Suspended in the Paradox: The Affordances and Limitations of Standardized Assessment in Response to Intervention

• In Event: 56.080 - Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: 56.080-3 - Creative Approaches to Teacher Preparation and Praxis

Abstract

The disproportionate rates of cultural and linguistic minorities in special education are indicative of broader educational inequities. Response to Intervention (RTI) is touted as a more equitable approach to the identification of students for special education evaluation, yet few empirical studies explore RTI implementation in schools serving diverse learners. This study uses Cultural-Historical Activity Theory to examine how RTI mediates teachers’ meaning-making surrounding referral at one public elementary school serving diverse learners. Findings indicate that RTI interrupted teachers’ preliminary ideas about which students would qualify for referral by offering instructors guidelines for unpacking their assertions that students were not “responding” to intervention. Concurrently, standardized measures reinforced dominant, skills-based conceptualizations of learning at the expense of more authentic forms of knowledge.

Author

• Joyce Melissa Gomez-Najarro, California State University - Fullerton