Experts Say RTI's Use May Outrun Its Research Base

Response to intervention has exploded into one of the most popular school initiatives in the country, but experts caution that RTI's use is far outstripping its research base.

While the heightened interest has spurred research advances in key aspects of RTI, such as universal screening tools and initial interventions, other areas have little or no research support. Moreover, experts worry the historically piecemeal approach to studying RTI can give educators a skewed view of how to employ it effectively, and for what purpose.

“Before people go out and start proclaiming there is a dominant effective model of RTI that everyone ought to embrace, they really need to have more research on it,” said Karen Wixson, the dean of education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and co-chair of the International Reading Association’s task force on RTI. “I think it has lots of potential, but if you just see it as another supplement to general education, ... it’s probably not going to have...