Chapter 4 Tier 2 Intervention

Establishing a Coordinated Continuum of Support

Tier 2 is the instructional safety net that works with tier 1 to add both time and instructional intensity into the day.

In this chapter Mary Howard gives several examples of real students and the interventions these students received.  She points out that tier 2 instructional strategies or interventions must take place outside of tier 1 time.  In my mind, I see this as a 30 minute period outside of our literacy block.  This is NOT guided reading or strategy groups that would be happening in the literacy block for all kids.  This is the double dip!  

Tier 2 occurs in a small-group setting-students who have similar learning needs.  Groups are 3-5 students, with three being most ideal.  Guided Reading is a wonderful tier 2 strategy with the teacher using meaningful text at the student's level to promote strategies and skills.  As students are given higher levels of intensity we must never lose sight of the ultimate goal of enjoying and understanding interesting text.  For example, if we want a student to work on phonics skills we must teach them how to use the phonics skill with text, NOT simply "doing" phonics.

Howard addresses tough questions in regards to tier 2 interventions...

Who should provide tier 2 intervention?
This may be the classroom teacher, school support staff such as a reading specialist or other certified teacher. An ineffective tier 1 teacher will be an ineffective tier 2 teacher.  Whoever becomes responsible for tier 2 instruction will need continued professional training to make sure they are effectively delivering and monitoring the intervention and progress of the student.

When and how often should tier 2 intervention be provided?
RtI guidelines state an additional 30 minutes daily beyond tier 1.  Some schools integrate social studies and science allowing teachers to deliver the instruction using high-quality informational texts.  Other schools may choose to do this intervention before or after the school day.  When first beginning RtI schools may want to gradually add this time beginning with 20 minute sessions, 3x per week or whatever plan will add additional time until the school decides what will work best with the students and staff available.

How long should tier 2 intervention last?
An average span seems to be 8-12 weeks or 40 to 60 sessions.  Flexibility is essential as no two students will always be the same.  Weekly data gathered will best determine when to decrease or increase the support needed. A student may need to be placed in tier 3 or the student may gain success quickly and will no longer need tier 2.  Each individual situation should be considered.

How can we increase instructional intensity?
This can be done initially by reducing the group size and increasing the duration and frequency of small reading groups or a child may receive additional 1-1 conferring as needed.  Howard has a list of suggestions that are good strategies worth listing out.  She feels that professional development should focus on these tactics to ensure high-quality instruction.  Its a long list but a great reminder.  I feel we have addressed much of her suggested list.

• Maintain high expectations but adjust support to accommodate each student.
• Use whole-to-part-to-whole teaching to ensure learning in meaningful contexts.
• Increase teacher think-alouds that make reading strategies explicitly.
• Illustrate key points with specific oral and written examples.
• Check for understanding by soliciting responses beyond yes or no.
• Provide engaging feedback to reinforce understanding and address confusions.
• Coach students as they apply strategies in the course of reading.
• Scaffold support in the early stages while promoting independence.
• Reinforce new learning at spaced intervals.
• Redirect off-task behavior to avoid getting sidetracked.
• Offer individualized guidance to ensure understanding.
• Adjust the pace of instruction to student need.
• Encourage students to restate or paraphrase learning
• Break learning into smaller increments and allow ample time to review key points.
• Make learning visible by using charts graphs, illustrations and diagrams.
• Use prompts or cues at first, gradually withdrawing them to promote independence.
• Engage students in conversations that revolve around learning.
• Highlight in-the-head strategies used by good readers.
• Monitor understanding at all times and reteach as needed.
• Summarize key concepts at the end of every lesson.
• Provide more time to practice new learning or apply learning in other context.
• Focus on only one or two sills at a time for deeper understanding
• Give students ample wait time for reflection before expecting them to res pond.

How do we design tier 2 interventions?
We cannot assume that instruction that did not work at tier 1 will work in a smaller setting.  We need to take a different, more focused approach.  All interventions must focus on real reading opportunities with engaging text.  All activities should focus on students making meaning of their leveled text.

I loved Howard's "pie theory" when designing instruction.  The pie represents 30 minutes of instruction.  Divide this into two 15-minute halves.  The first half of the pie represents the new book selected for the student to read with support.  The teacher promotes the strategies that the student is working on with this meaningful text.  The second half of the pie can be divided into three 5-minute intervals for three key learning events.  Rereading familiar text, working with words and integrating reading and writing.  Five minutes can also be used for running records and other quick assessments needed.  This pie theory is exactly what we try to do in guided reading groups.  This could be used as we plan for effective tier 1 lessons such as strategy groups, guided reading groups.

Howard recommends schools know the difference between remediation and intervention.   I thought her chart was simple and informative so I will include it here too.

Remediation	Intervention
Focus on fixing an existing problem	Focus on preventing or stopping failure
Instruction that is “instead of”	Instruction that is “in addition to”
Replaces classroom reading instruction	Enhances classroom reading instruction
Little if any adjustment in intensity	Adjusts the intensity of instruction
Targets a single isolated skill	Focuses on the reading process
Pull-Out program	Approach varies according to need
Material that is either too easy or too hard	Material that reflects a gradient of difficulty
Slow paced instruction that simply waters down the curriculum	Fast paced instruction to promote acceleration
Often fails to achieve mastery	Repeated practice to achieve mastery
Emphasis on long-term support	Emphasis on short-term support
Separation from general education	Coordination with the general education program
Limited ongoing assessment	Emphasis on ongoing assessment

 

Hopefully we can begin to experiment with tier 2 and develop an effective plan for our students and staff!  I still feel two certified literacy teachers in one classroom literacy block adds strength to our tier 1 instruction, allowing deeper differentiation and on-going professional collaboration.

Happy Reading-Mrs. Speake