Culturally responsive beliefs and practices of general and special education teachers implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) in diverse elementary schools

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which diverse RTI schools in North Carolina engage in culturally responsive beliefs and practices. A total of eight diverse elementary schools participated in this study. Within these schools, 200 general and special education teachers in grades k-5 completed surveys. Areas surveyed included culturally responsive teacher practices, culturally responsive school practices, level of training, and demographics. Three open-ended questions addressed successes, barriers, and needs to implementing culturally responsive practices as part of RTI.;The majority of participants had more than 10 years experience in education and had received training in culturally responsive practices. A key finding of this investigation was that a high proportion of the teachers agreed to employing all of the culturally responsive practices except for one. In addition, an equally high proportion of teachers perceived their school as employing all of the culturally responsive practices except one. Answers to open-ended questions both supported and refuted these findings. These findings of this study are discussed, including the implications for future research.