Identify the gaps.
Pull the groups.
Teach the skills.
Track the data.
Adjust instruction.

Easy, right?

Except in a real classroom, it can feel like you are trying to build the plane while flying it.

You have students who need extra support. You have students who are ready to move on. You have district screeners, small groups, pacing guides, lesson plans, and about fifteen other things pulling for your attention.

And somewhere in the middle of all of that, you are supposed to create a math intervention system that actually works.

No pressure.

But here is the good news:

Math intervention does not have to feel like a guessing game.

When you have a simple, repeatable system, intervention becomes much easier to manage. You know where to start. You know what data to look at. You know how to group students. You know when to reteach and when to move forward.

A strong math intervention system helps you stop guessing and start making instructional decisions with purpose.

Let’s break down what that can look like in your classroom.

Step 1: Start With the Right Students

Before you can plan math intervention, you need to know who needs support.

That sounds obvious, but this is where many teachers get stuck. There can be so much data available that it becomes hard to know what actually matters.

You might have:

• Beginning-of-year assessments
• District screeners
• Classroom observations
• Exit tickets
• Quick checks
• Unit tests
• Small group notes
• Student work samples

That is a lot of information.

Instead of trying to use everything at once, start by looking for patterns.

Which students are consistently struggling?
Which students are missing prerequisite skills?
Which students seem to understand during the lesson but struggle independently?
Which students are making the same types of mistakes over and over again?

You do not have to wait until a student is completely lost before starting intervention.

In fact, you should not.

Math intervention works best when we catch gaps early and respond with targeted support.

That does not mean every student needs a full intervention plan. It means you are watching for the students who need more than whole group instruction to be successful.

Sometimes that is a student who is far below grade level.

Sometimes it is a student who is only missing one important building block.

Both students need support, but they may not need the same support.

That is why the next step matters so much.

Step 2: Find the Specific Skill Gap

One of the biggest mistakes teachers can make with math intervention is starting with a problem that is too broad.

Saying “this student struggles in math” is true, but it is not specific enough to guide instruction.

Math is too big.

You need to know the actual skill gap.

For example, is the student struggling with:

• Place value
• Basic operations
• Fractions
• Measurement
• Geometry
• Word problem solving
• Number sense
• Math vocabulary
• Multi-step problems

Those are very different needs

A student who struggles with fractions may need visual models, number lines, and opportunities to compare parts of a whole.

A student who struggles with place value may need base-ten blocks, expanded form, and work with number relationships.

A student who struggles with word problems may understand the operation but need help making sense of what the problem is asking.

That is why targeted intervention matters.

The more specific the gap, the more effective your instruction can be.

This is also where your math intervention resources should match the need. If you know a group of students is struggling with place value, you can pull a place value intervention resource. If students need support across multiple domains, a grade-level intervention binder may be a better fit.

Looking for targeted support by grade level or skill? Browse Math Intervention resources here.

Step 3: Use Screening Data, But Don’t Stop There

District screeners can be helpful.

They can show you which students may need support. They can give you a broad picture of student performance. They can help you identify students who are below benchmark.

But here is the part teachers know all too well:

Screeners do not always tell you exactly what to teach next.

A screener might tell you a student is struggling in math, but it may not clearly show whether the breakdown is with number sense, computation, place value, fractions, or problem solving.

And when you are sitting down to plan small groups, you need more than a broad score.

You need instructional information.

You need to know:

• What skill does this student need help with?
• What part of the skill is breaking down?
• Can the student solve it with support?
• Is this a conceptual misunderstanding or a procedural mistake?
• How will I know if the student is making progress?

That is where quick checks, pre-assessments, and standards-based progress monitoring are so helpful.

You do not need a giant assessment every week.

Actually, please do not do that to yourself.

You just need a simple way to check whether students understand the skill you are teaching.

A few focused problems can tell you a lot.

If students get it, you can move forward.
If students are still confused, you can reteach.
If some students understand and others do not, you can regroup.

That is the power of using data in a way that actually helps you teach.

Need help turning your data into small groups? Start with a grade-level Math Intervention Binder.

Step 4: Group Students by Need, Not Just Level

Once you know the skill gaps, you can start forming groups.

But here is an important reminder:

Intervention groups should not be permanent labels.

They are temporary support systems.

A student may need support with fractions, but be strong in geometry. Another student may struggle with place value but do well with basic operations. Another student may understand the math conceptually but need more practice with fluency.

That is why grouping students only by “high, medium, and low” does not always give you the clearest picture.

Instead, group students by what they need right now.

For example:

• A group working on understanding place value
• A group practicing addition and subtraction within 20
• A group reviewing multiplication strategies
• A group comparing fractions
• A group working on measurement conversions
• A group solving multi-step word problems

These groups can and should change.

As students grow, your groups shift.

That is a good thing.

It means your intervention system is responding to students instead of locking them into a level.

Flexible grouping makes math intervention more targeted, more efficient, and more helpful.

Step 5: Teach With Explicit Instruction and Mental Imagery

Once your groups are formed, it is time to teach.

This is where we have to be careful.

Math intervention should not just be giving students more problems and hoping it clicks.

If students did not understand the skill the first time, they likely need clearer instruction, stronger models, and more opportunities to talk through the math.

That is where explicit instruction matters.

During intervention, students need you to:

• Model the skill
• Think aloud
• Show each step
• Use visuals and models
• Ask intentional questions
• Guide practice before expecting independence

They also need help building mental imagery.

In math, students should be able to picture what is happening.

When students understand numbers only as symbols on a page, math can feel abstract and confusing. But when they can visualize the math, they are more likely to understand the meaning behind the steps.

That might look like using:

• Base-ten blocks
• Number lines
• Ten frames
• Arrays
• Fraction strips
• Area models
• Place value charts
• Drawings or quick sketches

The goal is not to keep students dependent on manipulatives forever.

The goal is to help them move from concrete understanding to visual understanding to abstract reasoning.

That progression matters, especially for students who need intervention.

You want students to understand the math, not just memorize a procedure.

So instead of only asking, “What is the answer?” try asking:

• How do you know?
• Can you show it another way?
• Does that answer make sense?
• What strategy did you use?
• Where did you get stuck?
• What do you notice?

Those questions help you see what students are thinking.

And once you know what they are thinking, you can teach more effectively.

Step 6: Track Progress Without Making It Complicated

Progress monitoring is what turns intervention from extra help into intentional instruction.

But progress monitoring does not need to take over your life.

You do not need a complicated spreadsheet.
You do not need a full test every Friday.
You do not need to track every single math skill at once.

You need a simple way to know:

• Is the student improving?
• Is this strategy working?
• Does the student need more support?
• Is the student ready to move forward?
• Do I need to adjust the group?

That is it.

Track one skill at a time.

Use a quick check. Look for patterns. Make a decision.

If students are showing progress, keep going.
If students are stuck, reteach with a different model.
If students are ready, move them forward.

Progress monitoring should help you make decisions, not create more paperwork just for the sake of paperwork.

Want progress monitoring tools already organized for you? Check out these multiple grade-level Math Intervention Progress Monitoring Bundles.

Step 7: Adjust Instruction Based on the Data

This is the part that matters most.

Data should not just sit in a binder.

It should help you decide what to do next.

After you teach a skill and check student progress, ask yourself:

• Do they understand it?
• Are they making the same mistake?
• Did the model help?
• Do they need more guided practice?
• Are they ready for independent practice?
• Should this group stay together or change?

Then use that information to adjust.

You might need to:

• Reteach the skill with a different model
• Pull a smaller group
• Give more guided practice
• Move students to independent practice
• Regroup based on new data
• Move on to the next skill

This is what makes intervention a cycle.

You are not just teaching random lessons and hoping they work.

You are teaching, checking, adjusting, and teaching again.

That is how student growth happens.

Want Help Building Your Math Intervention System?

If you are ready to stop piecing things together and want a clear framework for math intervention, my Math Intervention Masterclass is designed to walk teachers through the process of building a more organized, data-driven, and manageable intervention system.

This is a great next step if you want help thinking through:

• How to identify students for intervention
• How to use data without overcomplicating it
• How to create meaningful groups
• How to teach with purpose
• How to monitor progress
• How to make intervention feel more manageable

Learn more about the Math Intervention Masterclass.

Math intervention does not have to be perfect to be powerful.

You do not need to overhaul your entire math block tomorrow.

Start with a simple system:

1. Identify the students who need support
2. Find the specific skill gap
3. Use data, but do not stop with broad screeners
4. Group students by need
5. Teach with explicit instruction and visuals
6. Track progress with quick checks
7. Adjust instruction based on what students need next

That is a system you can repeat.

And when you have a system, intervention starts to feel less overwhelming.

You are no longer guessing.
You are no longer scrambling.
You are no longer trying to fix every gap at once.

You are making one purposeful decision at a time.

And that is what makes math intervention manageable.

Ready to Make Math Intervention Easier?

Do not try to fix your entire intervention block at once.

Start by choosing one skill, one group, and one way to track progress.

A strong math intervention system is built one repeatable step at a time.

If you want ready-to-use tools to help organize your math intervention block, check out my Math Intervention resources. They are designed to help teachers identify skill gaps, support small groups, monitor progress, and make data-driven instructional decisions without building everything from scratch.

Need a starting point before building your full intervention system?

Download your FREE Math Intervention Audit

The post How to Build a Math Intervention System That Actually Works appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

You know your students need support.
You know the data matters.
You know small groups are important.

But between whole group instruction, lesson planning, assessments, grading, meetings, and everything else on your plate, math intervention can start to feel impossible.

And if we are being honest, it can also feel overwhelming because there are so many opinions about what intervention should look like.

Should it be separate from your math block?
Should it only happen during RTI time?
Should you wait for district data?
Should every student have a perfectly customized plan?

Whew. No wonder teachers feel stuck.

But sometimes the problem is not math intervention itself.

Sometimes the problem is the myths we have believed about what intervention has to look like.

Let’s clear up a few of those myths so you can make math intervention feel more doable, purposeful, and helpful for your students.

Myth #1: I Don’t Have Enough Time for Math Intervention

This is probably the most common reason teachers feel stuck with math intervention.

And honestly? It makes sense.

There are only so many minutes in a school day. Your math block already has a lot packed into it. You have standards to teach, lessons to get through, students who need enrichment, students who need reteaching, and students who somehow need you at your small group table all at the same time.

It is a lot.

But here is the thing:

Math intervention does not always have to be a huge, separate block of time.

Sometimes intervention looks like pulling a small group for 10 minutes while the rest of the class works independently.

Sometimes it looks like using a quick check to find one skill that needs reteaching.

Sometimes it looks like reviewing place value, number sense, or basic operations with a small group before moving into the next lesson.

Small and consistent is better than perfect and occasional.

If you wait until you have the perfect intervention schedule, the perfect groups, and the perfect data, you may never start.

Instead, start small.

Choose one skill.
Choose one group.
Choose one way to check for understanding.

That counts.

Ready to save time? Start with these grade-level Math Intervention Binders.

Myth #2: Pull-Out Services Are Enough

Pull-out services can be incredibly helpful. Many students benefit from additional support outside of the classroom, especially when they need more intensive instruction.

But pull-out services should not be the entire intervention plan.

Students still need support during regular math instruction. They still need their classroom teacher to notice patterns, respond to confusion, and provide targeted instruction when a skill is not clicking.

Math intervention is not only about remediation.

It is also about differentiation and prevention.

That means we do not want to wait until students are completely lost before we step in. We want to notice the gaps early and provide support before those gaps grow wider.

Intervention is not just about catching students after they struggle.

It is also about noticing what they need before the gap gets bigger.

That might look like:

• Pulling a quick group after a lesson
• Reviewing prerequisite skills before teaching a new concept
• Using visuals or models when students need a different way to understand the math
• Giving a short progress check to see who is ready to move on

The classroom teacher plays a huge role in math intervention because you see your students every day.

You notice the hesitation.
You hear the explanations.
You know who is guessing.
You know who is relying on memorized steps.
You know who almost has it but needs one more push.

That information matters.

Myth #3: My District Screener Gives Me All the Data I Need

District screeners can be helpful. They can show you which students may need support and give you a broad picture of student performance.

But most screeners do not tell you everything you need to know for daily instruction.

A screener might tell you that a student is below grade level in math, but it may not tell you exactly where the breakdown is happening.

Is the student struggling with place value?
Basic operations?
Fractions?
Problem solving?
Math vocabulary?
Number sense?

That is the information you need when you are planning intervention.

Because “this student struggles in math” is too broad.

You need to know the specific skill gap so you can choose the right instruction.

That is where targeted assessments, quick checks, and progress monitoring come in.

You do not need a huge assessment every week. You just need a simple way to answer these questions:

• What skill does this student need help with?
• Has the student improved after instruction?
• Do I need to reteach this skill another way?
• Is the student ready to move forward?
• Should this group change?

When your data is specific, your instruction becomes more purposeful.

Need help finding the exact skill gap? These Math Intervention Progress Monitoring Bundles can help organize your data and small groups.

Myth #4: Math Intervention Means More Worksheets

This one is important.

Math intervention should not just be more of the same.

If a student did not understand the skill during whole group instruction, giving them another page of similar problems may not fix the issue.

Sometimes extra practice helps, but only if the student understands what they are practicing.

Intervention needs to be targeted.

It needs to help students understand the math, not just complete more problems.

That might mean using:

• Visual models
• Manipulatives
• Number lines
• Base-ten blocks
• Fraction models
• Math conversations
• Step-by-step teacher modeling
• Guided practice with feedback

It also means asking better questions.

Instead of only asking, “What is the answer?” try asking:

• How do you know?
• Can you show it another way?
• Does that answer make sense?
• What strategy did you use?
• Where did you get stuck?

Those questions help you see what students understand and where they are still confused.

Sometimes students can get the right answer without understanding the math.

Other times, they get the wrong answer, but their thinking shows they are closer than you realized.

That is why teacher questioning is such a powerful part of intervention.

If your students need targeted support in one specific skill area, try one of these domain-specific Math Intervention packs.

Myth #5: Intervention Has to Be Complicated to Work

Math intervention does not need to be complicated to be effective.

In fact, the more complicated the system is, the harder it is to keep up with.

A strong intervention system needs a clear, repeatable process.

That is it.

Here is a simple framework you can use:

1. Identify the Skill Gap

Start by figuring out what students actually need.

Be specific.

Instead of saying, “They struggle with math,” identify the exact skill.

For example:

• Comparing fractions
• Understanding place value
• Solving word problems
• Adding and subtracting within 20
• Multiplying multi-digit numbers

The more specific you are, the easier it is to teach.

2. Group Students by Need

Intervention groups should be flexible.

A student may need support with fractions but be strong in geometry. Another student may struggle with place value but do well with computation.

Groups should be based on the skill, not a permanent label.

3. Teach the Skill Explicitly

Students need clear instruction.

Model the skill.
Think aloud.
Show the steps.
Use visuals when needed.

Let students hear your thinking so they can build their own.

4. Practice With Support

Students need time to practice while you are still there to guide them.

This is where you can catch mistakes early, ask questions, and correct misunderstandings before they become habits.

5. Progress Monitor

Use a quick check to see if the intervention is working.

This does not need to be long or complicated.

A few targeted problems can give you valuable information.

6. Adjust Instruction

This is the part that matters most.

If students understand the skill, move forward.
If they are still confused, reteach it another way.
If some students are ready and others are not, regroup.

Intervention is not a one-time lesson.

It is a cycle.

You teach, check, adjust, and keep going.

Math Intervention Can Be Manageable

If math intervention has felt overwhelming, you are not alone.

But it does not have to be an all-or-nothing system.

You do not need to fix every math gap in one week.
You do not need perfect groups.
You do not need a complicated spreadsheet with 47 tabs.

You need a starting point.

Start with one skill.
Pull one group.
Use one quick check.
Make one instructional decision from that data.

That is how a manageable math intervention system begins.

And once you have a simple system in place, intervention starts to feel less like one more thing and more like a natural part of your math block.

Ready to Make Math Intervention Easier?

If you want support planning targeted, data-driven math intervention, check out my Math Intervention resources.

They are designed to help teachers:

• Identify skill gaps
• Provide meaningful practice
• Monitor progress
• Track student data
• Support students without building everything from scratch

Math intervention does not have to be overwhelming.

Start small, stay consistent, and let the data guide your next step.

How does your current Math Intervention program stack up?

Take the FREE Math Intervention Audit and see!

GET MY FREE AUDIT

The post Math Intervention Myths That Keep Teachers Stuck appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

You’re trying to teach grade-level standards, keep your math block moving, and still meet the needs of students who are behind. On top of that, you’re expected to bring clear documentation to data meetings: screening results, progress monitoring, instructional focus, and proof of growth.

Most teachers aren’t struggling because they don’t care. They’re struggling because they don’t have a consistent, realistic system.

If you’ve ever thought…

• “I know who needs help, but I don’t have clean data to show it.”
• “I don’t have time to make new intervention materials every week.”
• “Progress monitoring keeps slipping because the tools aren’t ready when I need them.”
• “My intervention feels like random worksheets instead of targeted instruction.”

…you’re not alone.

The fix is not more work. It’s a better process.

Why RTI math intervention breaks down

Most RTI/MTSS math intervention struggles for three reasons:

1) There’s no clear, repeatable workflow

Teachers are expected to “do RTI” without being given a consistent structure.

2) The resources are scattered

Pulling screening tools, practice pages, and progress monitoring checks from different places takes time you don’t have. And when resources aren’t aligned, intervention becomes inconsistent.

3) Progress monitoring data is hard to manage

Even when you collect data, tracking it and turning it into something useful for meetings can feel like a separate job.

That’s exactly why having an organized RTI math intervention system matters.

A no-prep RTI/MTSS math intervention system for grades K–8

Math Intervention Bundles for Grades K–8 were created to help teachers build a systematic, data-driven intervention process without spending nights and weekends assembling it.

This is a comprehensive, standards-based RTI math intervention bundle that gives you the tools to:

• identify skill gaps quickly
• target instruction precisely
• provide guided and independent practice
• progress monitor consistently
• track and graph growth with confidence

Instead of scrambling to create an intervention plan, you can focus on what matters most: teaching students the skills they need.

What’s included in the Math Intervention Bundles (Grades K–8)

This RTI math intervention bundle includes five intervention sets for each domain for every grade K–8, with all standards included.

For each domain, you get:

• Pre/Post Tests for screening and measuring growth
  • Includes item analysis for each assessment so you can pinpoint gaps
• Quick checks for every standard
  • Perfect for ongoing progress monitoring
• Practice pages for each standard
  • Segmented by procedural understanding and conceptual understanding
• Procedural and conceptual questioning prompts
  • Helps you identify whether students can “do it” and whether they truly “get it”
• Progress monitoring graphing forms
• Excel RTI graphing pack
  • Create clean, professional graphs quickly
• Print (PDF) and digital versions
  • Digital files are made in Google Slides

Everything is organized so you can grab the domain you’re teaching, assess, group, teach, monitor, and document growth without reinventing the wheel.

Why item analysis and hyper-targeting matter in RTI math

Effective intervention is not “more practice.” It’s the right practice.

Hyper-targeting is the difference between:

• giving students extra worksheets and hoping it helps
  and
• identifying the exact skill breakdown and teaching it with intention

The item analysis included with each domain pre-test and post-test helps you:

• see which standards need support
• group students strategically
• plan intervention lessons that are aligned and focused

This makes RTI/MTSS math intervention faster, smarter, and more effective.

Procedural vs conceptual understanding: the gap most interventions miss

Math struggles are not always obvious.

Some students can follow steps but don’t understand the concept.
Other students understand the concept but can’t execute the skill accurately or fluently.

That’s why this resource separates practice into:

• procedural understanding (steps, skills, accuracy)
• conceptual understanding (reasoning, models, deeper comprehension)

And it includes questioning prompts so you can pinpoint what’s really going on, not just what the score shows.

This leads to better instruction and fewer students getting stuck in the same spot.

Progress monitoring that’s realistic for teachers

Progress monitoring is required in RTI/MTSS, but it often gets skipped because it’s too hard to manage.

This bundle makes progress monitoring manageable by giving you:

• quick checks aligned to every standard
• data tracking forms that are ready to use
• graphing tools (including Excel) to turn data into clear visuals

That means:

• less guesswork
• stronger documentation
• more confidence in intervention decisions

And you can walk into data meetings with evidence, not a messy stack of papers.

How teachers use this intervention bundle in real classrooms

This resource works for intervention students and also supports your whole class.

Use it to:

• support Tier 2 and Tier 3 students with a consistent process
• run small groups with targeted skills and aligned practice
• make data-driven decisions about intervention needs
• provide preventative support for Tier 1 students before gaps grow

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, interventionist, special education teacher, or instructional coach, this bundle gives you a complete RTI math intervention system for grades K–8.

The bottom line

RTI/MTSS math intervention doesn’t have to feel chaotic or impossible.

When you have the right system in place, you can:

• identify needs quickly
• teach the right skills
• monitor progress consistently
• document growth clearly

The Math Intervention Bundles for Grades K–8 take the guesswork out of intervention so you can stop patching resources together and start delivering targeted instruction that actually moves students forward.

If your current RTI math intervention process feels scattered, these bundles are the solution that brings it all together.

Pick Your Grade Level to Get Started:

The post RTI Math Intervention Made Easy: Progress Monitoring Tools for Grades K–8 appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

Be realistic

Teachers are some of the most generous people I know. They will go to great lengths for their students and often times carry the weight of their students’ struggles with them even when they’re outside of the classroom. It’s hard to be reasonable about the improvement your students will make.

Years ago, I had a student who was several years behind. Despite being a 3^rd grader, his beginning of the year assessments showed he was working on a kindergarten level in math. I worked with him all year whenever I could, but it still wasn’t enough to pass the 3^rd grade state test. I was devastated- I felt like I had failed him and I carried that with me for a while.

What I failed to realize, is that I should have been celebrating the growth he achieved by finishing the year at a 2^nd grade level in math.

Be kind to yourself. You’re not going to completely close gaps that are years wide. Do the best you can and the development will come at a healthy pace. On the flip side, don’t modify grade level expectations by providing certain students with a curriculum that requires less work. Find the right balance for both you and the student in need and celebrate successes no matter how small with that student.

Understanding the intervention process

I have worked with a lot of teachers on intervention and there are occasions where the teacher isn’t familiar with the tiers of remediation.

“Jimmy struggles with every new skill in math”

“How often do you work with Jimmy in small groups or 1:1?”

“I work with Jimmy when I’m teaching the whole class.”

The most basic level of intervention occurs when you are with the whole class, but the most critical steps of remediation take place in a more isolated setting such as small group instruction or 1:1. This is not easy. You are short on time. Try carving out 10-15 minutes a day to provide Tier II and III interventions. There will never be enough time in the school day to achieve everything you want, so go back to prioritizing the skills that are most important. For one student in particular, it might be just multiplication; just one skill that you cover both procedurally and conceptually.

Have a baseline set of data

You need to identify the academic deficiencies of your students. Before you can provide intervention, you need to know the skills to reteach. I use these beginning of the year assessments to pinpoint class needs and specific needs of individual students. These free assessments have questions that specifically target procedural and conceptual understanding for each standard.

It can feel overwhelming when you look at student scores. It feels as though the needs of just one student are so wide and impossible to achieve. In this case scale it back. Focus on prerequisite skills that are continuously needed. Focus on the four operations of math, number sense, fluency, and problem solving. Quadrilaterals are important but not as important as conceptually understanding multiplication.

Keep it short and sweet

The #1 struggle with implementing intervention is TIME. There is never enough time to achieve everything you as it is, and adding another thing to your schedule seems impossible. Allocate 10-15 minutes a day for intervention, that’s it! In the past I have had students silent read for 10-15 while I worked with a small group or one student. It’s not always perfect but you make it work.

Monitoring progress

Without a doubt the most important part of intervention is to decide how you will track student progress. Administration, parents, support staff, and of course you will want to know if the remediation is actually working. In the past, I have used a schedule that provides intervention on a new topic/standard for 4 days. Then I assessed on Fridays. You don’t want to assess too often nor do you want to wait too long. I find that most intervention plans last about 6 weeks before the team wants to meet and discuss progress. With this schedule you can collect 6 points of data to share during those meetings.

Using standards based mini assessments

What will the assessments you use to track data look like? Use quick and easy to complete assessments that isolate and focus on specific skills. These will be the skills that you are reviewing during intervention time. I use assessments that are standards based so I know exactly where the student’s understanding lies. The assessments I use also cover procedural and conceptual understanding.

Keep records of everything

Data tracking is EVERYTHING in intervention. Keep records of student work, assessments, and notes. This will help you during parent conferences, RTI meetings, and/or conferences with admin. Here are the four pieces of data I bring to every meeting related to the remediation needs of a child:

1. Standardized test scores – from previous year to current year
2. Graphs showing student progress – this includes the mini assessments I administered during the intervention process
3. Graphs comparing the student in RTI with the class – class averages and student averages of assessments that everyone is completing
4. Work samples of the resources and activities we completed together during small group/ 1:1 instruction

Don’t give up

It may be hard to see the effect of your efforts and hard work but it will come. Stay consistent and it will start to pay off. Remember you and your students are doing a great job! Our Math Intervention Resources for grades K-8 eliminates all the prep work for you so you can focus on what really matters- helping your students!

The post Short and Effective Strategies for Math Intervention appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

See Jane learn. Learn, Jane, learn.

Wouldn’t it be easy to have a class full of Janes? Imagine teaching a class where all the children were on the same, “average” level.

It might be easy, but it would also be boring! The challenge of teaching is meeting the needs of the children at the higher and lower ends of the learning spectrum. Even the same student can have varying needs. He may be “average” in math, need enrichment in reading, but need intervention for spelling.

It’s difficult to fully meet the needs of all my students. Therefore, I find it helpful to clearly define my goals for intervention and enrichment.

Intervention Defined

The official definition of an intervention is “a strategy used to teach a new skill, build fluency in a skill, or encourage a child to apply an existing skill to new situations or settings.” An intervention has specific, formal steps. It’s also tracked to measure your student’s progress.

Interventions are often associated with reading or math RTI, but they can come in all areas of student skills:

• Academic – can include study skills, time management, note-taking skills or organization
• Instructional – typically in reading or math
• Behavioral – to teach and reward positive behaviors

Implementing Intervention

Often, teachers think of intervention as below grade level work for struggling students. However, that’s a big mistake! Thinking of intervention that way shortchanges you and your students in a few ways:

• It cuts out students who need non-instructional interventions. Sometimes the life skills that you teach through behavioral or academic interventions are the most important of all.
• Does your grade level have a standardized test? If so, you have to teach the grade level content to weaker students, too.
• Students on grade level may need short-term, targeted interventions in a specific skill.

Creating intervention materials is time consuming, but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Check out my intervention packs for loads of great resources for you and your students.

Enrichment Defined

The definition of enrichment is “meaningful instruction at a higher level for those who need it.” But enrichment doesn’t have to only be academic. Therefore, enrichment can include extra activities in:

• Student government
• Music
• Art
• Drama
• Science
• Game strategy
• New language

All those activities give students a chance to develop and expand important skills. However, these non-instructional enrichments usually happen outside the classroom.

Implementing Enrichment

Within the classroom, we face the challenge of enriching the students who already show mastery of the new material. Similarly to interventions, instructional enrichments are often misunderstood.

Enrichment is not just work that’s above grade level. It’s definitely not about simply giving students more to do. Because our goal is to create meaningful educational experiences we don’t want to punish the advanced student with busywork.

Meaningful enrichment can:

• Extend a student’s learning by having them explore or research a topic in greater detail. For example, a class is studying the Revolutionary War. A student can research an additional battle or find out more information about General Washington.
• Expand a student’s understanding of the material. This is easy to accomplish with attention to Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Bloom’s taxonomy is a hierarchy of thinking skills. For instance, a teacher might require the class to complete a sheet of multiplication problems. That assignment only tests knowledge. But she can ask her enrichment students to solve word problems that apply multiplication concepts to real life. Application is a higher-order thinking skill.
• Give a student a chance to learn a new skill. Don’t be afraid to think out of the box. You can offer your students opportunities to explore some of the non-instructional enrichments listed above. For example, the fourth grade is reading A Cricket in Times Square. Students can compose a song or perform a skit on the material as an enrichment exercise.

To keep class running smoothly, I like to prepare enrichment kits ahead of time. I have them available in bins or envelopes for students who finish their work early. Here’s a link to take a look at my Early Finisher Kits.

Enrichment or intervention, here’s to meeting the needs of all our students.

The post Understanding The Terms Intervention and Enrichment in the Classroom appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

In Part 1 we went over general RTI info and procedures. In Part 2 we took an in-depth look at the materials you need for each stage of the math RTI process. Now, in Part 3, we’re going to discuss the all important data tracking.

“I became a teacher because I love meetings with parents and administrators.”

So said no teacher, ever.

I don’t know about you, but I became a teacher to interact with my students. But don’t forget that outside of the little world of your classroom are parents and administrators who rightfully want updates on your students’ progress.

Parents’ Perspective on RTI Data Tracking

It’s especially important to understand the parents’ perspective when you have students doing RTI. A parent may be unsettled to learn that their child needs intervention. Some schools require a written intervention plan. Even if your school doesn’t require it, every teacher should make it a standard part of the process. RTI (or anything else) will be far more successful when the parents are fully on board.

Parents also want to know whether the interventions are working. Fortunately, RTI is, at its core, a data driven process. This is especially true in math, where it’s easy to isolate specific skills. You can show proof of your students’ progress or lack of progress. When you come to RTI meetings be prepared with samples and lots of data. Remember that your recommendations and reports will mean nothing if you can’t back it up!

There are two ways to prepare for an RTI meeting. Option 1 is to panic the day before. Then spend hours going through weeks of assessments and practice pages. Finally, try to pull together relevant, organized, meaningful data.

Option 2 is to consistently and carefully record your children’s data before and after each intervention. The night before the RTI meeting, calmly pull the student’s file and look over the data. Then go out to dinner with your spouse.

Does Option 2 seem to good too be true? Not at all. Let’s talk about types of documentation to have in your math RTI students’ files at all times.

Math RTI Data Tracking

Here are 4 types of math RTI data tracking:

1.) Graphs showing a student’s progress –

We’re math teachers so we know all about graphs! Make it a bar graph, a line graph or a scatter plot. It doesn’t matter as long as your students’ data gets recorded for every assessment, quick check, pre-test, and post-test. You’ll want a different graph for each skill that you work on with your student.

2.) Graphs comparing the student with the class –

This is important information for you, parents and administration. When you administer class-wide assessments, chart your RTI student on a bar graph compared to the class average. As the year progresses, this will clearly indicate if your student is keeping up or falling farther behind.

For both types of graphs, do yourself a favor and record the data in real time after each assessment. You’ll save yourself hours later. When I couldn’t find ready-made templates to document my students’ progress, I created them myself. You can check out my data tracking templates in the FREE SAMPLER of my math intervention packs.

3.) Work samples –

Save your student’s independent work. Make a copy of a practice page or worksheet and file it away. Keep an anonymous copy of another student’s work to have as a “control.”

4.) Test scores –

When you start a file for an RTI student, look at last year’s records. You can pull and copy test scores, including standardized testing. The more data you can provide, the better!

As hard as it may seem to keep up with all the data tracking, it will be much harder to start from scratch before a meeting!

Best Practices, Materials, and Data Tracking – Pulling it All Together for Math RTI

Why do we do RTI? We do it because it works. But it only works if we do it right:

1. Use the three tier RTI structure to ensure that each student gets the level of intervention he needs.
2. Administer pre and post-year assessments to your entire class.
3. The right materials are crucial! Choose practice pages that focus on a single skill.
4. Research proves that CBM is most effective for progress monitoring. Use frequent mini-assessments and quick checks for each skill.
5. Track data as you go to create a robust file for each math RTI student.

Lots of research has been done on RTI. Originally, most of it focused on reading interventions. Over time there’s been more research on math RTI, too, giving us proven methods and tested interventions. With the right materials and procedures, you’ll find that math was made for RTI.

Check out our math intervention resources in our TpT store so you can get started with intervention in your classroom!

The post The Importance of Data Tracking During The RTI Process – Part 3 appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

Maybe you’re one of those uber lucky teachers who works in a school that gives you a full suite of practice materials and assessments for every skill level. If you exist, enjoy your good fortune and know that we’re all insanely jealous of you.

For the rest of us, we often have to come up with math RTI materials on our own. You can read all about my journey to create the materials I needed for my students.

Based on solid research and what I’ve learned the hard way, here are the three main types of materials that you need for math RTI.

Beginning of the Year and End of the Year RTI Math Assessments

This is where it all begins. The starting point of any RTI is an initial screening. This screening gives you a benchmark of the students’ skills as a class. It uncovers students with weak points and gaps in their knowledge. Every child should receive this test. You’d be surprised how even the strongest student may have a gap somewhere that could haunt him later in his math career. Once you have that data, you can begin appropriate interventions.

The partner of the initial screening is the end of year screening. Again, every student should take this assessment. You’ll have a clear picture of your students’ progress over the past year. The information you glean will help your students’  teachers the following year. It will also help you discover the strong and weak points of your own interventions.

How do you choose your pre/post year assessments? You need a test that:

• Is on grade level

• Aligns with state standards

• Clearly defines the skill that each question targets

Without those qualities, the test results are meaningless.

Our Math Screeners

Our Math benchmark screeners include everything you need to benchmark testing throughout the year. CLICK HERE to grab your screeners, available for grades K-8.

With this resource you get the following benchmark assessments:

1. Beginning of the year screener: At the start of the year the biggest question on every teacher’s mind is “what curriculum did my new students retain from last year?” Our beginning of the screener is unique because it assesses the key math skills from the previous year (it’s a prerequisite test!). No more giving your students a screener at the start of the year full of new curriculum you haven’t covered (because chances are nearly everyone will fail!), this screener shows student mastery of the previous year’s content!

2. Middle of the year screener: This screener covers the numbers and operations in base ten standards and some algebraic thinking standards for the grade level purchased. This will show you exactly what your students have retained from the current year’s instruction.

3. End of year screener: This screener covers all of the curriculum for the grade level purchased. This will provide you with data on student performance for the entire year.

4. Test breakdown sheet: for outlining each question and the standard that it reviews. This sheet also outlines if the question is procedural or conceptual based. (provided for each screener)

5. Item analysis sheet: for you to record how each student performed on the test. Use this for finding trends in your data. (provided for each screener)

6. Answer keys (provided for each screener)

We have screeners for Common Core, TEKS, and BEST! They are available for grades K-8.

Math RTI Practice Pages

You completed your beginning of the year assessment and identified which children need help. You know which skills they lack. Now what? Now come the interventions, of course. You’ll be giving individual students or small groups extra instruction and practice.

For the intervention to work, the practice needs to be:

• Laser focused on a specific skill

• Repeated and reinforced many times

• Possible for the student to complete independently.

This means that for every student and for every skill, a teacher needs multiple practice pages and worksheets.

Once again, to have what I needed for my students I had to create it myself. You can check out a FREE SAMPLER of my math intervention packs in my TpT store

Math RTI Mini-Assessments and Quick Checks

This is the third and most crucial category of RTI materials.

Throughout the year, you need monitor your students’ progress and the efficacy of your interventions. The gold standard in progress monitoring is CBM or curriculum-based measurement. This means monitoring and directly assessing specific academic skills and tracking that progress.

How do you do that? You need mini pre and post-intervention assessments that isolate and highlight specific skills. These quick checks take little time, do them a few times a week.

It’s the only way to know that your interventions are working. Additionally, with continuous progress monitoring, the data will show you when its time to move on to the next step or modify instruction. It’s the only way to gather the data you need to communicate with parents and administration. (More on that in Part 3!)

Guess what? To find appropriate checks for my students I had to make them myself. They are all included in my comprehensive Math Intervention Packs.

Our assessments do more than highlight specific skills; they also indicate whether you are testing procedural understanding or conceptual understanding. Click here to learn more. Knowing the difference is crucial to providing the targeted assistance your students need.

We’ve taken an in-depth look at RTI materials, but there’s still one piece missing from the picture: detailed data tracking. Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series. We’ll cover the hows and whys of data tracking by learning proven tips and best practices. You’ll see how to use your data to get top results for your students and collaborate with your administration and parents.

You’ll be prepared for whatever the school year brings.

The post The Materials You Need For the RTI Process – Part 2 appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

If only it had turned around and seen the open door on the other side of the room.

As teachers, we’re all that poor fly sometimes. We have the best intentions to help our students succeed. When a method isn’t working, we’ll try harder, putting in more time and resources to solve the problem. Sometimes, though, we need to try smarter instead of trying harder.

That, in a nutshell, is what RTI is all about. For years teachers saw students struggling, but didn’t have an effective system for evaluating and assisting those students.

RTI is that elusive system. It’s a roadmap for assessing students’ skills and then using the data to choose the proper interventions.

What is RTI?

RTI stands for Response to Intervention. Throughout the process, the students are evaluated based on how they respond to the teacher’s interventions. The term became widespread starting in 2004 when IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act) was reauthorized. The goal was two-fold:

• Make sure that students weren’t diagnosed with learning disabilities before having a fair chance with appropriate teaching best practices.
• Identify and address weak students before they fell so far behind that they needed special ed services.

Is RTI effective? According to famous researcher John Hattie, the answer is a resounding yes! Hattie’s research concluded that when teachers implement RTI properly students can advance by 2 to 3 grade levels in just one year!

Three RTI Tiered System

The RTI Model has three tiers of instruction:
1. Tier 1 is the strong, core teaching that every student should receive. In this tier, students are assessed two or three times a year to find weaknesses. Within this tier, a teacher will provide differentiated instruction to groups of students with particular gaps. If that strategy doesn’t work within 8 weeks or so, Tier 2 is introduced.

2. Tier 2 is specialized instruction that students receive in small groups a few times a week. Extra help is provided during enrichment activities or electives. That way, they don’t miss out on core instruction. We assess students in Tier 2 approximately every other week to track their progress. By the end of a grading period, a student should either be ready to go back to Tier 1 or moved into Tier 3.

3. Tier 3 is the highest level of intervention. Students receive data based individualized instruction targeted to their weaknesses. These children may be assessed weekly or even daily to make sure that they’re meeting their goals. If a student doesn’t show improvement the next step is an educational evaluation to facilitate movement into the special education framework.

These tiers should be fluid. Sometimes process needs to give way to common sense or parent/teacher intuition. A parent or teacher can ask for a special ed eval for a student at any time.

The Benefits of RTI

Why have educators jumped on the RTI bandwagon? Because it works!

Teachers who use RTI see multiple benefits:

• Early intervention means that fewer students enter the special education system. This saves the precious special education resources for the kids who truly need them.

• Students who need help can still receive their core instruction in the general education classroom.

• A child can get help before they fall so far behind that they need to attend summer school or repeat a grade.

• If a child is referred for special education services, there’s already lots of documentation about the child’s needs.

Pages and pages of research are available on all aspects of RTI. (If you like data, statistics and meta-analyses, check out rtinetwork.org.) Teachers can use RTI to improve outcomes in reading, math, behavior and more.

How to Implement RTI for Math Instruction

So far, we’ve been talking about RTI theory and concepts.

Now it’s time to get down in the trenches. In Parts 2 and 3 of this series, we’ll be looking at hands-on, practical tips for math-focused RTI.

The success of RTI is directly tied to the quality of the screenings and assessments you use. That’s why Part 2 will be packed with practical information on the materials you need for the RTI process. Look out for tips on how to find the best teacher-tested assessments to monitor and track your students.

Part 3 will focus on another crucial part of RTI: data tracking. We’ll cover the hows and whys. You’ll learn proven tips and best practices. You’ll see how to use your data to get top results for your students and collaborate with your administration and parents.

Stay tuned for more. Sign up for my newsletter or follow me on Pinterest to make sure you don’t miss out on the rest of this series.

The post What Every Teacher Needs to Know About RTI in the Math Classroom – Part 1 appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

Every classroom has a range of ability. As teachers we target those different levels of ability to maximize student development. In the past I have found myself providing blocks of intervention for students to prepare for our state test and ensure their success in day to day class activities. The problem was I had little to no resources. The textbook provided by the county had “intervention resources,” but it wasn’t enough. One page of extra math questions wasn’t closing the gaps in my class and the resources lacked key components. There were three things I was looking for in math intervention resources; data tracking, ample student practice, and targeting specific skills and levels of understanding.

How do I track progress?

I created my own math intervention packs to cover all my needs. I was asked to attend RTI meetings and bring graphs and data with me for those students needing intervention. Where do I get these graphs and data pieces? No one was offering to search for these materials for me. I used my usual class assessments for data tracking, but I also needed mini assessments exclusively for my intervention students.

These mini assessments gave me insight as to how my students were performing before and after intervention. My Math Intervention Packs also have a baseline pre-test and matching post-test for every math domain. You also get mini quick checks to track progress by skill . Then you can use these data pieces to give to administration and parents for tangible documentation of your support.

Not Enough Resources

I found myself using all the resources I had during the intervention process and still needing more. My Math Intervention Packs provide many pages of practice for each standard.

What Am I Targeting?

The one question I would repeatedly ask myself during intervention time was “Is this student struggling with procedural or conceptual understanding of this standard/skill?” It’s important to ensure you are targeting the child’s specific needs. I wanted resources that targeted specific levels of understanding. Classroom time is so precious and every minute counts. I wanted to maximize the 10-15 minutes I had for intervention to its fullest potential. I created practice pages specifically for procedural practice of each math skill, along with conceptual practice. The pre-tests included in the Intervention Packs provide you with information on whether the questions on the tests assess procedural or conceptual understanding. You can provide intervention with confidence knowing that you have data showing the needs of your students.

I have two free samplers of my math intervention packs (one for Kindergarten and one for 3rd grade) in my TpT store. You can review the layout of the intervention packs and what you can expect in each resource.

Be sure to check out our intervention resources for K-8th grade; everything you need to provide intervention that will make a difference in your classroom! CLICK HERE to find your grade level!

Teacher Feedback on our Math Intervention Packs:

“Tanya has created a wonderful, comprehensive resource here, complete with record-keeping which is often challenging to figure out the logistics of sometimes. From pretest to posttest and all the tasks in between, this is a must-have for intervention groups!”

“I LOVE this packet. I am using it to guide my small group instruction and by conducting the pre-test, I found that many students I thought had it, didn’t. Thanks for the detailed packet!!”

“I love how everything is laid out! It’s super helpful to have a chart to tell you what type of misunderstanding the student has on the pretest.”

WANT A FREE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR BENCHMARK MATH TEST?

COLLECT DATA ON YOUR STUDENTS THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!

The post Math Intervention that Will Make an Impact In Your Classroom appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

It is important to get a copy of the protocol for intervention on your campus. It varies from district to district; school to school. Know what to expect as you proceed thru the steps. Intervention is hard enough without major surprises. Ask how long each stage of intervention lasts. Intervention is meant to be short term. It doesn’t last for the whole year. Get specifics as to how to transition a child from tier to tier.

Save samples of all resources you used for each student’s intervention. Keep a record for yourself and turn in paperwork to guidance counselors and/or administration. Don’t turn in anything without first making a copy for yourself. Important paperwork sometimes goes missing and it’s important to have documentation for future meetings.

3.) Use some sort of assessment tool – Intervention is the process of closely monitoring the learning rate and level of understanding of individual students. Administer a weekly assessment to collect performance data. You’ll be asked to provide graphs and charts illustrating how the child performed during the intervention process. Keep the assessments short (5 or less questions) and aligned to specific standards.

Intervention is a vital part of student development. Use these tips to help you navigate thru the intervention process more effectively.

WANT A FREE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR BENCHMARK MATH TEST?
COLLECT DATA ON YOUR STUDENTS THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!

The post The Building Blocks to Student Success: 3 Tips for the Intervention Process appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.