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RTI/MTSS: RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION
Response to Intervention: One Foundation Aligns Three Tiers
When executive function is the foundation, all three tiers work together instead of functioning as separate programs.
The Problem
“The Wheels Are Falling Off”
“I work in a middle school and see the severe lack of study and organizational skills. The wheels seem to fall off these students! Most have never been taught organizational skills. But, by middle school, are expected to be independent and organized.
One of my students has severe dyslexia. He is actually better-off in school than the unorganized child. By law, the school is providing him with many accommodations to assist. Those children that lack organizational skills simply fall through the cracks. They receive no help or sympathy!”
— Nancy Drake, Charleston, SCRTI was designed to solve exactly the problem Nancy described: to catch struggling students BEFORE they fall through the cracks and to prevent unnecessary special-education referrals by addressing the foundation FIRST.
But there’s a fundamental gap in The System. The System holds educators and students accountable for learning content… but it does not teach how to ACCESS that content. The process of learning depends on a set of skills we commonly label as “executive function” — also known as “study skills.” They are the foundational layer to all aspects of learning. Which means they are the foundation supporting every tier of RTI.
When that foundation is missing, everything gets misaligned. It’s like standing in front of a window of horizontal blinds that are all wonky — slats twisted in several different directions, the whole thing a chaotic mess.
Tiers don’t connect. Interventions don’t add up. Students get stuck.
All because the foundational gap is invisible.
The Weight You Carry
And You’re the One Holding It Up
You didn’t choose this profession — it chose you. This is what makes special-education teachers different: you believe in your students, often more than they believe in themselves. You carry that belief through every tier, every meeting, every plan.
Meanwhile, general education often isn’t trained or equipped to meet struggling students where they are — so the weight of supporting them often lands on you.
If only you could find that one string that would instantly snap all that chaos into order…
The Solution
The One String That Snaps It Into Alignment
That single string DOES exist. It’s the foundation that snaps everything into alignment: providing explicit instruction in executive function skills, the necessary foundation for every tier.
Years ago, before RTI was established, school psychologists in Prince George County, Virginia told me they discovered that well over 50% of their special-education referrals were students who simply lacked organizational and study skills. So they formed a Study Skills Committee specifically to address the problem — and successfully prevented half their referrals before they happened.
A note on terminology: you may know this framework as MTSS — Multi-Tiered System of Supports. The language is newer; the principle is the same. SOAR’s approach has always been built around the whole student, across all tiers, not just special education. Whether your school uses the RTI or MTSS label, the foundation we’re describing is identical.
The 80/20 Principle
How Can One Solution Serve All Three Tiers?
There’s a universal pattern that shows up across nearly every system: roughly 20% of the inputs drive 80% of the results. It’s true in business, in time management, in how students spend their effort.
Study and executive function skills are the 20% of academic skills that drive 80% of student outcomes. One 2024 study put the number even higher — finding that study skills account for 93% of the variance in academic achievement among secondary students.1 That imbalance is real, and it’s massive.
As a result, when that foundation is clear, all three RTI tiers align — just like pulling that single string on a set of wonky horizontal blinds. Everything snaps into alignment fast.
So whether you’re teaching Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3, the same principle applies: make the executive-function foundation visible, and suddenly the tier you’re in works better.
How Each Tier Uses the Same Foundation
Tier 1
Teach executive function to every student. Prevent half the cascade before it starts. Whether it’s an orientation class, a freshman seminar, advisory, or homeroom — you’re teaching the foundation to all students. You can also use it as a full ELA credit → learn more.
Tier 1 is also where SOAR’s alignment with the SRSD framework can make the biggest impact — extending the explicit-instruction model for writing across the full domain of executive function.
More on Tier 1 →Tier 2
The same foundation, taught more intensively. Tier 1 should have laid the groundwork in executive function for all students — but if it didn’t, or if some students need more support, Tier 2 lets you use the same foundation from the ground up, with more targeted, intensive instruction. You’re not bolting on a new program; you’re teaching the skills that matter.
More on Tier 2 →Tier 3
Same foundation as Tier 1, reinforced in Tier 2, now individualized. When students are escalated to Tier 3, they’ve either not had a solid foundation in Tiers 1 & 2 (most often), there’s an emotional block, or there’s a very specific learning challenge requiring deep intervention. In all cases, executive function is the foundation for effective intervention.
More on Tier 3 →Special Education
Special Education & RTI/MTSS
RTI was originally designed so general ed would teach the foundation in Tier 1, preventing a vast majority of referrals to special ed. But that’s not always how it plays out. General ed sometimes doesn’t own Tier 1 as originally intended — and it’s common for special-ed teachers to end up running all three tiers themselves.
No matter which tier you’re teaching, no matter what happened (or didn’t happen) before your students got to you: SOAR works exactly the same. One executive-function foundation, taught at whatever intensity your students need.
And the research backs this up for the students who need it most: students with learning disabilities who received explicit strategy instruction improved by one to two full grade levels.2
The Research
Proven Across 70 Studies
The pattern shows up at scale, as well: across 70 studies and 2,400+ secondary students with disabilities, explicit study-skills instruction improved learning by roughly one full letter grade — about 20 points on a 100-point test.3
Over 20 years, we’ve refined how to make that teaching visible and teachable. Today, SOAR is used in 5,100 schools across 53 countries. And the pattern is consistent: when the foundation is clear, all three tiers work better.
The Payoff
One String. One Foundation. Everything Snaps Into Alignment.
In practice, RTI doesn’t have to feel clunky, like that set of wonky blinds.
Pull the string. Make the executive-function foundation visible to your students — wherever you meet them. When the foundation is visible, the tiers stop being a sorting machine. They become a path out.
Go Deeper
Explore the Tiers
Ready to dive deeper? Explore each tier:
Tier 1
Avoid Differentiation at the Wrong Layer
The small set of skills with 80% impact across subjects — taught explicitly to every student.
Tier 1 Interventions →Tier 2
Elements of Effective Intervention Lessons
The same foundation in a smaller container — precision replaces guesswork.
Tier 2 Interventions →Tier 3
Take a Step Back Before Going Forward
Stop escalating and start diagnosing — find the exact place the learning circuit breaks down.
Tier 3 Interventions →Click above to: see the software in action, get a digital review copy of the student book, and start a free 14-day trial — no credit card needed.
More for Educators
Start Here·What Is SOAR?·Why SOAR Works·Executive Function·Solutions by Focus·Pricing & Options
Research Sources
1 “Analyzing the Impact of Study Skills on Academic Achievement: A Study among School Students” (2024), Education and Psychological Research; study skills account for 93% of variance in academic achievement among secondary students. ↩
2 Gillespie, A., & Graham, S. (2014). A meta-analysis of writing interventions for students with learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 80(4), 454–473. Writing instruction studied specifically; explicit instruction moves the needle on the most cognitively demanding EF task there is. ↩
3 Scruggs, T. E., Mastropieri, M. A., Berkeley, S., & Graetz, J. E. (2010). Do special education interventions improve learning of secondary content? A meta-analysis. Remedial and Special Education, 31(6), 437–449. 70 studies, 2,400+ students; effect size ~1.00 — a large average effect for this instructional category. ↩