Project 3 Engaging Educators around Classification Systems in Schools (T3)

The persistent misidentification of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) is a public health concern, with dire consequences for children’s healthy development. Despite decades of research on SLD classification, there is limited uptake and use of these findings in school assessment practices, which include screening, progress monitoring, and comprehensive evaluation within a multi-tiered system of supports. There is a lack of alignment between research-based and school-based classification of SLD. While research evidence accumulated over decades provides relative certainty about how SLDs in reading and oral language might be expressed in children, these prescriptive classifications are not always reflected in the identification and eligibility processes that qualify students for support services in school. This project aims to tackle the research-to-practice gap in the uptake of evidence-based assessment practices (EBPs) used in schools to recognize and respond to learning difficulties and disabilities. Specifically, we will leverage advances in effective approaches to bidirectional community engagement and the field of implementation science to (a) determine barriers and facilitators matched to strategies for implementing assessment EBPs (Aim 1) and (b) determine the usability of a prototype packaged professional learning community for supporting assessment EBPs (Aim 2). The work captured in both aims will be conducted in partnership with schools and districts that serve substantive proportions of students who experience difficulty with reading, including urban and rural geographic locations. By conducting the project in schools, the findings will elevate the challenges and opportunities for developing the translational research base to ensure school success for all children.