The power of data: From literacy assessment to action

Two educational documents are displayed, focusing on early literacy and literacy assessment for grades K-8. Images of children learning are included on the front page, highlighting their journey in language comprehension skills.

Teaching literacy is a balancing act. Your classroom may have students who soar through grade-level reading lessons and others who need additional support—or even intensive intervention—to keep up. And you may feel like there’s never enough time to meet everyone’s needs.

But with data, you can do it. By leveraging assessment data strategically, making the most of core instruction, and integrating intervention and personalized learning, you can give every student the support they need—without adding extra hours to your day.

Let’s break it down.

Types of data, defined

This you know: Not all assessments are created equal. Universal screeners help identify which students need extra support. Formative assessments track ongoing progress. Summative assessments measure overall learning. Each is a tool that equips you with the right information at the right time to adjust your instruction.

  • Before core instruction: Universal screening and diagnostic assessments enable you to see where students are starting from and plan accordingly.
  • During instruction: Formative assessments (e.g., quick checks, observations, and exit tickets) catch misunderstandings early so you can reteach on the spot.
  • After instruction: Summative assessments measure progress; progress monitoring during intervention helps you know if students are on the right track before final assessments.

The goal isn’t more testing—it’s using the data from the assessments you have to make smarter instructional decisions.

Making the most of Tier 1 instruction

You spend most of the school day on core instruction. Making it as effective as possible benefits all students, not just those who are struggling. The key? Teach explicitly; use high-quality materials grounded in the Science of Reading; and keep instruction aligned to grade-level standards while allowing flexibility for different learning needs. Specifically:

  • Model first, then guide, then let them try. Clear explanations and step-by-step modeling give students confidence before they work independently.
  • Use formative assessments to adjust in real time. If an exit ticket shows most students didn’t grasp a concept, a quick reteach the next day can prevent gaps from growing.
  • Group students for targeted support. Small groups during core instruction can help address specific skill gaps without taking students away from grade-level learning.

When core instruction is strong and built around what students actually need, intervention becomes more about fine-tuning rather than catching up from major gaps.

An MTSS framework: The right help at the right time

When assessment data shows that a student needs extra support, targeted intervention helps prevent small struggles from turning into bigger ones. A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) can ensure that interventions are structured, data-driven, and matched to student needs.

  • Intervention blocks and small groups: Some classrooms use dedicated intervention blocks to provide students extra support without missing core instruction. Others incorporate targeted small-group instruction during the literacy block. Either way, intervention works best when it’s built into the schedule, not squeezed in as an afterthought.
  • Progress monitoring: Once students enter intervention, regular check-ins track their progress and allow you to make adjustments as needed without waiting for the next big assessment.

Small shifts, big impact

For students who are on track or need more challenge, personalized learning tools—such as adaptive reading programs—can provide meaningful independent practice. High-quality programs adjust automatically based on student performance, so each student gets exactly the right level of support or enrichment without adding extra prep for you.

In other words, teaching literacy well isn’t about working more—it’s about working strategically. By using assessments to inform your instruction, strengthening core teaching, and providing structured support or intervention when needed, you can position every student for success, no matter where they start.

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Aligning MTSS to the Science of Reading: Five critical elements of a research-based system

How science and data can help us deliver the instruction and interventions that help all kids read

Watching kids learn to read? Magic. Learning how kids learn to read? Science. 

As you likely know, the Science of Reading encompasses the pedagogy and practices proven by extensive research to effectively teach children how to read. The growing body of evidence around the Science of Reading tells us that with explicit, systematic instruction, all students can learn to read at or near grade level. 

So as educators, we can think of it as the science of teaching reading. 

In this post, we’ll look closer at that science in the classroom and explore how it delivers literacy skills in a way that meets the needs of all students. We’ll describe the critical elements of a complete Science of Reading system—including, but not limited to, a Science of Reading curriculum—and explore how it aligns with a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework. 

We’ll also underscore the importance of data in informing instructional decisions—but in a way that might surprise you. 

The five critical elements of a Science of Reading system

Strong core instruction grounded in Science of Reading principles is crucial. But in isolation, even that’s not enough. To be powerful and effective, a literacy system needs to bring together assessment, curriculum, intervention, personalized learning, and ongoing professional development.

An effective early literacy system aligns the following five key components with the principles of the Science of Reading. This way, each component shares a research-based foundation and works to meet the needs of all students. 

  1. Universal and dyslexia screening. Assessment should include universal screening, dyslexia screening, and progress monitoring to identify at-risk students with actionable data and align instruction to areas of greatest need.
  2. Core instruction. A high-quality core program includes explicit, systematic instruction in foundational skills and a coherent approach to building background knowledge and vocabulary.
  3. Personalized learning. Effective personalized learning programs support both remediation and acceleration. They can reinforce core instruction or serve as a supplement to provide teachers with a taste of what research-based instructional tools can do. 
  4. Intervention. Intervention should be staff-led and data-driven, with students’ needs clearly identified and frequently monitored. 
  5. Science of Reading professional development. Districts across the country are making the shift to the Science of Reading. As you evaluate where to start, begin by sharing and cultivating a learning community among colleagues. The more knowledge you gain, the easier it will be to identify which areas to prioritize. 

How MTSS aligns with the Science of Reading

The approach described above can integrate powerfully with MTSS.

For a thoughtful discussion of this kind of integration with examples from real classrooms, listen to this recent episode of Amplify’s Science of Reading: The Podcast, with guest Dr. Brittney Bills, curriculum coordinator at Grand Island Public Schools. 

In this episode, Dr. Bills described the difference between reading interventions grounded in a MTSS framework, and Response to Intervention (RTI). By definition, RTI reading is a response and solution to an identified problem. Though RTI is necessary and effective, MTSS can help prevent struggles in the first place. 

Dr. Bills also shared one core idea that might surprise you: When it comes to differentiating instruction, small groups are not always the most effective approach. Instead, she introduces the concept (included in the MTSS model) of a class-wide intervention. 

In Dr. Bills’s experience, grouping can take time away from instruction. “You might have a group of kids getting this five-minute intervention three times a week, and that group of kids getting that ten-minute intervention two times a week … we piecemeal that out,” she says. 

But data can lead us to different decisions: “If 60% or more of your students are demonstrating a need for, say, oral reading fluency, then you would implement a class-wide intervention,” says Dr. Bills. “The reality is that we have more kids than not who have the same difficulties.” 

Paraphrasing reading expert Dr. Steven Dykstra, Bills says, “We don’t need more individualized instruction. We need better cookie cutters.”

Of course, we still need data to guide us, Bills notes. “We want to leverage data to make decisions that are going to help us arrive at our outcomes or our goals in the most efficient and effective means possible.”

How Amplify can help 

Amplify’s been turning that science into great literacy instruction for two decades. And through our Science of Reading podcast and free professional development events, we’re constantly working with the best experts in the field to make our programs even better—and to share the latest insights with teachers, because we believe the Science of Reading is for everyone. 

Amplify’s early literacy suite is based on 20 years of experience with the Science of Reading. The assessment and intervention power of mCLASS®, the core instruction of Amplify CKLA®, and the personalized learning of Amplify Reading come together in a complete system that saves you time and aligns your literacy practices.

The suite comprises a family of programs that are all built on the Science of Reading and connect with one another. What makes it powerful?

  • It’s a cohesive literacy solution to support MTSS and RTI. 
  • Aligned resources do away with the need for piecemealing.
  • Data drives next steps for whole-group, small-group, and individual student instruction.

MTSS: The key to success

What helps students succeed in reading? It’s not just one tool, or even one toolkit. Ideally, they’ve got a whole ecosystem—from the latest science to bedtime stories—supporting them in learning to read.

So it makes sense that a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is critical to literary instruction in the classroom. 

What exactly is an MTSS? How does it align with the Science of Reading? And how do they help you support your students?

MTSS, literacy instruction, and the Science of Reading

First, a broad definition. 

A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a comprehensive framework designed to provide systematic and differentiated support to all students. The tiered approach includes universal interventions for all learners, targeted interventions for those at risk, and intensive interventions for students with specific needs. The goal of an MTSS is to use data-driven decision-making and personalized support to improve academic, behavioral, and emotional outcomes for every student.

And that’s exactly what an MTSS does in the context of literacy instruction. An MTSS operates on the premise that readers have diverse requirements, and it aims to proactively identify and address these needs through a multi-tiered approach.

That’s where it intersects with the Science of Reading. As you know, the Science of Reading refers to the pedagogy and practices that extensive research has found to be most effective for teaching children to read. When implemented in a classroom, the Science of Reading is part of a system—one that aligns with a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS).

What’s the difference between an MTSS and RTI? 

MTSS vs. RTI: You’ve probably heard these systems mentioned in similar contexts. But just like new readers, we’ve got to learn our letters. 

RTI stands for Response to Intervention, so its very name shows that it’s a response to an identified problem. Actually, it’s a series of academic responses that use data to pinpoint and address the specific challenges of struggling students.

An MTSS and an RTI are similar in that “they are both problem-solving models,” notes Brittney Bills, Ph.D., elementary school principal at Blair Community Schools, speaking with host Susan Lambert on Amplify’s Science of Reading: The Podcast.

And they can be intertwined. But they are not interchangeable. In fact, an RTI is part of an MTSS framework—not the other way around. Also: 

  • An MTSS starts with all students. “With the MTSS model, the universal tier is the first intervention for all students,” says Bills, referring to the curriculum, instruction, and assessments provided to all students at a given grade level. Bills says we can ask: “What does our data demonstrate that our students need within that universal tier? And how can we apply evidence-based practices, as they relate to the Science of Reading, to beef up opportunities for our students there first? Then it’s a layering-on of supports and problem-solving at those other layers, the targeted and intensive tiers, after that.”
  • An MTSS supports prevention. Again, we start universal, then identify issues. Though an RTI is necessary and effective, an MTSS has the aim, and the capacity, to both get at-risk readers back on track and prevent the need for intervention down the line.

The four defining parts of an MTSS

Now, let’s break down the four key components that define an MTSS:

  1. Screening: An MTSS begins with screening to identify students’ proficiency in foundational literacy skills. Screening helps you pinpoint potential challenges in literacy early on, making it possible to tailor interventions for individual students and head problems off at the pass.
  2. Progress monitoring: An MTSS helps you regularly assess and track students’ literacy progress, allowing you to adjust instructional strategies based on real-time data and evolving needs.
  3. Establishing a multi-level prevention system: The multi-level prevention system allows you to adapt to accommodate diverse learning styles and precise learning needs. This personalized approach both supports those at risk and helps build an inclusive classroom where every reader can thrive.
  4. Making data-based decisions: An MTSS gives you the data you need—and guides you in analyzing it—to make the precise adjustments that support every student’s literacy journey. 

An MTSS is a dynamic approach that recognizes that every student is different—and that to provide each with what they need to learn to read, teachers need systems of support, too. 

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