Recommended Initiative 2.5
Align tier 2 and tier 3 instruction to tier 1.
Deliverables & Design Considerations
Click each deliverable below to expand its key design considerations.
TIMING: SPRING 2021
Renew or select an adaptive online learning platform for supplemental instruction that provides opportunities for individualized student practice
- To what extent does the existing adaptive online learning provide supplemental instruction and opportunities for individual practice?
- To what extent does the platform free up teachers to provide differentiated supports to other students?
- To what extent has the adaptive online learning platform shown evidence of impact through Evidence for ESSA or What Works Clearinghouse?
timing: SCHOOL YEAR 2021-22
Implement and monitor use of supplemental adaptive online platform
- To what extent is the adaptive online learning providing supplemental instruction, rather than supplanting tier 1 instruction?
- To what extent is the adaptive online platform being used as intended? If not, why?
Audit the use of tier 2 and tier 3 instructional time and materials to ensure they target student needs identified through valid and reliable data and offer coherence with tier 1 programming
Determine interventions to stop, start and/or continue
- Do our supports for diverse learners reflect research-based approaches (e.g., as summarized in What Works Clearinghouse’s Evidence Reviews: Children and Youth with Disabilities and Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School)?
- Are we leveraging resources for differentiation within our core curriculum (e.g., as described in EdReports indicators 1s, 1t, and 3o-3r for K-2 ELA)?
- Are our approaches to whole-class and small-group/personalized instruction coherent, while targeting unique learning needs? Examples include:
- The foundational skills block in EL Education’s ELA curriculum includes both a whole group component aligned to grade level reading foundational standards, and a small group component based on student microphase in foundational skills mastery.
- Bookworms includes foundational skills instruction both for the whole class as part of the grade level shared reading block, and for small groups at different levels of foundational skills mastery in the differentiated instruction block.
- Zearn is aligned to Eureka Math and allows students to learn at their own pace. It also supports teachers in assigning pre-grade-level intervention lessons to support prerequisite learning.
- Do tier 2 and 3 interventions currently compromise student access to core instruction or a well-rounded educational program?
- Do providers of core and supplemental instruction have time to collaborate with one another in order to ensure coherence and alignment across the student learning experience?
Adjust systems and staffing as needed to ensure interventions can be delivered as intended and identify appropriate dosage to start/continue
- Do we have access to a sufficient number of staff to provide appropriate dosage of interventions?
- Do we have sufficient instructional time within the school day to meet targeted student needs?
Create a SY22-23 training plan for any new interventions, sourcing a training partner as needed
- What, if any, interventions will require new and/or additional training for teachers and leaders?
- When and how will the training be provided?
- Do we have sufficient internal capacity to develop and provide the necessary training, or will we need to source an external training partner?
Create a monitoring plan to collect and review data on the implementation and efficacy of interventions that will be implemented in SY22-23
- How, when, and by whom will implementation be monitored?
- What data will be reviewed? How often? Who collects?
- To what markers of success will we hold ourselves accountable?

Timeline
View a suggested timeline and arc of deliverables now through 2026.

Resources
View our curated list of resources and vendors to support implementation, periodically updated in real time.

Case Studies
See real-world illustrative examples demonstrating how others have put these recommendations into practice.

Research Base
Explore the national research fact base that is foundational to every element in our School Re-Centering Guide.