Worked example · Tier 2 · Sixth grade
What a Tier 2 student looks like (resource / dyslexia)
Casey is a sixth grader in the resource room whose IEP requires dyslexia instruction from a documented practitioner. That credential requirement carries her one academic domain to Significant, which places her at Tier 2 — a clean look at rating the level the IEP actually requires.
The student
Casey is a sixth grader with a specific learning disability, served in the resource room. Her IEP documents specialized academic instruction plus dyslexia intervention delivered through an evidence-based program five days a week. There are academic goals, the instruction is structured, and — importantly — the program must be delivered by a documented dyslexia practitioner. No behavior plan, no related services, no aide. Casey is a recognizable middle-school resource student whose plan turns on how the reading instruction is delivered, not just that it happens.
What jumps out first
No override. One domain is live — Curriculum & Instruction — and the interesting call is in the credential factor, because dyslexia instruction is where "rate what the IEP requires" gets concrete.
The domain that matters
Curriculum & Instruction is the one live domain. Rating its four factors against what Casey's IEP requires:
| Factor | What the IEP requires | Level |
|---|---|---|
| A — type/frequency | Structured academic SDI plus an evidence-based dyslexia program delivered consistently across the week | Moderate (2) |
| B — credentials | The program must be delivered by a documented dyslexia practitioner | Significant (3) |
| C — ratio | Small-group instruction within program fidelity | Moderate (2) |
| D — equipment | Basic adapted materials | Minimum (1) |
Factor B is the one that carries the domain. The rubric draws a line here: a documented practitioner is one level; an advanced-level practitioner would be higher still. You rate the level the IEP actually requires. Highest-wins makes Curriculum & Instruction Significant (what a domain is), and this is a good case for why highest-wins exists: the domain is Significant because of a single specialized requirement (the practitioner), even though the other three factors are Moderate or lower.
The empty domains
Behavior, Communication, Independent Functioning, and Personal Care/Health have no direct service in Casey's IEP — nothing to rate there, one line and move on.
The tier
Tier 2, by the ladder. One Significant domain with four empty produces a total that lands at Tier 2. It's close to rail-anchored — a single Significant domain has a defined ladder position. The judgment-middle (Tier 2 vs. 3) shows up in students with a second live domain; Casey's is clean with one.
Service groups
Service groups are the separate read (how service groups work). Casey's academic and dyslexia instruction are instructional services, not related services, and she has no related services → no group 1–3. No dedicated 1:1 → no group 4–5. Tier 2, no service group.
What this example shows
A common resource student lands low on the ladder, and the dyslexia-instruction case makes the credential factor concrete — the domain reaches Significant because the IEP requires a specialized practitioner. That's exactly the kind of "rate what's required, not how the student seems" call the rubric is built around.
Related examples
- The same domain, one level lower — Casey Flores has one academic domain at Minimum instead of Significant, the single step between Tier 1 and Tier 2.
- What a second live domain does — Grace Smith adds a second Significant domain (behavior) and the tier moves to 3. Casey has one; Grace has two.
- The credential factor across all domains — the factor that carries Casey's domain to Significant.