Surveying School Psychologists about Pre-Service Training and Current Practice with Response to Intervention Results (continued) Method Introduction Conclusions The results of the study provide insight into the training and use of RTI by todays school psychologists. Approximately 67% of participants rated pre-service RTI training as less than adequate, despite 92% feeling that RTI pre-service training is moderately or very important to the overall functioning of the school psychologist and 39.5% of those in an RTI school reporting it as a primary barrier to RTI implementation. Of the 61% of school psychologists who reported being within an RTI school, only 42.4% reported engaging in 2 or more hours of RTI activities per week. Most often these activities were meetings, consultation, and data analysis. Weak relationships were found between less time spent in RTI and increased positive perceptions regarding their pre service training, as well as higher ratings of the importance of school psychologists in RTI implementation, and decreased perception of the importance of pre service training. Time, organization, and pre service training were ranked as the biggest barriers to RTI implementation. Further research is needed to examine the specific nature of these barriers; however, within this study some direction may be gleaned regarding pre service training. School psychologists were more likely to rate the quality of pre service training lower when RTI was not a part of their practicum experience and when fewer courses related to RTI were taken, particularly classes related to data based decision making and academic interventions. This suggests that practical experience and stronger coursework in data based decision making and academic intervention may be key areas for pre service training programs to target in preparing practitioners for functioning within an RTI school. One limitation of the current study was a low return rate of 29%.; however, the current sample is fairly representative of the population of practicing school psychologists when compared to recent publications. Sample Participants: 291 NASP members and currently practicing School Psychologists Characteristics: Age: M = 42.5 Sex: Females 80.8% Degree:Masters19.7% Years Practicing: M = 12.3 Specialist50.5% Doctorate29.8% Characteristics of RTI Pre-service Training Academic: RTI Training:55.4% RTI Classes Taken: M=7.23, SD = 5.64 RTI Practicum:28.4% Perceived Quality of Training: Adequate to Superior 33.3% Acknowledgements Thank you to NASP for granting access to their membership and to Liz Wentland for her help with this poster. Role within RTI Schools Characteristics: Sample:N = 177Time: Over 2 hours a week42.4% in RTI activities Figure 1: Average Time Spent in RTI Response to Intervention (RTI) is a relatively new method of service delivery which utilizes a three tier structure of intensity in order to provide instruction and intervention matched to student needs (NASDSE, 2005). In the past two decades, there has been an increasing adoption of RTI by schools (Staskowski & River, 2005). This increase is partly due to recent legislation, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which has made positive outcomes for students and increased school accountability a higher priority (Sullivan & Long, 2010). As an increasingly utilized prevention model in schools, training in RTI has also become increasingly incorporated within school psychology pre-service training (Staskowski & River, 2005). To date no research has examined training characteristics of school psychologists in RTI or its impact on implementation, despite increases in training and proposals of training guidelines such as those published by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP, 2000). In order to evaluate the pre service training and professional development needs of school psychology practitioners it is imperative to determine the adequacy of the current practices in preparing practitioners for functioning within an RTI system. The purpose of this study was to examine general characteristic of training within RTI, perceived adequacy of training, and school psychologists role within RTI systems as practitioners. A 20-item survey was created to question demographics, pre-service training, levels of satisfaction with pre-service, role and time spent within RTI services of current, practicing school psychologists. Surveys were mailed to a stratified random sample of 997 members of the National Association of School Psychologists. Of the 997 surveys, 291 were returned for a return rate of 29%. Results Figure 2: Barriers to RTI Time in RTI Activities and Training and Role Perceptions A weak relationship was found between time in RTI activities and the perceived quality of their pre service RTI training, in which training was rated higher by those engaging in fewer RTI activities, τ =.168, p =.006. A weak relationship was found between the time engaged in RTI related activities and the rated the importance of pre-service RTI training, in which those spending less time in RTI activities rated RTI training lower, τ =.173, p =.002. A weak relationship was found between time spent in RTI activities and the perceived importance of the school psychologist in the effective implementation of RTI, in which those spending more time in RTI activities rated importance higher, τ =.151, p =.005. Training Characteristics and Perceived Quality of Training Data Based Decision Makingτ =.440, p =.000 Formative Assessmentτ =.264, p =.000 Consultationτ =.202, p =.000 Academic Interventionsτ =.310, p =.000 Instructional Strategiesτ =.181, p =.001 Practicumτ =.445, p =.001 School psychologists rated the quality of their pre-service RTI training more positively with increased RTI related coursework (all types) and practicum. Carlos J. Panahon, Alexandra M. Panahon, Jessica M. Breuer, Liesa A. Klein, Patricia D. Hopkins, Jacy N. Kraayenbrink, and Michael A. Hamilton