Tiers of Instruction

All educators in a school system must collaborate to support adolescent learners and align their understanding of tiers of instruction. When educators use different instructional language, strategies, and routines from classroom to classroom and tier to tier, students have to learn how each class operates, in addition to learning the content and/or skills taught in each class. This causes confusion for students and increases their cognitive load. Aligning instructional strategies and routines across tiers, grade levels, and content areas benefits students by freeing them to focus solely on learning the content and skills being taught.  

When adolescent students are not at grade level in reading, the focus of support typically revolves around content literacy, or disciplinary literacy. While this can be helpful, many need intervention at the foundational level of reading before they can effectively apply disciplinary literacy strategies. The following resources provide guidance for building these systems of support.