Reading Development by Language and Disability Status: The Role of Response to Intervention

Understanding reading development requires attention to both student characteristics and school contexts. Using ECLS-K:2011 data, we investigated how language and disability status—and their interaction—relate to reading outcomes from kindergarten through fifth grade; how school-level Response to Intervention (RTI) implementation relates to reading growth; and whether RTI implementation moderates the associations between student characteristics and reading growth. Results showed that multilingual students and students with disabilities began with lower reading scores and exhibited slower growth compared to English-monolingual students and students without disabilities. A significant interaction between language and disability status emerged for linear growth, suggesting a more complex pattern for multilingual students with disabilities. Although RTI alone was not linked to reading growth, it moderated the relations of student characteristics with reading trajectories. These findings highlight the need to consider both student- and school-level factors and to strengthen educational practices that effectively support the diverse and evolving needs of learners.