Response to Intervention Investigating the New Role of Special Educators

Special educators wear many different hats in our current educational system. Due to recent federal legislation, they may be required to wear a couple of new ones. This article provides a glimpse into past roles and begins to lay some groundwork for the future role of special educators in a Response to intervention (RTI) context. This article (a) highlights the congruence between legislative acts impacting education, (b) explains how legislative acts can be used to help schools be more proactive in meeting the needs of struggling students, (c) describes key elements of an RTI model, (4) explains the role of formative assessment, (e) explains the application of RTI with a school-based case example, and (f) concludes with a discussion of how the current skills of special educators can support schools beginning to adopt RTI.