9.3 MTSS/RTI Framework, Differentiation, & Multilingual Learners

The MTSS / RTI Three-Tier Instructional Framework

The Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), incorporating Response to Intervention (RTI), is an evidence-based prevention framework designed to maximize student achievement and address reading difficulties through escalating tiers of high-quality, scientifically validated instruction.

                             ▲
                            / \
                           /   \
                          /     \
                         / Tier 3\
                        / Intensive\
                       /   (1-5%)   \
                      /───────────────\
                     /     Tier 2      \
                    /     Targeted      \
                   /      (10-15%)       \
                  /───────────────────────\
                 /         Tier 1          \
                /      Universal Core       \
               /          (80-85%)           \
              /───────────────────────────────\

Detailed Breakdown of the Three Tiers

Critical MTSS Rule: Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions are supplemental to Tier 1 core instruction. Students receiving Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions must never be pulled out during core reading instruction; interventions occur during dedicated intervention blocks.

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Data-Based Decision Rules & Aim-Line Analysis

In an effective MTSS framework, instructional decisions are governed by objective data-based decision rules rather than subjective impressions. Progress monitoring data are plotted graphically against an aim line.

Score
  ▲                                            • Point 6 (Above)
  │                                     • Point 5 (Above)
  │                              • Point 4
  │                       • Point 3     ───────────────── Aim Line (Target Slope)
  │                • Point 2            - - - - - - - - - Trend Line (Actual Slope)
  │         • Point 1
  │  • Baseline
  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────► Time (Weeks)

Key Graphic Elements

• Baseline Score: The median of three initial CBM probes administered prior to intervention.
• Goal / Benchmark Score: The target score expected at the end of the intervention period (e.g., 20 weeks).
• Aim Line (Goal Line): The straight trajectory line drawn from the baseline score to the end-of-year benchmark goal. It represents the required rate of improvement (ROI).
• Trend Line: The actual slope calculated from the student's consecutive weekly or biweekly progress monitoring data points.

Clinical Decision Rules (The 4-Point Rule)

1. Four Consecutive Data Points Below the Aim Line (or trend line flatter than aim line):
   • Clinical Interpretation: The current intervention is ineffective or insufficient to close the achievement gap.
   • Mandatory Action: Modify or intensify the intervention. Adjustments include: (a) increasing instructional time/frequency, (b) reducing group size (e.g., from 4:1 to 2:1), (c) changing the instructional strategy, or (d) administering diagnostic assessments to target lower-level prerequisite foundational deficits.
2. Four Consecutive Data Points Above the Aim Line (or trend line steeper than aim line):
   • Clinical Interpretation: The student is making accelerated progress and closing the gap.
   • Mandatory Action: Plan to fade the intervention intensity, transition the student from Tier 2 back to Tier 1 core monitoring, or raise the ambitiousness of the goal.
3. Data Points Hovering Around the Aim Line:
   • Clinical Interpretation: The student is making expected progress.
   • Mandatory Action: Maintain the current intervention until the benchmark is securely achieved.

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Differentiating for Multilingual Learners (MLs / ELLs)

Multilingual Learners acquire English literacy while simultaneously developing English language proficiency. Evidence-based literacy instruction leverages student linguistic assets while avoiding common diagnostic pitfalls.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            DISTINGUISHING LANGUAGE ACQUISITION FROM DYSLEXIA / SLD          │
├──────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Second Language Acquisition Feature  │ Specific Learning Disability (Dyslexia)│
├──────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Reading difficulties present ONLY  │ • Reading difficulties manifest in   │
│   in English (L2)                    │   BOTH native language (L1) & English│
│ • Strong phonological skills in L1   │ • Severe phonological core deficit in│
│ • English phoneme errors match native│   both L1 and L2                     │
│   language phonotactic structure     │ • Slow progress despite high-quality,│
│ • Rapid growth with vocabulary/visual│   explicit structured literacy       │
│   scaffolds                          │   intervention                       │
└──────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┘

Evidence-Based Practices for Multilingual Learners

1. Cross-Linguistic Transfer: Explicitly identify and activate reading skills that transfer from the student's primary language (L1) to English (L2), such as print directionality, alphabetic principles, and morphological roots.
2. Cognate Instruction: Directly teach positive cognates—words that share similar spelling, pronunciation, and meaning across languages (e.g., Spanish-English: familia/family, problema/problem, información/information, exploración/exploration). Explicitly warn students against false cognates (e.g., Spanish éxito means success, not exit; embarazada means pregnant, not embarrassed).
3. Contrastive Phonological Analysis: Identify English phonemes that do not exist in the student's primary language. For example, Spanish contains only 5 pure vowel sounds, whereas English contains 15+ vowel phonemes. Spanish lacks the short /ɪ/ sound (substituting long /i/ as in slip -> sleep), the /ʃ/ sound (substituting /tʃ/ as in ship -> chip), and /z/ (substituting /s/). Teachers must provide explicit articulatory mouth modeling rather than misdiagnosing these language differences as speech-language disorders.
4. BICS vs. CALP (Jim Cummins):
   • BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills): Conversational, contextualized social language acquired in 1 to 2 years.
   • CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency): Formal, decontextualized academic language required for grade-level reading comprehension, acquired in 5 to 7 years.
   • Praxis Warning: Never assume a student with fluent social conversational English (BICS) possesses the academic vocabulary (CALP) required for complex expository text comprehension.

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Culturally Responsive Differentiation of Texts, Tasks, and Materials

Differentiation is not only about reading level; it also concerns whose language and experience the materials reflect. Culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy (Ladson-Billings; Gay) asks teachers to differentiate instruction, tasks, and materials—print and digital—so they are appropriate, affirming, and relevant to all learners rather than calibrated only to a single cultural norm:

• Windows and mirrors (Bishop, 1990): Select texts that give students mirrors (protagonists, families, and settings that reflect their own lives and identities) and windows (authentic views into other cultures and experiences). A classroom library built around one demographic narrows belonging and engagement for everyone else.
• Culturally authentic materials: Favor texts written and illustrated by culturally authentic voices over texts that tokenize or stereotype; evaluate trade books and digital resources for accuracy of dialect, translation quality, and representation—applying the same source-evaluation lens from Section 7.3.
• Dialect-affirming instruction: Honor home language and dialect assets while explicitly teaching academic English through contrastive analysis (see Section 1.4)—treating linguistic diversity as a strength to bridge from, not a deficit to remediate.
• Culturally responsive tasks and assessment: Offer response formats (oral retell, recorded audio, drawing-plus-label) alongside written responses, provide familiar-context scenarios as well as unfamiliar ones, and distinguish a gap in background knowledge or cultural familiarity from a gap in reading skill before adjusting an MTSS intervention.

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Dyslexia & Structured Literacy Principles

Dyslexia is a specific, neurobiological learning disability characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) Structured Literacy Framework

Structured Literacy is the gold-standard, evidence-based instructional approach for students with dyslexia and all struggling readers. It is characterized by six content domains taught through five pedagogical principles:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     STRUCTURED LITERACY ARCHITECTURE                        │
├─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WHAT We Teach (Domains)     │ HOW We Teach (Pedagogical Principles)         │
├─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1. Phonology                │ 1. Explicit (Direct modeling; I/We/You)       │
│ 2. Sound-Symbol (Phonics)   │ 2. Systematic & Cumulative (Logical sequence) │
│ 3. Syllable Instruction     │ 3. Diagnostic (Continuous mastery monitoring) │
│ 4. Morphology               │ 4. Multisensory (VAKT integration)            │
│ 5. Syntax                   │ 5. High Response Frequency (Immediate feedback)│
│ 6. Semantics                │                                               │
└─────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Accommodations vs. Modifications on the Praxis 5205

• Accommodations: Changes how a student accesses instructional materials or demonstrates knowledge without altering the grade-level learning standards or expectations.
  • Examples: Audiobooks, text-to-speech software, speech-to-text dictation, 1.5x/2x extended time on reading assessments, preferential seating, graphic organizers, providing enlarged text with increased line spacing.
• Modifications: Changes what a student is expected to learn by altering or lowering grade-level standards.
  • Examples: Assigning below-grade-level reading passages when grade-level reading is being assessed, reducing the number of comprehension questions from complex inferential to simple literal recall only.
  • Praxis Rule: In MTSS and general education, prioritize accommodations to ensure students with dyslexia maintain access to grade-level cognitive content.