The Predicaments of Addressing Equity without Attending to Race and Racism

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of one state’s Response to Intervention (RTI) model, bringing to light two predicaments that plague efforts to address disproportionality and support learning: 1) That RTI may continue to perpetuate disproportionality, both in the model’s tiers of support as well as in the placement of students in special education, and 2) That RTI relies on quality instruction but provides little leverage to intervene on that instruction.

Keywords:

• RTI
• response to intervention
• race/ethnicity
• disproportionality
• special education
• instructional improvement