Guide to Tiered InterventionsAn overview to the tiered intervention system

Vocabulary and Definitions

RTI = Response to Intervention

Tier 1 = Regular classroom monitoring with classroom, district, state assessments

Tier 2 = Monthly measuring of student performance in small group activities plus the regular assessments in the classroom.

Tier 3 = Monitoring is individualized with daily/weekly measures of the individual interventions,depending on the focus areas.

SRBI and RTI are the same models.

SRBI: Scientific Research-Based Interventions

SRBI is an approach to education designed to ensure that all students receive high quality instruction in the general education curriculum as well as targeted interventions for those students experiencing learning, social-emotional or behavioral difficulties.

The broad benefits of SRBI come from its emphasis on uniting scientific, research-based practices with systems approaches to education. Scientific evidence is substantial for a number of areas central to children’s school success and well-being, such as reading, language development, some areas of mathematics and social-emotional learning. (Connecticut State Dept. of Education)

Continuum of Support

Tier I100%

Tier IIUp to 20%

Tier III3-5 %

Classroom Teacher Responsibility

Tier 1

Teachers will be addressing more than one issue at a time with specific instructional strategies and interventions (this also frequently occurs at Tier 2).

At Tier 1, the teacher works with the whole classroom, helping to facilitate instruction for different learning styles. (For example, using strategies such as pictures, stories, putting words into charts, tracing words in sentences, and other language development strategies can be used to teach vocabulary words.)

Tier 1 sample strategies for the classroom

● Redirect attention for distracted learners

● Reassure frustrated students

● Teacher circulates in the classroom, assisting students who need extra support

● Increased time on task

● Classroom seating (focus, minimize misbehavior)

● Memorization techniques/graphic organizers, concept maps, star diagrams

Examples of classroom tools for all learners at the elementary level

Concept or Mind Maps

The basic idea is to put the central concept or vocabulary word related to what will be in the lesson in a circle (board, slide, paper). Students generate other words or concepts related to that main idea and connect them to the center like spokes on a wheel.

Graphic Organizers are visual representations to assist students in organizing their thoughts.

W-Star (who, what, where, when, why and then how)

Asking students to brainstorm before beginning a reading.

Who do you think this story/event is about?

Where do you think the story/event is located?

When do you think the story/event occurs?

What do you think happens?

Why did this happen?

How do you think the story/event turns out?

The responses are written onto the points of a star diagram, each point represents one of the W questions

KWL: Know, Wonder, Learn

● What do you already know about this content?● What are you wondering about?● What do you want to know?● What will we learn about this?● Why should we learn this?● How will we learn this content?

COPS: Capitalization Overall appearance

PunctuationSpelling

Acronyms are a great memorization technique for students.

TOWER: ThinkOrder ideasWriteEditRewrite

PARS: PreviewAsk QuestionsRead Summarize

Tier 2

●Small group instruction by the classroom teacher, interventionist, other support personnel.

● In addition to regular classroom instruction.

●Designed for students who are not progressing adequately with regular classroom instruction/interventions.

●Students are identified using Universal Screening Measures (STAR/DSA)

●The interventions generally takes place for 15-30 minutes, 2-3 X per week, for 8-20 weeks.

Tier 3

● Intensive intervention for children who need the most support to achieve

● Instruction occurs outside of the classroom by a specialist/interventionist

●Up to an additional 30 minutes, 4-5 X per week, for 8-20 weeks

●This instruction can occur in small groups working on the same skills or on an individualized basis

●The teacher continues to use Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions while Tier 3 is occurring

Assessments for SRBI (RTI)

Universal Screening

Progress Monitoring

Formative Assessments

Universal Screening

These help to identify students for SRBI. All students take them and it is important to use multiple assessments (screening, grade level, classroom, state)

They include: STAR Reading or Math and the DSA

(STAR is a timed assessment that measures a student’s ability level at one point in time. It is specific in its diagnosis and provides suggestions for interventions. At least three (3) STAR assessments over the course of one year are needed to provide an accurate picture. The Developmental Spelling Assessment (DSA), part of the Word Journeys program, provides information for word work groupings).

STAR and DSA are given 3 X each year:

Fall, Winter, Spring

Progress Monitoring

Used to guide instruction based on student performance

Assessment skills and strategies are used for targeted interventions

Teachers monitor change over time

Formative Assessments

These are used on a daily basis to help with decision making while using interventions. (Formative Assessments occur regularly in all classroom settings as a way for teachers to check for understanding. They are low stakes and often have low or no point value.)

There are many types of formative assessments and they can be quickly done. These help guide teachers in their instruction and provide a quick way to measure student understanding of important concepts, content, and skills.

Some examples of formative assessments

These are cumulative evaluations. They are used to measure what a student knows and does not know.

Examples include: state testing, district benchmarks, end of unit or chapter tests, final projects, any scores used for report card grading.

Summative Assessments

Both Formative and Summative Assessments are used in classroom settings.