District Administrator Perceptions Of Response To Intervention Implementation In K-12 Underperforming Public Schools In Connecticut

This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to understand the perceptions of Connecticut public school district administrators working at K-12 underperforming schools implementing response to intervention (RTI). Little was known about district administrators working in Connecticut K-12 underperforming schools’ perceptions of RTI implementation. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with six volunteer participants who qualified as district administrators working in underperforming K-12 public schools in Connecticut. The information from this study illustrated how the district administrators perceived RTI implementation within their districts and the barriers they faced related to RTI implementation. Four themes and nine subthemes were identified. The four themes were structures and systems, restrictions, value, and data. The subthemes were scheduling, professional development, elementary versus secondary, resources, consistency, teacher mindset, growth, data-driven decisions, and scope of instruction. This study also revealed that participants valued RTI and felt it helped their students grow. However, participants also felt they had limited training around the RTI process and that there were significant barriers associated with implementing RTI. The results of this study demonstrated that more robust systems, particularly related to RTI implementation at the secondary level, must be in place for RTI to be fully effective.