Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Graduation rates are an important component of a school’s progress report card, published by the state’s department of education.  Ensuring that students have the resources and supports that they need in order to be successful is paramount to a school’s ability to provide quality educational services for their students.  Research published by the Center for High School Success (2020) indicates that students entering their freshman year of high school are twice as likely to drop out of school for being academically behind compared to their peers. For students to receive the support that they need to help them close their gaps in achievement, schools implement a process called Response to Intervention (RTI). This model of support instruction is specifically tailored to individual student needs.  Students are supposed to receive additional instruction in a specified content, along with progress monitoring indicators, to measure academic success and the school’s ability to close those achievement gaps.  This study sought to collect data and analyze the effectiveness of an RTI intervention model for incoming freshmen in a particular southeastern Kentucky high school.  Performance measures were based on two data points: academic term grades and benchmark assessment performance indicators. The researcher conducted a study over the course of a semester to determine whether or not RTI services for incoming freshmen would be considered effective.  The results of this study indicate that no significant changes were noted between either term grades or benchmark performance measures.

Keywords: Response to intervention (RTI), high school, freshman class, benchmark performance indicators, academic term grades

Year manuscript completed

2026

Year degree awarded

2026

Author's Keywords

Response to intervention (RTI), high school, freshman class, benchmark performance indicators, academic term grades

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Education

Department

Education

College/School

College of Education & Human Services

Dissertation Committee Chair

Dr. Randal Wilson

Committee Member

Phillip Angel

Committee Member

Dr. Johnathan Parrent

Document Type

Dissertation

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