Understanding Response to Intervention as a Behavioral Contingency for Teachers: Toward the Integration of Behavior and Academic Support Systems in Schools

Abstract

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) and response to intervention (RTI) are widely researched evidence-based practices in schools in the United States. Although academic response to intervention has been introduced little by little in Japanese special needs education, only a small amount of practical research based on response to intervention has been done. Response to intervention has many components in common with school-wide positive behavior support and is closely related to behavior analysis, however, these relationships have rarely been referred to in Japanese academic journals. The present article describes the core components of response to intervention (multi-tiered prevention system, screening, progress monitoring, data-based decision making) and conceptualizes some response to intervention components (data-based decision making and teaming) as a process of establishing stimulus control of teachers’ behavior. The recent development of multi-tiered system of support (MTSS), a framework that integrates response to intervention and school-wide positive behavior support, is also described. Finally, future directions toward a system level approach for school reform in Japan are discussed in terms of behavioral contingencies inside and outside schools.