Response to intervention and dynamic assessment: do we just appear to be speaking the same language?

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Special Education

Background:

• Response to Intervention (RTI) and Dynamic Assessment (DA) are distinct frameworks used in educational and psychological assessments.
• Despite differing methodologies, both frameworks aim to understand and support a child's learning process.
• Existing literature often treats RTI and DA separately, potentially limiting a comprehensive approach to learning assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare and contrast Response to Intervention (RTI) and Dynamic Assessment (DA) frameworks.
• To explore the similarities and differences in their approaches and outcomes.
• To propose a unified assessment model integrating RTI and DA principles to foster children's learning competence.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of RTI and DA.
• Identification of shared goals and principles between the two assessment approaches.
• Conceptual development of a combined RTI-DA model.

Main Results:

• RTI and DA, while linguistically similar, exhibit divergent practical applications and results.
• Significant overlap exists in the fundamental goals and principles of both RTI and DA.
• A combined model, Response to Intervention plus Dynamic Assessment (RTI+DA), offers a synergistic approach.

Conclusions:

• A unified RTI+DA model is proposed to enhance the development of learning competence in children.
• This integrated model holds particular relevance for professionals working with language development and disorders.
• Melding RTI and DA can lead to more effective and comprehensive learning assessments.