RTI, Equity, and the Return to the Status Quo: Implications for Consultants

ABSTRACT

The federal RTI policy came into effect in 2004, and saw widespread diffusion. The culture of policy framework explicates the design inherent to the life cycles of equity-oriented top-down policies – how they get made, spread, and mutate. In this critical qualitative inquiry, we interviewed six white teachers about RTI, and their experiences of using its principles to serve Black students. Using the culture of policy framework, we conducted theoretical thematic analysis of the interview data to understand the rituals and ideologies driving the local enactments of RTI. Main findings involved a compliance-driven RTI, and deficit-based interpretations of students’ poor responses to inadequate Tier 2/3 supports. Tiers became a typology for classifying students similar to special education labels. These findings provide a glimpse into RTI’s appropriation into the existing system. We discuss recommendations to help consultants develop transformative anti-oppressive practice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sujay Sabnis

Sujay Sabnis, PhD, NCSP, is an assistant professor in the School Psychology program at the Miami University. His research draws on critical race theory, critical policy analysis, and critical qualitative methodologies.

Jose M. Castillo

Jose M. Castillo, PhD, NCSP, is an associate professor in the School Psychology Program at the University of South Florida. His research interests include evaluating the implementation of multi-tiered systems of support from a systems change lens, and professional and practice issues in school psychology.

Jennifer R. Wolgemuth

Jennifer R. Wolgemuth is an Assistant Professor in Measurement and Research at the University of South Florida. Her research focuses on the unintended and messy outcomes of social science research, including its personal and social impacts on researchers, participants and those who shepherd research evidence into policy and practice.