EVIDENCE-BASED EARLY READING PRACTICES WITHIN A RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION SYSTEM

Many students who experience reading failure are inappropriately placed in special education. A promising response to reducing reading failure and the overidentification of students for special education is Response to Intervention (RTI). a comprehensive early detection and prevention system that allows teachers to identify and support struggling readers early, before they fail. A key component of RTI is the implementation of evidence-based reading practices within a multitiered framework. School psychologists are increasingly being asked to lead or be members of RTI building teams. As such, they can play an important role in assuring that evidence-based practices in reading are implemented with integrity. The purpose of this article is to provide a framework for judging the extent to which early reading instruction within a multitier RTI system is evidence based. Key evidence-based practices related to the content, design, and delivery of early reading instruction are described. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.