RTI in a Middle School: Findings and Practical Implications of a Tier 2 Reading Comprehension Study

Abstract

Response to intervention (RTI) has received considerable attention from both researchers and practitioners as a schoolwide model for service delivery. However, research is limited on RTI applications in middle and high schools. The purpose of this article is to describe the outcomes of an experimental examination of a secondary (Tier 2) literacy intervention for at-risk fifth- and sixth-grade students in an urban middle school assigned to one of three conditions: Story Structure (SS), Typical Practice delivered by reading specialists (TP), and Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). Results indicated a statistically significant difference between the mean posttest cloze scores of the SSR group and both the SS and TP conditions. Study findings support the growing body of research indicating that at-risk students need intensive and explicit instruction in addition to opportunities to practice reading.