTI Implementation 71 | Leadership Style 73 | Research Questions 3 and 4 76 | Other Results 78 | Summary 79 | Chapter V: DISCUSSION 80 | Related Literature 83 | Research Design and Methodology 88 | Participants 88 | Instrumentation 89 | Summary of Findings 92 | Discussion 96 | Limitations 100 | Implications for Future Research 103 | Conclusions 106 | REFERENCES 110 | Appendix A: Consent Statement for Anonymous Survey Research 122 | Appendix B: The RTI Essential Components Integrity Rubric 125 | Appendix C: The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, 5th Edition 137 | Appendix D: Participation Permission Letters 142 | Appendix E: Institutional Review Board Protocol Exemption Report 150 |Gibson, Nicole M.Hilgert, LarryHull, KarlaCampbell, Patti C.Ed.D.Leadershi