Tier 6: A substantially involved second grader — Zuri Moore

The student

Zuri is a second grader identified with autism, served in a self-contained classroom. Her IEP documents specialized instruction across academics, behavior, communication, independent functioning, and personal care, along with speech therapy 30 minutes a week and occupational therapy 30 minutes twice a week. She has a dedicated one-to-one paraprofessional for 60 percent of her instructional day. Her goals include academic goals in early reading and math, communication goals for using a picture-and-device system to make requests and comments, independent-functioning goals for following classroom routines with visual supports, and personal-care goals for toileting and handwashing routines. Her behavioral support is documented as a planned, preventive service rather than a crisis-level one.

Rating the domains

Every domain carries a direct service, so all five are rated. The result is four domains at Significant and one at Moderate.

Curriculum & Instruction — Significant

• Factor A — Significant. Intensive specialized instruction is delivered daily across academic subjects and structures most of her school day, against multiple academic goals.
• Factor B — Moderate. It requires a special education teacher's targeted competencies.
• Factor C — Moderate. A reduced ratio is required during her instructional blocks.
• Factor D — Minimum. She uses adapted academic materials.

Communication — Significant

• Factor A — Moderate. Direct communication instruction is delivered multiple times a week.
• Factor B — Moderate. Services require a licensed speech-language pathologist.
• Factor C — Moderate. She needs partner facilitation at predictable points in the day.
• Factor D — Significant. Her picture-and-device communication system is the means by which she communicates, and it requires ongoing programming and staff facilitation.

Independent Functioning — Significant

• Factor A — Moderate. Daily instruction in routines and transitions is embedded across settings.
• Factor B — Minimum. Supports are delivered by typically qualified staff with routine training.
• Factor C — Significant. She requires near-continuous staff facilitation to move through routines and transitions, which her dedicated paraprofessional provides.
• Factor D — Moderate. Visual supports are used consistently to structure her routines.

Personal Care/Health — Significant

• Factor A — Significant. Personal-care support is provided daily, across toileting and hygiene routines she needs in order to attend school safely.
• Factor B — Moderate. Staff require specific training tied to her care needs.
• Factor C — Moderate. A reduced ratio is required for portions of the day tied to her care.
• Factor D — Minimum. She uses basic adaptive equipment for hygiene routines.

Behavior — Moderate

• Factor A — Moderate. Her behavioral support is planned and preventive, delivered regularly but without the crisis-level intensity that would reach Significant. This is the factor that sets the domain.
• Factor B — Moderate. Staff need targeted behavioral competencies and periodic coaching.
• Factor C — Minimum. A reduced ratio is required only intermittently.
• Factor D — Minimum. She uses low-tech regulation tools.

Service groups

Service groups follow from two separate things: a student's related services, and any dedicated one-to-one staffing. Zuri's related services are speech (30 minutes a week) and occupational therapy (30 minutes twice a week), which total 540 minutes over a six-week period and meet the threshold for Service Group 3. Her dedicated one-to-one paraprofessional supports her for 60 percent of her instructional day, which places her in Service Group 4. The two are determined separately, and she is in both.

The determination

Zuri has no override. Her domain ratings are four at Significant and one at Moderate, and that pattern places her at Tier 6. How the domain scores produce a tier.

Zuri's case is the middle of three that differ only by the fifth domain. With four domains at Significant and the fifth carrying no service, a student is placed at Tier 5. With the fifth at Moderate, as Zuri's is, the pattern is Tier 6. With the fifth at Significant, it is Tier 7. Four Significant domains alone do not reach Tier 6 — the fifth domain has to be at Moderate for that pattern to apply.