Effectiveness of RTI Model on Math Learning of 5th Grade Students with Special Educational Needs

Abstract

This study aims to reveal effectiveness of RTI (Responsive to Intervention) model on math learning of 5th grade students with special educational needs (SEN). The study also targets to reveal inabilities of students in learning math within the frame of general education through different approaches, test functionality of interventions for elimination of these inabilities, and determine whether students, who are thought to have SEN, are actually in need of special education. In the study, qualitative research method is adopted and holistic multiple case study design is used. Participants of the research consist of two students in the fifth grade in a state secondary school. Ten-week individual support educations, participant observation notes, video records, structured student interview forms, math achievement tests and daily math exercises are the data collection tools used in the research. Findings show that reasons arising out of teaching methods play a significant role in continuity of students’ failures. Although participants, who were thought to have SEN at first, have poor mathematical skills, it is determined that observed behaviors of these participants are not directly related to general characteristics of learning disability.