MY RTI TOOLKIT
BUILDING AN INTERVENTION MENU
An intervention menu, or a library of evidence-based interventions, is a great way to
align your school around specific strategies for supporting students. While the menu can be
flexible, a standardized list can help staff members decide how to take action when they identify
students in need. Use an asset-based lens when discussing interventions. For example,
encourage educators to see students for their current abilities and future potential. Typically,
schools organize their intervention menus by tier (Tiers 1, 2, and 3). The most effective menus
consist of interventions across multiple domains: social-emotional learning, math, literacy,
behavior, and attendance.
STEP 1 Take an inventory of the interventions that are already in place at each tier in your
school. How does your team currently organize student supports—formally or informally? Write
the practices that come to mind in the diagram below
.
STEP 2. Narrow down your list to the most effective, high-priority interventions for each tier.
Even if your team has an expansive list of strategies, it is recommended that you go deeper on a
small list of interventions to help ensure fidelity of implementation. For example, you might
choose three or four interventions per domain (math, literacy, SEL, behavior, attendance). What
interventions are your must-haves and will make the cut for your intervention menu? List those
interventions below.
STEP 3. Think beyond the list you’ve made and consider new intervention ideas. For instance,
you may notice that your team is familiar with academic interventions but less familiar with
interventions that promote SEL.
Check out the following samples:
1. Intervention menu (check out the separate list)
2. Small group interventions for Reading, Math, and SEL
[Link]
sheets-templates
3. Panorama platform
INTERVENTION STRATEGY HOW IT WORKS
2X10 RELATIONSHIP BUILDING Spend two minutes for 10 consecutive school days
developing a positive relationship with a student.
Learn more. Provide positive attention through encouragement
https:// and recognition of the student’s strengths and
[Link]/blog/ interests.
2x10-relationship-building-
strategy Tier: 2
Grades: PK-12
Best for Improving: Behavior, SEL
4 AT THE DOOR + 1 MORE Greet students intentionally at the door using
protocols such as “Eye to Eye” and “Name to
Learn more. Name.”
[Link]
blog/four-at-the-door-one- Tier: 1, 2
more/ Grades: PK-12
Best for Improving: SEL
ATTENDANCE INCENTIVE PLAN Create an individualized attendance success plan
with the student. Provide positive reinforcement
Learn more. using the student’s preferred incentive when the
https:// student makes progress towards the goal(s).
[Link]/
what-makes-an-attendance- Tier: 2, 3
incentive-program-successful/ Grades: PK-12
Best for Improving: Attendance
DECODING PRACTICE Provide additional instruction, drills, and exercises
to help students improve their ability to recognize
See sample activities here. letter patterns and pronounce written words.
[Link]
activities Tier: 1, 2, 3
Grades: K-6
Best for Improving: ELA
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER Graphic organizers are designed to visually
represent thinking and to visually connect key
Learn more. ideas. Graphic organizers can serve many purposes
http:// for students, from helping them take notes in class,
[Link]/ to recording different perspectives during a group
[Link]/tool/graphic- discussion, to pre-writing, problem-solving, pre-
organizers reading, or synthesizing their thinking at the end of
a lesson.
Tier: 1, 2, 3
Grades: 3-12
Best for Improving: ELA, Math, Other Academics
HOME VISIT Arrange a home visit with the goal of building a
relationship with the child’s family. Seek to
understand the family’s hopes and aspirations for
their child, and ask the family how you can best
support them and their child. Learn more.
Tier: 1, 2, 3
Grades: PK-12
Best for Improving: Attendance, Behavior, SEL,
ELA, Math
MATH TIME DRILL Boost students’ computational fluency and
capacity to solve simple math problems under time
See sample activities here. pressure. Hand out math worksheets and give
http:// students a set amount of time to complete the
[Link]/php/ problems.
interventionista/
interventionista_random.php? Tier: 1, 2
intv_ID=311 Grades: K-12
Best for Improving: Math
SIGHT WORD PRACTICE Sight words are words that should be memorized
to increase a student’s reading accuracy and rate.
See sample activities here. Provide additional instruction, drills, and exercises
https:// to promote students’ ability to recognize common
[Link]/ sight words.
node/968418
Tier: 1, 2, 3
Grades: K-5
Best for Improving: ELA
STEP 4. Finally, you’ll need a plan for rolling out your intervention menu. Consider how you will
document the strategies, how staff will access the menu, and how you’ll train staff on
implementation of the strategies. Here are a few questions to discuss when planning your roll-out:
1. How much support do you anticipate your staff will need to deliver the selected interventions?
2. Are there staff members on each campus who can model best practices for using the
interventions?
3. Are there logistical or operational actions that need to take place between now and the adoption
of these interventions?
CREATING AN INTERVENTION PLAN
An intervention plan is a blueprint for helping a student build specific skills or reach a goal. In
other words, it's an action plan.
In general, intervention plans include a goal, intervention strategy, timeline, and progress
monitoring method.
1. Identify the student(s).
Which student will you be supporting? First, record the student's name at the top of the plan. You
might also include additional information such as grade level, gender, or other demographic attributes
or identifiers used by your school.
(Keep in mind that you can also create an intervention plan for a small group of students that you're
working with. The steps to create a group plan are the same.)
2. Choose an intervention type and tier.
What is the area of focus for the intervention? What subject (or domain) can the student benefit from
extra support in? Examples could be English language arts (ELA), math, behavior, social-emotional
learning (SEL), or attendance.
Next, specify Tier 2 or Tier 3 depending on the intensity of the intervention. Here is a refresher on the
MTSS pyramid:
Tier 1 is the foundation and includes universal supports for all students.
Tier 2 consists of individualized interventions for students in need of
additional support.
Tier 3 includes more intensive interventions for students whose needs
are not addressed at Tiers 1 or 2.
3. Create a goal for the student's intervention program.
This is when you'll identify specific skills to be developed, or the goal you are looking to help the
student achieve.
Remember to frame these in the positive (an opportunity to grow) rather than the negative (a
problem to solve).
It can be helpful to use the SMART goal framework—setting a goal that is specific, measurable,
attainable, relevant, and timely.
For example, to build a student's self-efficacy in math, you might set the following goal: “Charles will be
able to complete 80% of his do-now activities at the beginning of each math lesson with the support of
manipulatives.”
4. Select an intervention strategy.
With the intervention goal in mind, identify a strategy or activity that could help this student reach the
goal. Sample intervention strategies include 2x10 relationship building , a behavior management plan
such as behavior-specific praise , graphic organizers, a lunch bunch, WOOP goal-setting, and math time
drills.
Your school may already have an evidence-based intervention menu to pick from. If you don't have one
yet, here are a few resources to get started building one:
How to Build a Tiered Intervention Menu
5 PBIS Interventions for Tier 1 to Use in Your District Today
Small-Group Interventions for Reading, Math, and SEL
42 MTSS Intervention Strategies to Bring Back to Your Support Team
6 Effective Interventions for Social-Emotional Learning
5. Assign an adult champion.
Who will carry out the intervention plan with fidelity? A teacher? Interventionist? School counselor?
Clear ownership is key. Whether it's one adult or a team, make sure to document who will be
responsible for delivering the intervention(s), logging notes, and monitoring student progress.
6. Set a timeline.
Next, set a clear prescription for how often and how long an intervention will take place. Record a start
date (when the intervention is set to begin) and a duration (the expected length of the intervention
cycle). We recommend five to six weeks at a minimum so the intervention has a chance to take hold.
7. Establish a method for progress monitoring.
You're almost done! The last step in building a great intervention plan is deciding on a data collection
strategy.
Once the intervention plan is underway, it's important to collect and record qualitative and/or
quantitative data at regular intervals. Many goals are best tracked quantitatively, such as reading level
growth or computational fluency. Other goals (behavioral and SEL goals, for example) might be best
tracked qualitatively—like making note of how a student is interacting with peers in class.
Don't forget to include the following information on your intervention plan:
Monitoring Frequency: How often you'll update the student’s progress over the course of the
intervention cycle. For example, this could be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
Monitoring Method: The assessment you'll use to track the student’s progress. Indicate
a baseline (the student’s most recent assessment score) and target (desired assessment score).
Alternatively, you might plan to track progress through observational notes.
If you use Panorama for MTSS : After building an intervention plan, you can monitor a student's
progress over time by logging qualitative and quantitative notes. The notes get saved to the student
profile so other educators in Panorama can also see how the student is progressing.
Or you can just use your own journal to write down your observations. It looks like an
anecdotal record.
PROGRESS MONITORING INTERVENTION
Progress monitoring is the process of using data to understand how a student is doing once an
intervention plan is underway. When done early and often, progress monitoring can ensure that you
aren’t wasting time and resources on an intervention that isn’t working.
Depending on the intervention, you may choose to progress monitor on a weekly, bi-monthly, or
monthly basis. You can progress monitor using many types of data:
Quantitative data: Some goals are best tracked numerically, such as using an assessment
score to monitor reading level growth or computational fluency.
Qualitative data: Some goals are best tracked using observational data, such as recording
how a student is interacting with classmates for a behavioral goal.
A combination of both: Sometimes, both quantitative and qualitative data are useful to
track. For example, you can track class participation by how often the student participates
and the content of their comments in class.
Progress Monitoring Interventions
How is the student doing? — Record any observations, insights, and notes.
What did you learn about the student?
How did the student respond to the intervention? If you are using a quantitative metric (e.g.,
literacy assessment score), input the numeric score here.
Progress Monitoring for Individual Students
Student Name
Date — Record the date of the progress update.
Was the intervention performed? — Write “Yes” or “No.”
How is the student doing? — Record any observations, insights, and notes. What did you learn about the
student? How did the student respond to the intervention? If you are using a quantitative metric (e.g.,
literacy assessment score), input the numeric score here.
Is the student on track to meet their goal? — If your plan does not have a quantitative metric, use your
judgment to record if the student is “On Track,” “Progressing,” or “Behind.”
Main Source:
A Guide to Planning and Tracking Interventions for MTSS or RTI (2022)
[Link]
[Link]?hsCtaTracking=850d5ad5-fb48-4058-85a9-
3d6ced71dfe2%7Cb661e603-39fb-4b64-992b-b393bb70a8b6
/toc2022