Evidence-Based Reading & Writing Instruction

High-quality Tier 1 literacy instruction provides all students with explicit, systematic, and responsive instruction in the skills and knowledge needed to become proficient readers, writers, thinkers, and communicators. Effective literacy instruction is grounded in evidence, aligned with grade-level standards, responsive to learner variability, and informed by ongoing assessment.

Within an MTSS framework, educators use multiple sources of data to examine both student response and the strength of Tier 1 instruction before determining whether supplemental intervention is needed.

Effective literacy instruction is comprehensive and interconnected. Foundational skills, language and knowledge, fluency and comprehension, writing, and responsive instructional decision-making work together to support literacy development. The emphasis and intensity of these components change across grade levels and in response to student need, but strong literacy instruction remains grounded in rigorous, grade-level learning and meaningful opportunities to read, write, speak, listen, think, and communicate. 

Components of High-Quality Tier 1 Literacy Instruction 

Select each component below to explore evidence-based practices, Tier 1 examples, MTSS connections, and considerations for responsive instruction.

Responsive Literacy Instruction
Using evidence of student learning to identify needs, adjust instruction, and determine when supplemental support may be warranted. 

New York State Alignment

This framework is designed to support alignment with the New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards, NYSED Literacy Initiative, evidence-based and scientifically based literacy instructional practices, and the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework.

In New York State, evidence-based literacy instruction should provide rigorous, culturally responsive learning experiences that respond to student strengths and needs while ensuring access to high-quality instruction for all learners.

Questions for School & District Teams

• Do all students have access to strong, evidence-based Tier 1 literacy instruction aligned with grade-level expectations?

• Do we have a shared understanding of what high-quality literacy instruction should look like across classrooms and grade levels?

• How do we know whether our Tier 1 literacy practices are being implemented as intended?

• How do we use multiple sources of data to examine the effectiveness of Tier 1 at the student, classroom, grade, and school level?

• When patterns of difficulty emerge across groups of students, do we examine curriculum, instruction, implementation, and access—not only individual student deficits?

• How does our literacy system respond to learner variability while maintaining high expectations and meaningful access to grade-level learning?

• Do our Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 literacy supports function as one coherent system rather than separate programs or places?

Instruction ≠ Intervention

Evidence-based instructional practices such as explicit instruction, modeling, guided practice, vocabulary instruction, purposeful fluency practice, scaffolding, and formative assessment can strengthen learning for all students within Tier 1.

An intervention is more targeted and intentional. It is selected to address a specific, identified need, provided in addition to Tier 1 instruction, delivered with defined dosage and intensity, implemented with fidelity, and progress monitored to determine student response.

The strategy itself does not determine the tier—the purpose, intensity, delivery, and use of data do.