RTI, Equity, and the Return to the Status Quo: Implications for Consultants

ABSTRACT The federal RTI policy came into effect in 2004, and saw widespread diffusion. The culture of policy framework explicates the design inherent to the life cycles of equity-oriented top-down policies – how they get made, spread, and mutate. In this critical qualitative inquiry, we interviewed six white teachers about RTI, and their experiences of using its principles to serve Black students. Using the culture of policy framework, we conducted theoretical thematic analysis of the interview data to understand the rituals and ideologies driving the local enactments of RTI. Main findings involved a compliance-driven RTI, and deficit-based interpretations of students’ poor responses to inadequate Tier 2/3 supports. Tiers became a typology for classifying students similar to special education labels. These findings provide a glimpse into RTI’s appropriation into the existing system. We discuss recommendations to help consultants develop transformative anti-oppressive practice.