Response to intervention through a social justice leadership framework: An inquiry of principal's beliefs and effect on classroom practice

The achievement gap between white and black students has been studied extensively, but little has been done to design policies and implement practices to challenge the inequitable structures that have created this gap in achievement. Educational reforms for the last 15 years have focused on the achievement of all students, yet the gap still persists. Education policy during the past decade emphasized systems of increased accountability, expectations and punitive measures for schools and/or districts not succeeding in bringing all students to grade level achievement. Response to Intervention (RtI), an outgrowth of several policies, aims at raising the achievement of all students by identifying, early on, those students who struggle with learning and engaging in varying levels of intervention to prevent academic failure. RtI represents a systems approach to support struggling learners. A broader concern for RtI is the context within that the instructional system operates. In this study, social justice will be used as the lens for examining RtI systems. Social justice is recognized as a framework for creating equal access for all students. The identification of barriers in the form of policies, attitudes and perceptions that do not ensure the full and equal participation of all students in the educational experience is a major component of social justice. These contextual barriers serve to perpetuate the marginalization of minority students. This study examines the beliefs and understandings of principals who demonstrate a social justice leadership framework in their practice and how a system of RtI is implemented and operationalized through the tenets of this framework.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Ed Organization and Leadership

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Nadrozny, Trevor

Contributors dc:contributor

• Monda Amaya, Lisa
• Welton, Anjalé
• Sloat, Linda
• Span, Christopher

• Response to intervention
• Social justice leadership

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Trevor Nadrozny

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/99370

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/99370