Systemic Change for RTI: Key Shifts for Practice

Abstract

RTI has the potential to meet the challenges of increasing diversity in student populations and the need for increasingly complex systems of instructional design. Three fundamental shifts in understanding systems and systems change must ground RTI policy and implementation work. First, RTI must be seen as an activity system nested within a larger system of influences and practices. Second, change is context-sensitive and, therefore, systems must invest in multiple strategies for implementing RTI. Third, local education agencies (LEAs) and state education agencies (SEAs) must invest in system and school improvement so that RTI aligns at multiple levels of the system to bridge the significant gap between research and practice. Consequently, a deep understanding of RTI models can only be obtained through the careful examination of both LEA and SEA system demands and investments.