Tier 2 Ready: Part 2
Part 2: Is Your School Ready for Tier 2? (Why Readiness Matters)
In the last blog post we explored why Tier 2 readiness matters—and how rushing into interventions without a solid foundation can leave schools overwhelmed with implementation complications and underwhelmed by the realized student outcomes. Here's the truth: Tier 2 success isn't about piling on more programs or making the smallest group sizes. It's about getting clear on organized and efficient systems so that you serve the students that need the that targeted support.
Now, let’s look at four critical areas that will help you set up your school for Tier 2 success.
Tier 1 Foundations
Teaming Systems
Data and Intervention Systems
Professional Learning, Coaching, and Leadership
1. Strong Tier 1 Foundations
Here's where it all starts: Tier 1. When your core instruction and schoolwide supports are consistent, grounded in data, and actually implemented the way they're designed, something beautiful happens—fewer kids need extra help. And the ones who do? They're standing on solid ground.
Consider if the core instruction meets the needs of most students. If less than 70% (post-pandemic goal; stretch goal of 80%) of students are performing at grade level do we have an active plan to improve implementation of high leverage instructional practices?
When fewer than 70-80% of students are meeting grade-level expectations, it signals that the issue isn't individual students needing extra help—it's that core instruction needs strengthening first. Without an active plan to improve those high-leverage teaching practices, you'll end up trying to intervention your way out of an instruction problem, which overwhelms your system and doesn't serve anyone well.
2. Collaborative Teaming Systems
Strong teams meet regularly, everyone knows their role, and there are clear routines for looking at data and making decisions together. Check out this practice brief I wrote on Tier 1 data teaming if you need some guidance.
Consider the process that your Tier 2 team uses to make decisions. Are there established decisions rules about student entry, progress, and exit from Tier 2 supports that are guided by data and defined criteria?
Without clear, data-based decision rules for when students enter, continue, or exit Tier 2, you end up making inconsistent choices based on gut feelings or whoever speaks up loudest in the meeting. Established criteria take the guesswork out of the process, ensuring every student gets fair, timely access to the right level of support based on what the data actually shows. When everyone in the school understands why and how the Tier 2 team makes decision that means communication flows between your Tier 2 team, classroom teachers, and other staff, interventions stop feeling like isolated band-aids—they become part of something bigger. Readiness here means everyone knows who's doing what, how decisions are made, and how you're keeping each other in the loop.
3. Facilitative Data and Intervention Systems
This is where Tier 2 teams get overwhelmed real quick. Tier 2 isn't about collecting data to measure how long the spaghetti sticks to the wall. Tier 2 is all about gaining efficiencies. To use another food analogy - you’re trying to have your intervention menu refined like an award-winning restaurant that specializes in one type of cuisine and not like a mediocre restaurant with a different page for Italian, Mexican, and American food. That specialization means that you can get creative with the ingredients you have and if one chef calls in sick there’s another to step in.
Consider your current inventory of interventions and if they’re evidence-based and not just a hodgepodge collection of pet projects. Ask your team: Have we established a list of available Tier 2 interventions (academic and/or social emotional and behavioral) matched to needs based on most commonly observed student data?
Without a defined and intentional menu of evidence-based interventions matched to your students' most common needs, teams waste precious time reinventing the wheel or choosing supports that don't actually address the problem. Also consider the cognitive stress it places on your team to constantly have to develop Tier 2 intervention plans. A clear intervention menu means you can move quickly from "this student needs help" to "here's exactly where we can fit this student into an already existing small group”. When you invest in this kind of intentional infrastructure, interventions become timely and efficient, not something your team is scrambling to figure out in the moment.
4. Supportive Professional Learning, Coaching, and Leadership
Schools who are lucky enough to have instructional or behavior coaching support often have it focused on Tier 1 or Tier 3. Which makes sense to aim for the biggest impact. But Tier 2 readiness means that leaders thoughtfully carve out time, people, and resources for this work. This means including paraprofessional, instructional aids, and everyone who has a hand in delivering Tier 2 supports.
Consider your available coaching to support Tier 2 intervention delivery. How are coaching supports allocated to staff and teachers delivering Tier 2 supports?
Even the most-researched interventions fall flat without someone to guide, troubleshoot, and support the people delivering them. Intentional coaching allocation ensures that staff aren't left to figure it out alone—they have someone in their corner helping them implement with fidelity and adjust when things aren't working. And here's the thing about sustainability: you need a plan for ongoing learning. That means welcoming new staff, supporting your paraprofessionals, and building capacity across your whole school community. When learning and coaching are woven into your culture, Tier 2 stops being "one more thing" and becomes simply “how we do things”.
Moving from Reflection to Action
I know it’s alot to coordinate. This blog post is about getting the discussion going so that you can build an intentional coherent system - it doesn’t have to be perfect. As you and your team reflect on these four areas, take a moment to celebrate what's already working. Then identify just a few next steps that feel both important and actually doable.
I’m sure you’ve seen and experienced what I know to be true: when Tier 1 is strong, teams are connected, and your data systems are clear, Tier 2 doesn't feel like drowning in more work. It feels like the right work—purposeful, precise, and deeply worth doing.
Keep Building Your MTSS Momentum
If you’re ready to take this reflection and turn it into a concrete action plan, join my email newsletter to stay in the loop. You’ll receive a free MTSS Coaching Map to help you in your efforts. It’s a two-page guide that helps you clearly define what an MTSS coach does and where you should spend your time to get the biggest impact.
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Let’s keep this conversation going—and keep taking those small, powerful steps toward sustainable Tier 2 success. Go Team!