Tier 2: A resource student with dyslexia instruction — Casey Huang

The student

Casey is a sixth grader identified with a specific learning disability in reading. She receives dyslexia intervention in the resource room, delivered through an evidence-based reading program five days a week, 45 minutes per session, and her IEP requires that the program be delivered by a documented dyslexia practitioner. Her IEP carries two reading goals, one for decoding multisyllabic words and one for reading fluency at grade level. It documents no other goals or services: no math or writing instruction, no behavior or communication supports, no related services, and no paraprofessional.

Rating the domains

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

Curriculum & Instruction — Significant

• Factor A — Moderate. The dyslexia program is delivered through an evidence-based curriculum for 225 minutes a week against two reading goals.
• Factor B — Significant. The IEP requires the dyslexia instruction to be delivered with fidelity by a documented practitioner, a specialized qualification the rubric recognizes.
• Factor C — Moderate. The program requires a small group held within its fidelity requirements.
• Factor D — Minimum. She uses the program's adapted materials.

The other four domains have no direct service.

The rubric draws a line between a documented dyslexia practitioner and a higher advanced-level practitioner, and the rule is to rate the level the IEP actually requires — not the most intensive version available. Casey's IEP requires the documented practitioner, so that's what's rated.

Service groups

Service groups follow from two separate things: a student's related services, and any dedicated one-to-one staffing. Casey's dyslexia instruction is specialized instruction rather than a related service, and her IEP documents no related services and no dedicated one-to-one aide. She has no service group.

The determination

Casey has no override, so the domain ratings set the tier. A single Significant domain, with the other four carrying no service, places her at Tier 2. How the domain scores produce a tier.

Casey's case turns on the credential factor: her one academic domain reaches Significant not because of how much instruction she receives, but because her IEP requires a documented dyslexia practitioner to deliver it. The rubric rates the provider qualification the IEP documents, and here that qualification is what carries the domain.