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Academic Supports is commonly known as Response to Intervention (RtI). Traditionally, Academic Supports, or RtI, have been viewed only for students with significant academic learning gaps. In the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Model, Academic Supports encompass Prevention, Enrichment and Intervention. It is the opportunity to intervene on the behalf of a child regardless of whether that child’s educational setting is a regular general education class, a special education class, or advanced academics.

The MTSS framework allows for teachers to provide high quality instruction with tiered intervention strategies. It is imperative that all students have equitable access to education, despite their language, disability, and/or educational background.  These efforts are essential in prevention of opportunity gaps (as indicated in the data table below) and over-identifying students with disabilities.  The use of frequent monitoring allows for staff members to develop these individualized strategies and move students through the tiers at the pace of the students, with designated supports. Data and frequent progress monitoring provide the ability to make results based behavioral and/or academic decisions in a timely manner.

Sources: NAEP, 2019 ; TAPR, 2019