As a prelude to the reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, President Bush charged a Commission on Excellence in Special Education with evaluating the current status of special education on the national, state, and local levels. One of the Commission's recommendations concerned the need to implement and support early intervention and identification systems so as to decrease the number of students who were found to have a specific learning disability, the largest disability category represented in the population of students with special needs. The 2004 reauthorization of IDEA incorporated recommendations in the Commission's report regarding the implementation of a response to intervention or instruction (RTI) model for the identification of a specific learning disability (SLD). Critical features of RTI that situate the process in the general education classroom include the provision of high-quality, effective instruction in the general education curriculum and classroom, systematic instruction using differentiated instructional strategies for struggling students, and small-group and individualized instruction. This article provides an overview of RTI, with an emphasis on the implications of its implementation for general education teachers. The authors apply a sociocultural theoretical perspective to current RTI frameworks and explore implications for the practice of RTI with culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Finally, the authors describe a proposed RTI model that incorporates the consideration of sociocultural factors affecting student learning and achievement. (Contains 1 figure and 11 resources.)