Date of Conferral
2021
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Education
Advisor
Chue Vang
Abstract
As students enter middle school, many lack literacy skills, especially English language learners (ELLs). The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine what supports middle school teachers perceived they needed to be effective using response to intervention (RTI) strategies with ELLs. This basic qualitative study was framed by the RTI framework as described in the Individual with Disabilities Education Act and by Hall and Hord’s concerns-based adoption model. Interviews were conducted with eight teachers with a minimum of 3 years of service who used RTI practices in their classrooms in middle schools in school districts from the Northeast to the Midwest of the United States. Data were open coded to determine emergent themes. Findings showed that middle school teachers needed and used effective teaching intervention strategies to support RTI reading instruction and needed support from leaders and peers to increase ELLs’ academic growth in RTI reading, especially the use of comprehensive intervention in the period of COVID-19. The teachers also desired more professional development to address RTI, and shared that administrators needed to be aware of their concerns. Positive social change could occur as administrators and teacher leaders in middle schools apply the findings of this study to provide better teacher support for RTI reading strategies in their middle school classrooms with ELLs.
Recommended Citation
Collins, Judy Bernadette, "Teachers’ Perceptions of Response-to-Intervention Reading Strategies in Middle Schools" (2021). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 11059.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/11059
