Response to Intervention or Responsive Instruction? Challenges and Possibilities of Response to Intervention for Adolescent Literacy

Response to Intervention or Responsive Instruction? Challenges and Possibilities of Response to Intervention for Adolescent LiteracyIt is difficult to deny that many U.S. middle and high school students are in need of special literacy supports.n Approximately two thirds of 8th-and 12th-grade students read at less than the "proficient" level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (Rampey, Dion, & Donahue, 2009).n Nearly 32% of high school graduates are not adequately prepared for college-level English composition courses (ACT, 2005).n Approximately 40% of high school graduates lack the literacy skills employers seek (National Education Summit on High Schools, 2005).n About 1.2 million students drop out annually, and their literacy skills are lower than most industrialized nations (Laird, DeBell, Kienzl, & Chapman, 2007; Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 2001).