Surveying Special Education Teachers about Pre-service Training in Response to Intervention

Response to intervention (RTI) is an alternative method school districts may now use to identify children with learning disorders. In the RTI model, a student with academic difficulties is provided one or more empirically supported interventions. The student’s academic performance is monitored to see if the student progresses. If the student’s performance does not improve, then the failure to respond may be viewed as evidence of an underlying learning disability. The objective of the study was to determine whether special education teachers are receiving adequate training regarding RTI services. A survey was mailed to a nationally stratified random sample of 1000 special education teachers in the United States. The survey contained questions that examined the respondents’ satisfaction with the pre-service training in RTI and the daily activities implemented to deliver RTI services. Descriptive and correlation analyses were conducted on all returned surveys. The results highlight the strengths and weaknesses in the quality of pre-service RTI training of special education teachers. The findings also identify the daily RTI activities of special education teachers as well as the barriers they face administering these services. The findings may be used to inform teacher training programs about the skill areas that need further development so special education teachers can be better prepared to work in schools today

Examining Pre-service Consultation Training in NASP-Approved Graduate Programs in School Psychology

School consultation is a problem solving process in which a teacher seeks the help of a consultant regarding an academic or behavioral problem a student is exhibiting. The classroom teacher receives recommendations from the consultant pertaining to problems within the classroom. Consultation has been identified as a preferred activity by school psychology practitioners. However, several studies examining pre-service training in consultation have reported large percentages of practitioners as rating their graduate training as being less than adequate. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine current consultation requirements within school psychology graduate training programs. All graduate programs in school psychology approved by the National Association of School Psychologist were evaluated. Information pertaining to the number of courses and number of practicum hours required by each program was collected. Data were analyzed by the type of degree offered and the program’s geographic region. The results provide current information pertaining to pre-service consultation training. The results of this evaluation will be beneficial to undergraduate students seeking information regarding graduate training in school psychology. In addition, graduate programs in school psychology may use this information to improve the quality of training their students receive in consultation