Explanation of Tier 3

Schools implementing effective Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction should find no more than 5% of students requiring more intensive interventions than those provided in Tier 2 (Burns et al., 2005). Tier 3 is an individualized intensive intervention. Students that do not meet their needs in other tiers are referred for comprehensive evaluation. Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004) allows parents to request a formal evaluation to determine eligibility for special education. A teacher should question why one is behaving in a certain manner or why one is not able to do well academically. It is not necessary that there will be one to one intervention in Tier 3. For example, a student with emotional and behavior disorder may need comfortable and friendly environment with other students to learn or open oneself. It is important to understand the student and his/her challenges in order to plan effective strategies.

TABLE 1: Research-based effective intervention practices for tiers 2 and 3

Tier	Practice	Reference
2	se explicit and systematic instruction	Gersten et al. (2009a)
2	Use groups of three to five students	Elbaum et al. (2000)
2	Provide instruction in up to three foundational reading skills	Gersten et al. (2009a)
2 & 3	Focus on underlying skills and structures for math and reading	Gersten et al. (2009a;b)
2 & 3	Progress should be closely monitored until approximately eight data points are collected to assure sufficient reliability	Christ (2006)
3	Use an intervention with at least three components that are different from Tiers 1 and 2	Swanson & Sachse-Lee (2000)
3	Potential intervention components include (a) highly targeted, (b) provides an appropriate level of challenge for the individual student, (c) explicitly teaches a specific skill, (d) allows many opportunities to respond, and (e) provides immediate corrective feedback for an individual student	Burns et al. (2008)