School Psychologists' Roles Related to Response to Intervention in Wisconsin

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the frequency with which school psychologists engaged in different job duties was associated with the stage of Response to Intervention (RtI) implementation their school was in. Eighty-one licensed school psychologists from the state of Wisconsin completed an 18-question online survey pertaining to RtI at their school and their work as a school psychologist. The survey was completed just after the state had adopted new special education criteria requiring the use of RtI for Specific Learning Disability eligibility decisions. The results of the study showed that when a school was at a higher stage of RtI implementation, school psychologists engaged in less assessment work, more consultation with families, less psychological report writing, more observations of intervention for fidelity purposes, and more in-service training/education to school staff. Results are discussed in terms of contextual factors that may affect the roles of school psychologists.