Know-Its: The Link To Reading

The Three-Tiered Model is not the only way to conduct a RTI (Response to Intervention), but it has been widely used and proven to be effective in Reading First Schools. Think of a triangle with the bottom third designated as Tier 1. This tier is general education where about 70%-80% of your students fall.

In Tier 1, students progress in a timely manner without extra help. Teachers should strive to get all students in this group! Many times after a struggling reader receives a little extra help, he/she can move back into Tier 1.

At the beginning of the year, students are given a screening test to see where the strengths and weaknesses lie. If you have an average class, about 70%-80% of your students will not need extra help. What do you do if you have significantly more struggling students?

Look at your curriculum. Is it meeting the needs of your students? Is there one reading component that shines out that needs more help? The reading components are Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Fluency. If the test shows a large number of students lacking in one of these components, find a supplementary program that fills the gap. (See the Prescriptives Manual for Know-Its and Beyond Stage I & II).

If you have only a few that are below the benchmark on the screening assessment, then you should conduct progress monitoring for eight weeks with those individuals. They are not in Tier 2 at this time. If the student responds to instruction and shows adequate gains during this eight weeks, he/she may continue in Tier 1. If the student does not make adequate gains on the progress monitoring assessment, he/she moves to Tier 2.

Tier 2 is for students who need intervention in a small group setting. They need 30 minutes a day for four-five days. The instruction can be done by the classroom teacher, an interventionist, speech pathologist, Title I teacher, or trained paraprofessionals.

The instructional team looks at the progress monitoring after a set time. If the student in Tier 2 has made adequate progress, they may go back to Tier 1 with continued progress monitoring or they may stay in Tier 2 for more small group instruction. If the student does not make adequate gains, the team may refer him/her to be evaluated for Special Education.

By the time these students are referred, much is known about their learning capabilities. Careful documentation of what has already been tried is valuable information for the next tier. The data helps the team pinpoint learning disabilities better. Children who are referred have been given the best practices and instruction, but if the system is not working for them, possibly Special Education is the answer. These students may have a true learning disability. Students move up to the tip of the triangle where they receive Tier 3 instruction.

We will learn more about each tier in the next article.