Students who are meeting or exceeding standards may require enrichment beyond the core to demonstrate academic growth. It is the school’s responsibility to ensure that all students make academic progress regardless of their entry-level.  The Branching Minds Support Library contains learning activities that may be used as early as Tier 1, as teachers design differentiated instruction for individual or small groups of students. Below are some examples from the Branching Minds Support Library:

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -William Butler Yates

With all the distractions of our culture today, keeping students engaged for learning is an all too common challenge. Although numerous teaching obstacles remain, there are several small but significant things that schools and teachers can do to boost and maintain student engagement.

Read along to review some student engagement strategies you can implement in your district. 

When it comes to improving students’ understanding of math skills and concepts, it is essential for them to feel a sense of efficacy, motivation, and engagement with the material. One way to ensure this is by implementing methods that not only help students solve the problem in front of them but also develop cognitive skills to solve more difficult and complex problems independently. 

Identifying students’ tier level of support is an integral part of any Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework. Not only does it help educators know which students require targeted and intensive intervention plans, but it also provides insight into the health of a district or school’s MTSS practice. When leaders have visibility into the proportion of students at each tier level and how students are moving across levels of support, they can identify gaps and develop strategies to strengthen their intervention approaches. 

A three-tiered system of service delivery is a necessary structure to efficiently and effectively support all children, not just those who struggle in school. The three-tiered system of service delivery is crucial in the attempt to ensure all students achieve at high levels and all students achieve college and career readiness. 

A three-tiered system of service delivery is a necessary structure to efficiently and effectively support all children, not just those who struggle in school. The three-tiered system of service delivery is crucial in the attempt to ensure all students achieve at high levels and all students achieve college and career readiness. 

At Tier 1, all students receive scientific, research-based core instruction implemented with integrity and emphasizing grade-level standards and school-wide behavioral expectations. Instruction at Tier 1 should be explicit, differentiated and include flexible grouping and active student engagement. To ensure 80% of students’ needs are met at Tier 1, high quality instruction is essential. Features of high quality, research-based instruction include (Chard et al., 2008):