How can the Rosa Parks teachers effectively implement the RTI components in each tier?

Page 6: Tier 2

The four students who did not respond adequately to the Tier 1 high-quality instruction provided by Mr. Brewster are Laney, Paloma, Adam, and LaToya. Therefore, they will begin receiving 30 minutes of targeted reading intervention (Tier 2), provided by Ms. Washington, the reading specialist at Rosa Parks, in addition to the 90 minutes of reading instruction (Tier 1) with Mr. Brewster. Ms. Washington will provide intervention to groups of three to five students (with no group larger than five). Consequently, Mr. Brewster and the other second-grade teachers have arranged their schedules so that they will send their students to Ms. Washington’s room at different times throughout the day. Mr. Brewster’s students have been assigned the period from 12:15 pm to 12:45 pm. Though Mr. Brewster realizes that his students will miss some of his instruction in order to receive Tier 2 intervention, he does not want these students to miss entire instructional periods and, thus, has arranged his schedule to minimize the amount of instruction that they will miss in science and social studies.

MR. BREWSTER
12:00 – 12:30	Science (M, W, F) Social Studies (T, Th)
12:30 – 1:00	Social Studies (M, W, F) Science (T, Th)

12:15 – 12:45 Tier 2 intervention

Providing 30 Additional Minutes of High-Quality Instruction

Ms. Washington will offer targeted intervention for 10 weeks (one round) using a supplemental program that is based on research-validated instruction. As with Tier 1 instruction, the Tier 2 intervention will incorporate the five core reading components: phonemic awareness, phonics and word study, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. In addition to covering the same core reading components, Tier 2 intervention will provide additional support by:

• Remediating skill deficits
• Preteaching and reviewing skills for Tier 1 lessons
• Providing multiple opportunities to practice
• Providing immediate corrective feedback

Before the beginning of the school year, Ms. Washington evaluated the supplemental program and, finding that the program was weak in vocabulary, she gathered additional materials to teach this skill. As she instructs her students, Ms. Washington will keep in mind that not all lessons in the supplemental guide may be beneficial for her students.

It is important to remember that the Tier 2 provider must take care always to match the intervention to the students’ instructional needs and to align the lessons with Tier 1 instruction.

Following is an example of one of Ms. Washington’s weekly lesson plans, illustrating how she addresses the core reading components and progress monitoring during the targeted intervention.

As is outlined in the table above, Ms. Washington devotes a few minutes of every day to phonemic awareness, even though this is not usually a focus in second-grade curricula. She usually addresses it at the beginning of class with an activity, such as a song. Ms. Washington realizes that it is important to provide opportunities for those students who are struggling to practice and review phonemic awareness skills. However, she also understands that students need to be taught the other core reading components, whether or not they have mastered phonemic awareness, in order for their reading skills to progress.

Click Here for a quick review of the core reading components and when to address each.

Reading Component	Kindergarten	First Grade	Second Grade	Third Grade
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics and Word Study
Fluency
Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension

National Reading Panel, 2000; Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

Instead of providing instruction on each individual component for only five minutes per day, Ms. Washington feels that she can more effectively address the five core components by devoting more time each day to just a few of them. Therefore, as illustrated in the table above, she does not always address each component in her daily lesson, but rather makes certain that she covers all of the skills during the week. Ms. Washington may later change the amount of time she devotes each week to the individual core reading components, based on the students’ instructional needs.

Though Rosa Parks has the resources to hire a full-time reading specialist to serve as the Tier 2 provider, in some schools, such as Wiseman Elementary School, the general education teacher provides the Tier 2 intervention.

Progress Monitoring

During the course of the 10 weeks of Tier 2 intervention, Ms. Washington collects progress monitoring data on Laney, Paloma, Adam, and LaToya once per week. She administers a progress monitoring probe to one of the four students each day. Consequently, Mr. Brewster no longer collects progress monitoring data on these students during Tier 1 instruction. Instead, he collaborates with Ms. Washington to keep abreast of his students’ progress.

Making Tier Decisions

When evaluating progress to determine a tier decision, teachers need to examine students’ progress monitoring data for the predetermined monitoring period in Tier 2 (a recommended minimum of 10 weeks). Teachers will examine both performance levels and rates of growth and will decide, based on the following guidelines, whether students are making adequate progress:

• Students are making adequate progress if their scores are at or above the established criterion for either performance level OR rate of growth.
• Students are not making adequate progress if their scores fall below the criteria for both performance level AND rate of growth.

The table below recaps this decision process.

Ms. Washington and Mr. Brewster meet at the end of the 10-week period of Tier 2 instruction to examine the students’ progress monitoring data and to evaluate their progress. Because it is now the middle of the school year, the mid-year criteria for the second-grade PRF are used to evaluate the students’ reading performance. In this example, the mid-year criteria are 35 words read correctly in one minute and a slope of 1. The table below displays each student’s data and tier placement decision.

If you would like to practice making tier decisions for each student in the table below, click here for a slope calculator. (The PRF criteria: benchmark ≥ 35; slope ≥ 1.)

Student	Progress Monitoring Data	Tier 2 Placement Decision
	Description This is a line plot graph of Laney’s Tier 2 CBM data. The x-axis is labeled “Weeks of Instruction.” Weeks 0 through 22 are shown, with every two weeks labeled on the axis. There is a dividing, black-dashed line after week 8 to divide Tier 1 from Tier 2 instruction. The y-axis is labeled “Words Correct Per Minute.” 0 to 38 correct words per minute are shown, with every two words correct per minute labeled on the axis. There are two line plot graphs over Tier 1 and 2 instruction. The red graph shows Laney’s data and the purple graph shows Laney’s goal line. These graph indications are shown in the key underneath the graph. Laney’s goal line begins at six words correct per minute and stretches to 35 words correct per minute by Week 18. Laney’s Tier 1 data has eight plotted points at weeks 1 through 8. The points per week are as follows: 6, 7, 8, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 9 words correct per minute. Laney’s Tier 2 data has 10 plotted points, beginning at week 9 and ending at week 18. The points per week are as follows: 10, 11, 12, 11, 12, 13, 12, 14, 13, and 14. Laney’s performance level = 14 Laney’s slope = .44	Not making adequate progress in Tier 2 Would benefit from Tier 3 intervention
	Description This is a line plot graph of Paloma’s Tier 2 CBM data. The x-axis is labeled “Weeks of Instruction.” Weeks 0 through 22 are shown, with every two weeks labeled on the axis. There is a dividing, black-dashed line after week 8 to divide Tier 1 from Tier 2 instruction. The y-axis is labeled “Words Correct Per Minute.” 0 to 38 correct words per minute are shown, with every two words correct per minute labeled on the axis. There are two line plot graphs over Tier 1 and 2 instruction. The red graph shows Paloma’s data and the purple graph shows Paloma’s goal line. These graph indications are shown in the key underneath the graph. Paloma’s goal line begins at 10 words correct per minute and stretches to 35 words correct per minute by Week 18. Paloma’s Tier 1 data has eight plotted points at weeks 1 through 8. The points per week are as follows: 10, 10, 11, 12, 11, 12, 13, and 14 words correct per minute. Paloma’s Tier 2 data has 10 plotted points, beginning at week 9 and ending at week 18. The points per week are as follows: 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 26. Paloma’s performance level = 26 Paloma’s slope = 1.22	Making steady progress in Tier 2, but has not met criteria Would benefit from another round of Tier 2 intervention x round of intervention A set period of time, determined by the school or district, during which an intervention is implemented.
	Description This is a line plot graph of LaToya’s Tier 2 CBM data. The x-axis is labeled “Weeks of Instruction.” Weeks 0 through 22 are shown, with every two weeks labeled on the axis. There is a dividing, black-dashed line after week 8 to divide Tier 1 from Tier 2 instruction. The y-axis is labeled “Words Correct Per Minute.” 0 to 38 correct words per minute are shown, with every two words correct per minute labeled on the axis. There are two line plot graphs over Tier 1 and 2 instruction. The red graph shows LaToya’s data and the purple graph shows LaToya’s goal line. These graph indications are shown in the key underneath the graph. LaToya’s goal line begins at 10 words correct per minute and stretches to 35 words correct per minute by Week 18. LaToya’s Tier 1 data has eight plotted points at weeks 1 through 8. The points per week are as follows: 10, 11, 12, 11, 10, 11, 12, and 12 words correct per minute. LaToya’s Tier 2 data has 10 plotted points, beginning at week 9 and ending at week 18. The points per week are as follows: 17, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 34, and 37. LaToya’s performance level = 34 LaToya’s slope = 2.22	Met criteria for rate of growth for her grade level Will discontinue Tier 2 intervention and receive Tier 1 instruction only Progress monitoring will continue in Tier 1

Activity

The final struggling reader in Tier 2 is Adam. Help Mr. Brewster and Ms. Washington to evaluate his data. Using the performance-level and rate-of-growth criteria, make a placement decision for Adam. Click on Adam’s picture to begin this activity.

Help Mr. Brewster decide whether Adam is making adequate progress in Tier 2 intervention. Use the information in the graph above to compute Adam’s performance level and rate of growth. (Remember, in Tier 2, you need to use both criteria to determine if a student is making adequate progress).

1. Enter Adam’s current performance level

Check it

2. Enter Adam’s slope

Check it

3. Is Adam making adequate progress in Tier 2 (click “Yes” or “No” )?

Yes

No

4. What is your tier decision for Adam? (choose one of the following answers)

a. Continue to receive Tier 2 intervention

b. Change to Tier 3 intervention

c. Continue to receive Tier 1 instruction only

LaToya and Adam have met the criteria for rate of growth and performance level to discontinue Tier 2 intervention. They will receive Tier 1 instruction only with Mr. Brewster, and he will continue to monitor their progress. Paloma’s reading skills have improved with Tier 2 support; however, she has not yet reached the grade-level benchmark. She will receive another round of Tier 2 intervention until she meets the predetermined criteria. Laney still is not making adequate progress and will be referred for Tier 3 intervention.