Our Tier 3 students are those who are considered to be significantly below grade level. These children are those that are identified and receive IEP services and support. Even with these supports, however, many students continue to struggle. Keep reading to learn why.

When we discussed this statistic with the team - it got heated. If you know us at all, then you know that we believe every child deserves success and the fact that two-thirds of them are not able to access grade-level materials is gut-wrenching. We did some digging and realized that the reason that 66% of 4th-grade students are not reading at grade level is that…

If you know us well you know we LOVE statistics and data (if you‘re a data nerd too, you can sit with us - and if you’re not, that’s all good too because we’ve got you covered!!!)

We were reviewing the statistics that were pushed out by the US Department of Education in 2019 reviewing the National Report Card as it pertains to students and their ability to read at a proficient level by the time they are in the 4th grade.

And if you know these studies, the statistics are shocking. Keep reading to learn how many students are ACTUALLY below grade level when it comes to reading (the number may surprise you!) and to see how we can reverse this trajectory.

So often, my students struggle with the main idea and key details because they are either WAY too broad, WAY too specific, or start talking in the longest run-on sentence trying to tell me every last detail about the passage they can squeeze in.

Recently, I have found that it has actually been a vocabulary activity that has allowed me to explicitly teach them how the ideas in the stories and passages we read come together to form the main idea and key details.

Don’t get us wrong - we fully believe that morphology is important! In our program, we have two full levels devoted to morphology.

We need to recognize, however, that morphology is only a very small piece of vocabulary and we need to be explicitly teaching vocabulary with ALL of our students, regardless of age or level. Read on to learn exactly what vocabulary instruction needs to include to support vocabulary development.

One of the most common questions we get is “how do I teach writing?”

In EVERY lesson that we teach students, we work through the 5-Core Components of Literacy for reading and then go back through each of them for writing. Keep reading to learn the actual strategies we use to seamlessly weave explicit, systematic writing instruction into our lessons.

Students struggle for different reasons and in different capacities. In order to truly support our struggling readers, we must not only understand why students are struggling but also -

Where are students struggling to read specifically?

Which specific areas are causing students to be ineffective readers? Because the bottom line is if we are trying to support struggling readers, we need to stop applying one-size-fits-all approaches and we need to know what type of support is needed to get our struggling readers on track. Keep reading to learn more!

Graphic organizers are visual displays and incredible tools to help your students with writing and comprehension. Graphic organizers can also be called mind maps, concept maps, or concept webs, but they all have the same wonderful purpose - to solidify comprehension. Graphic organizers explicitly teach students how to connect and organize information. They visually show what information to prioritize as well as help students with brainstorming and connecting any background information.

Today, we’re diving right into a pretty loaded topic! We wanted to start the conversation around what students need in order to effectively comprehend lessons in the classroom and what they need to be able to write effectively to demonstrate their knowledge.

Now obviously, this isn’t something we can fully communicate/solve in a single blog post. But … we do have a really good starting point! And, don’t worry, we also have some really good follow-up coming your way!

Have you ever felt dismissed, talked over, or doubted in your intervention? When I walked out of the school after my first IEP meeting, I had this awful feeling of defeat knowing that I wasn’t taken seriously, but worse, I wasn’t able to advocate for my student they way I wanted to and knew I could. Keep reading to learn about the key to advocating for your students in IEP meetings.

In this field, we are bombarded with theories, approaches, information and often, it can be difficult to know exactly what resources you need.

Whether you are looking for activities to supplement a program that your school has provided you with, or, you are looking for a comprehensive curriculum, there are a few things that you should always be looking for. Keep reading to learn more…

Last spring, so many of us had to make an abrupt switch to online learning. It was expected that this transition be seamless, and for so many, it was quite the opposite of that. Let’s be honest, it was hard. We weren’t sure how we were going to make online learning effective, how to transition all materials to be used virtually, and the hardest part… we weren’t able to see our students in person anymore. It was tough. But, over time we were able to adapt. We came up with ways to transition materials to an online format and continued to hold our connections with our students even though we weren’t with them. We were finally starting to feel comfortable when everything changed again…

As educators we are capable of changing the world - one of the best ways we can continue doing this is by leveling the playing field for our students, so every child can be as successful as they can be. In order to level the playing field, we must have clarity around our students’ strengths and difficulties and we must make sure that we’re able to understand this in an equitable way. Educational equity is absolutely crucial because it gives equal opportunities to children. Data-tracking can help set us up for educational equity - keep reading to learn more about educational equity and how data-tracking can help us make our classrooms more equitable for all of our students.

As literacy interventionists, we are told all the time about the importance of “research-based” intervention but no one tells us that this should include our own research! Click through to read more.

When we are trying to determine which areas we should focus on with our students we are using our data to provide a guide, a roadmap.

But one of the biggest mistakes we see (we know because we’ve been there) is that we aren’t using data to drive decisions because of two big blocks.

Assuming a program, even an evidence-based program, works for all students without tracking your own data and adjusting as needed, puts students at risk to continue falling through the cracks. Click the image above to read more about a common belief that may be holding you back in your intervention.

While 2020 was an interesting year to say the least, we were glad to have learned so many lessons. One of which, was how to stay organized in a completely digital space. We transitioned lessons to a completely digital format, student interaction, you name it! And with all the changes, we realized Tracking data digitally was another great way to communicate students’ growth and what was happening in our sessions with our students’ parents and with our colleagues. Today, we wanted to walk you through how we track our literacy data in a digital format!

One of the biggest mistakes we see in intervention is when interventionists take all of this time to collect wonderful data, but then not effectively sharing it with those who have a vested interest in the results - click here to read more about how you can EASILY share your results and grab a FREE resource that will help you do so!