Tier 7: A student with significant needs in every domain — Juan Gonzalez

The student

Juan is a seventh grader identified with autism, served in a self-contained classroom with a dedicated one-to-one paraprofessional throughout his day. His IEP documents specialized instruction across all of his academic subjects, a behavior intervention plan, speech therapy 60 minutes a week, occupational therapy 30 minutes a week, and a behavioral support service 180 minutes a week. A nurse manages a daily health protocol he requires in order to attend school safely. He communicates through a speech-generating device that he relies on to be understood. His goals span academics, behavioral regulation, communication through his device, daily routines and transitions, and the personal-care routines tied to his health needs. Every domain in the rubric carries a documented service.

Rating the domains

Every domain carries a direct service, so all five are rated, and each comes out Significant.

Curriculum & Instruction — Significant

• Factor A — Significant. Specialized academic instruction is delivered daily across all core subjects and substantially structures his school day, with multiple academic goals.
• Factor B — Moderate. Instruction requires a special education teacher's targeted competencies, but not advanced or rare licensure.
• Factor C — Moderate. A reduced ratio is required during his instructional blocks.
• Factor D — Minimum. He uses some adapted materials largely on his own.

Behavior — Significant

• Factor A — Significant. His behavior intervention plan is implemented across most routines, with staff response and adjustment embedded through the day.
• Factor B — Moderate. Staff need targeted behavioral competencies and periodic coaching to sustain the plan with fidelity.
• Factor C — Moderate. A planned reduced ratio is required at predictable high-need times.
• Factor D — Minimum. He uses low-tech regulation tools alongside the plan.

Communication — Significant

• Factor A — Moderate. Direct speech therapy runs multiple times a week against multiple communication goals.
• Factor B — Moderate. Services require a licensed speech-language pathologist.
• Factor C — Minimum. Partner support is needed intermittently across the day.
• Factor D — Significant. His speech-generating device is the foundation of how he communicates; without it he can't reliably express needs or show what he knows, 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. He requires near-continuous staff support to move through routines and transitions; a dedicated staff presence is required for him to function across the day.
• Factor D — Moderate. Visual and digital systems are used consistently to support his routines.

Personal Care/Health — Significant

• Factor A — Significant. His health protocol is managed daily and is intensive enough that, without it, he couldn't attend school safely, with multiple health-related functional goals.
• Factor B — Significant. The protocol requires a nurse's specialized clinical judgment.
• Factor C — Moderate. A reduced ratio is required for portions of the day tied to his care needs.
• Factor D — Moderate. Health-related equipment is used routinely across the day.

Service groups

Service groups follow from two separate things: a student's related services, and any dedicated one-to-one staffing. Juan's related services are speech (60 minutes a week), occupational therapy (30 minutes a week), and behavioral support (180 minutes a week), which total 1,620 minutes over a six-week period. That is past the 540-minute threshold, so he is in Service Group 3. His dedicated one-to-one paraprofessional supports him for at least 80 percent of his instructional day, which places him in Service Group 5. The two are determined separately, and he is in both.

The determination

All five domains are rated Significant, and that pattern places Juan at Tier 7. The tier comes from the pattern across the domains rather than from a combined total: five domains at Significant is the pattern the rubric assigns to Tier 7. How the domain scores produce a tier.