Name That Tier:
1, 2, or 3?
1, 2, or 3?
Teacher observes students during centers
Tier 1
Teacher administers DIBELS to all students at the beginning of the year
Screening (Tier 1)
A student occasionally forgets past tense verbs during class discussion
Model correct language and provide embedded support (Tier 1)
Teacher notices minor grammar errors and immediately refers the student for special education evaluation
Fix: Start with Tier 1 supports (modeling, recasts) before referring
A young child uses only single words and struggles to follow directions. A formal language assessment is conducted.
Tier 3
Teacher uses a brief assessment to identify which students may need additional reading support
Screening (Tier 1)
Several students are struggling to understand new vocabulary during reading
Strengthen whole-class vocabulary instruction (Tier 1)
Teacher gives a whole-class lesson, but several students are still struggling and no additional support is provided
Add Tier 2 small-group instruction for targeted support
Teacher conducts an elicitation probe (“jump → jumped”) to assess a student’s grammar skills
Tier 2
Teacher uses weekly probes to track a student’s use of verb endings over time
Progress monitoring (Tier 2)
A student consistently omits verb endings despite whole-class instruction
Provide targeted small-group instruction (Tier 2)
Teacher uses only a standardized test to understand a student’s language difficulties
Include multiple assessments (e.g., language sample, observation) to get a fuller picture
A student shows minimal progress despite targeted small-group intervention over several weeks.
Tier 2 failure-->consider moving to Tier 3
A teacher collects language samples from a student across several weeks to monitor improvement in sentence structure
Progress monitoring (Tier 2)
A student shows little progress after several weeks of small-group intervention.
Refer for diagnostic assessment (Tier 3)
Student receives small-group intervention, but the teacher does not track progress over time
Add progress monitoring (e.g., weekly probes or language samples)
A student participates in class but struggles socially with peers; difficulties are only observed during unstructured group activities.
Tier 2
A comprehensive, standardized language assessment is administered to determine the nature and severity of a student’s language difficulties
Diagnostic (Tier 3)
A student struggles socially during unstructured group work but performs well academically
Provide targeted social communication support in small groups (Tier 2)
Student receives 1:1 intervention outside the classroom with no opportunities to practice skills in real settings
Incorporate opportunities for generalization in natural contexts (classroom, peers)