Tier 1: A minimal-services first grader — Casey Flores

The student

Casey is a first grader identified with a specific learning disability in reading. He spends his full day in the general-education classroom and receives specialized instruction from a special education teacher three times a week, 30 minutes per session, in phonics and decoding. His IEP carries two reading goals, one for letter-sound correspondence and blending and one for reading grade-level passages with accuracy, along with accommodations he uses during general instruction — extended time on reading tasks and text read aloud for material he cannot yet decode. His IEP documents no other goals or services: no math or writing instruction, no behavior or communication supports, no related services, no paraprofessional, and no specialized equipment.

Rating the domains

Curriculum & Instruction is the only domain with a direct service, so it's the only one rated. It comes out Minimum:

• Factor A — Minimum. His reading instruction is targeted and limited in intensity — 90 minutes a week on specific, discrete decoding skills, against two reading goals.
• Factor B — Minimum. It can be delivered by a special education teacher with typical instructional expertise; no advanced specialization is required.
• Factor C — Minimum. A reduced ratio is required only intermittently, during his reading blocks.
• Factor D — None. He uses standard materials.

The other four domains have no direct service.

Service groups

Service groups follow from two separate things: a student's related services, and any dedicated one-to-one staffing. Casey's reading instruction is specialized instruction rather than a related service, and his IEP documents no related services at all — no occupational, physical, or speech therapy, no counseling, no special transportation. It also documents no dedicated one-to-one aide. He has no service group.

The determination

Casey's reading instruction places his Curriculum & Instruction domain at Minimum, and his other four domains have no service. A single Minimum domain places him at Tier 1. How the domain scores produce a tier.

Casey reaches Tier 1 through his domain ratings: a lightly served student whose single rated domain is at Minimum. A speech-only student reaches Tier 1 a different way, through an override that sets the tier regardless of the domain ratings. The same tier accommodates both kinds of student.