Houston, We Had a Problem...Tier 2 Problem

A quick note: While this work is always done in collaboration with incredible educators, the reflections and perspectives shared in this piece are my own, based on my experience working alongside teams to build effective instructional frameworks ~Nicole

Using what we know works—and working together—we created the conditions for all learners to get the support they need, but are we headed for another oxygen tank explosion?

I hope not.

So, today, I want to continue our conversation and zoom in on Tier 2 supports in a K–12 system.

But first, let’s ground ourselves in a few beliefs. Not new ones—these are the ones we’ve been building together across posts.

• MTSS is not a thing. It is the thing from which all other things flow.

• MTSS defines the district’s instructional framework.

• Core instruction—Tier 1—is the foundation of that framework and requires a valid and reliable curriculum.

• Everything aligns with the core, which clearly defines what students will know and be able to do.

• Tier 2 is not a luxury—it is a right. It is aligned to Tier 1 and moves in both directions: support and enrichment.

• Tier 3 is in addition to Tiers 1 and 2 and is reserved for students who need the most support and/or the most extension.

• Students are not their tiers. They receive tiered support based on what they need, when they need it.

• Assessment—and ongoing assessment—is what drives the entire MTSS system.

Phew… okay, that is a lot. But it is good stuff. The right stuff. The stuff that really strong educational programs are made from. I know it’s not orange juice, but it is as sweet!

Now, let’s ground ourselves in what WE know works for approaches within a really strong MTSS instructional framework. I’m going to try to keep this brief, because we know our own adult attention spans are limited, and I want to get to the part you can actually take with you.

What we know:

High-impact tutoring works. Research shows it can accelerate learning by 3 to 15 months and is significantly more effective than traditional tutoring models.

So what is high-impact tutoring, you may ask, and more importantly, what are the components that make it really work?

At its core, it includes:

• frequent sessions (2–3 times per week), embedded within the school day

• short, focused instructional blocks (around 30 minutes)

• very small groups or one-to-one support (no more than 4 students)
  trained educators delivering the instruction

• consistent relationships, where students work with the same adult over time and

• materials that are directly aligned to grade-level, core instruction

Ok, so hold on, I want to add one more.

What we also know:

Kids don’t get better at reading by reading easier texts. They improve when supported with grade-level texts.

If we want students to comprehend complex text, then we have to actually teach them how to navigate it:

• breaking words apart and sounding them out

• building fluency through practice and feedback

• developing vocabulary within the text

• making meaning across sentences and ideas

And most importantly, having them READ, WRITE & SPEAK WIDELY, and THINK CRITICALLY about complex grade-level texts across the content areas. And let’s not forget the novels (lots of them!).

That’s instruction. That’s alignment. That’s commitment.

And on top of that…

We need to tap into prior knowledge and build knowledge.

Through:

• science

• social studies

• the arts

• experiences, a lot of experiences

So here is where I really want us to stop and think, if these three things are true—

• high impact tutoring increases student outcomes measurably

• students reading grade-level texts improves reading measurably

• building background knowledge increases comprehension measurably

—then Tier 2 must embody these three tenets and cannot be:

• Disconnected

• Reactive or

• Something that replaces Tier 1 or is confused with Tier 3

It has to be part of the structure that makes all of the learning stated above possible for more students, more consistently.

And just to be clear, none of this works without a strong Tier 1. Tier 2 is not there to fix what Tier 1 didn’t provide; it’s there to ensure more students can fully access the core instruction and extend it.

And this is where I want to zoom in, this is where systems either come to life…or fall apart. We’ve seen this play out in real schools, not just in isolated pockets, but across the country.

A national analysis by The 74 Million, These Schools Are Beating the Odds in Teaching Kids to Read, examined literacy rates alongside poverty levels across:

• 10,000 districts

• 42,000 schools and

• 3 million students

The purpose of the study was to identify what they called “bright spot” schools, those outperforming expectations based on their student populations. These schools, represented as gold circles in the analysis, fall within the top 5% in their state for exceeding expected reading proficiency.

A district I previously worked in was highlighted in this analysis, with 4 out of its 5 elementary schools identified as beating the odds. Not a gold circle—but a blue one above the red line is still a step in a positive direction for ALL learners. This matters because it disrupts the excuse that demographics determine destiny and could give us evidence that what we are doing is working.

Which turns the question from whether children can learn to read to whether adults have built the kind of coherent instructional systems that make strong reading outcomes possible?

So what does that coherent instructional system look like?

Going back to the beginning of the article, where I spoke about MTSS as the instructional framework for the district, when done well it becomes the coherent instructional system and explains what is done to support all children across the literacy continuum.

To do this, I need you to keep in mind the core aspects of high-impact tutoring: the frequency, the alignment, the small groups, and the relationships.

Thus, what we created as a district-wide team included the components of high-impact tutoring with a focus on literacy across the content areas during our Tier 2 team-teach approach.

Now, let’s step inside to think about what it looks like, feels like, and sounds like in this system.

It looks like trained educators team-teaching in the grade-level content areas for at least 30-40 minutes a day or every other day, in addition to the core instructional period. It looks like small groups of students working with highly trained classroom teachers, reading teachers, and reading teaching assistants, focusing on reading, writing, and speaking across the content areas.

Where this time is embedded in the day—clearly delineated time—that the highly trained educators in the approaches to teaching literacy deliver, alongside their colleagues, small-group support, where they are able to build relationships with their students because they have had the good fortune of working with the same adult over time.

That the materials and approaches used are directly aligned to the grade-level core instruction, and each and every child is able to read, write, and speak about grade-level fiction and non-fiction texts.

It looks like the teachers co-planning regularly, knowing the strengths of their learners as well as their areas for growth, and co-assessing to analyze and evaluate a child’s—and groups of children’s—progress. It looks like grade-level teams from across the district collaborating on curriculum and committing to a core set of evidence-based literacy teacher and student routines. And willingly signing up to get trained on these very same literacy routines.

It looks like kids reading deeply, it sounds like teachers giving direct/explicit instruction with immediate feedback, and it sounds like children reading aloud, reading silently, and talking meaningfully.

And it feels like true learning—it feels truly amazing.

And I am sure, I know what you are thinking—how?

Well, that is easy and not so easy.

It takes commitment at the district and building levels to build this into the day, to provide professional development to build our educators’ capacity, and to believe that it is the teacher who teaches and builds relationships, not a program or an app.

This only works if we intentionally build our educators’ capacity to do this work well. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are not places for guesswork. They require expertise.

And when teachers feel valued and that their work matters, something beautiful happens—they/we all work toward the common good with effervescence.

Yes, I describe it as effervescence because when we all believe that what we do can positively impact children's lives, we disrupt the belief that demographics, socio-economics, and life circumstances affect a child more than our work with them. And when we see the measurable and immeasurable gains, it is like a high we keep chasing.

So, while there is always more work to do, one will never know how far we can go, how high we can get our scores, or how close to perfect we can get the student experience if the coherent instructional framework continues to shift and change. We will only know the true impact if we stay committed and continue to invest in our people—the people who have committed their lives to nurturing and growing the most important treasure of others—their kids. AND I thank them for that.

And maybe that is where this comes full circle.

Because in Apollo 13, it wasn’t one move that saved the mission—it was a team, working within a system, grounded in what they knew worked, staying focused on a shared goal, and making adjustments without abandoning the structure that held everything together.

And that is the work in front of us.

Not reacting after something breaks, rebuilding every time something feels hard, but designing systems that hold, systems that allow us to stay focused on what matters most.

Improving student outcomes for ALL.

Thank you to my beautifully talented colleagues. It has truly been a gift to work alongside you.

Sources:

Aldeman, C. (2025, November 4). These schools are beating the odds in teaching kids to read. The 74. https://www.the74million.org/article/these-schools-are-beating-the-odds-in-teaching-kids-to-read/

National Education Association. (n.d.). The push to scale up high-impact tutoring. NEA News. https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/high-impact-tutoring

Shanahan, T. (2026, January 10). What we talk about when we talk about reading curriculum. Shanahan on Literacy. https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-reading-curriculum