Intervention Pathways


MTSD Tiered Levels of Support

As students progress through their reading and writing development, they will need varying levels of support at varying times in their school experience to be successful. In MTSD, we have a tiered system of supports to ensure that the needs of all learners are met. Please read the information below to learn more about our intervention pathways.

How do we identify students who will receive academic support?

K-4 content area supervisors collect and review grade level assessment data at five intervals thoughout the school year. Supervisors meet with the Data Day team in September, November, February, April and June to review formal and informal data and monitor student progress. Prior to Data Day, classroom teachers also provide Tier 1 intervention data to inform the team of what strategies were utilized in the classroom and the student response to these classroom-based interventions. The Data Day team consists of the following staff members:

  • Content area supervisors

  • Academic Support Teachers

  • Guidance Counselors

  • Reading Interventionist

  • ESL Teachers

  • Building Administrators

Student progress is tracked and monitored not only throughout the school year, but also across school years. The Data Day team makes collaborative decisions regarding the level of support required for students to be successful, the intervention resources that will be utilized, any revisions to the intervention and data that will be collected. At times the Data Day team will decide to refer a student to the Intervention and Referral Team to collect and review additional information.

The process for identification and progress monitoring at OHES and VES is incredibly thoughtful and thorough, ensuring that all students have the interventions needed to be able to successfully access with grade level curricula and move forward along a continuum of learning.

Tier 1

Tier 1 encompasses all of the students in the general education classroom. Most Tier 1 students can access the grade level curriculum through whole-class instruction and a moderate amount of differentiaton. However, some Tier 1 students require more individualized strategies to be successful. Teachers review data from running records, the Early Bird Screener (Grades K-1), comprehension tasks, sight words assessments, etc, to develop appropriate classroom-based strategies to meet the needs of individual students. At the Tier 1 level, these strategies are carried out by the classroom teacher, and may look like guided reading or strategy groups, individual conferences or additional support with foundational reading skills, such as phonemic awareness.

Tier 2

In Tier 2, students not making adequate progress in the core curriculum are provided with increasingly intensive instruction matched to their needs on the basis of levels of performance and rates of progress. Tier 2 students require Academic Support to successfully access the grade level curriculum. Our OHES and VES Academic Support teachers are a highly skilled and knowledgeable group of teachers who make thoughtful intervention decisions for each identified Academic Support student. At the Tier 2 level of support, students work with academic support teachers in small groups, utilizing intervention resources such as Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI), Fundations and guided reading.

Tier 3

Tier 3 is our most intensive level of general education support. At this level, students receive individualized, intensive interventions that target the students' skill deficits for the remediation of existing problems and the prevention of more severe problems. Students who receive Tier 3 support often work one-on-one with an academic support teacher, utilizing intervention resources such as Fundations , Lively Letters and Bridge the Gap: Phonemic Awareness Intervention Lessons in a way that is tailored to individual student need.

Source: RTI Network and NJTSS