Effects of teacher efficacy and student's gender and ethnicity on special education referral and Response to Intervention

This study examined the relationships among teacher efficacy, student gender, and student ethnicity (African American, Asian American, Latin American, and Caucasian) on teachers' decisions to use RTI versus referring immediately to special education. Kindergarten through eighth-grade teachers ( N = 134) completed an anonymous survey online that included demographic questions, the Teachers' Sense of Teacher Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), a hypothetical case study of a student struggling academically, and questions about teacher referral decisions. Participants randomly received one of the eight hypothetical case studies that varied the student's gender and ethnicity. This study employed procedures similar to earlier studies (Meijer & Foster, 1998; Podell & Soodak, 1993; Soodak & Podell, 1993) that manipulated student characteristics. Results support previous research studies that found that high teacher efficacy relates to fewer special education referrals. Multiple logistic regression analyses show that teachers with higher teacher efficacy in student engagement and instructional strategies were more likely to use RTI versus referring to special education. Teacher efficacy for classroom management was not related to teacher referral decisions. There was a significant relationship among teacher efficacy, student's gender, and teachers' referral decisions. Efficacious teachers were more likely to use RTI for a struggling female student than for a struggling male student. Taken together, teacher efficacy, student's gender, and student's ethnicity did not relate significantly to teachers' decisions to use RTI versus referring to special education. This study demonstrated promising results related to teachers' efficacy and teachers' decisions to use RTI. Study limitations include sample size and demographics, validity of using vignettes, and teachers responding in a socially desirable manner that may have precluded significant results. It is recommended that educators be ready for the paradigm shift away from the refer-test model to the RTI approach. Future research is encouraged to develop an RTI teacher efficacy scale and examine teachers' integrity of implementing of RTI.