Tier 1 Universal Supports

Tier 1 Universal Supports MTSS Basics

According to Jennifer Katz (2019) Tier 1 supports " requires that students receive core classroom instruction that is differentiated, universally designed, and provided to all. This is critical – all students should receive the same instruction, before specialized instruction is given! That means we don’t decide before a student has even tried that they can’t do it, and lower the expectations or segregate them. Thus, UDL focuses first on inclusive instructional practice, not because it denies the existence of students who may require intensive supports, but because it seeks to reduce the numbers of students requiring tier two and tier three supports due to non-inclusive classroom instruction". http://www.threeblockmodel.com/rti--udl.html

Tier 1 services and supports involve universally designed curriculum, strategies, fully accessible educational materials, technology and Assistive Technology that can benefit all students. Inherent in the MTSS system of supports is ongoing assessment, evaluation and monitoring to ensure all students are benefiting from these supports.

Tier 1 Universal Design

UDL is a framework for designing curriculum and any learning activity with all students in mind. The key is designing from the planning stages and considering Access for All. Universal Design for Learning is built on 3 principles including Representing information in many different ways so all students can access the information; offering many different ways to demonstrate or Express Knowledge and providing Motivating and Engaging learning activities, materials and strategies to further enhance learning.

Go to UDL Page

Tier 1 Accessible Technology & UDL Strategies Basics

Tier 1 AT includes any assistive technology that most students can benefit from includes but is not limited to:

Offer all students "off-the-shelf Universally Designed technology" with built in accessibility options
Always offering OCR scanned digitized text for reading aloud on a computer or tablet (accessed via Google Classroom Content management system etc)
Always offering OCR scanned digitized text for magnification to enhance visual access (via Google Classroom)
Always offering a wide variety of seating options in class (hokki stools, move n'sit cusions, rocking chairs, upholstered chairs, chairs at desks)
Always offering a choice of writing utensils including pencils with or without grips, pens of different thickness
Aways offering options to write sitting, standing, with a slant board, with dycem or clipboard for added support
Always offering tablets or laptops to type documents with various built in accessibility options (word completion, speech to text, image input, voice recording)
Visual schedules posted at the front of the room with text and images
Highlighters, post it notes etc
Graphic organizers, online dictionaries or thesaurus
Surround sound FM systems that benefit all students