Education has been under major reform since the passing of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Under the NCLB Act states have set benchmark goals to measure whether districts and schools are making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward ensuring that all children are proficient in reading and math by 2014. Lack of progress in reading has become a primary concern facing schools today thus, leading schools to focus on improving student achievement in this subject area. The Response to Intervention (RtI) problem-solving model offers solutions on how to support struggling students in the area of reading. RtI is highly dependent on progress monitoring and data collection, uses data to inform decisions, replaces the IQ discrepancy model, and involves three tiers of interventions and instruction. This quantitative research study is designed to determine the effects that RtI has on student achievement outcomes in the area of reading when implemented in 12 urban schools. The primary research questions examine the current levels of RtI implementation in all 12 schools and whether RtI is positively related to higher student achievement in literacy. The data reveals that it takes all components of RtI to impact outcomes and that even early stages of implementation are linked to improvements in the area of literacy for the early grades. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]