Intervention, RTI & Classroom Management FAQ
How to support teachers struggling with classroom management and build a consistent tier-1 environment.
Intervention & RTI
If we always teach below-grade-level kids below-grade-level content, when will they catch up?
They won't. That's the trap. When instruction always stays below grade level, students fall further behind every year. We have to teach grade-level content to every student while providing intervention support on the side. The gap compounds over time, and there is no scenario where permanently teaching kids below-level material results in them catching up.
Watch the video -->Is it okay to pull students from electives for reading or math intervention?
Yes. If a student can't read at grade level, art class can wait. This isn't permanent -- intensive intervention is temporary, and once skills improve, students return to their full elective schedule. The alternative is a student who can't read struggling in every subject, including those electives.
Watch the video -->Should every teacher be responsible for providing intervention?
No. Hire an interventionist. Spreading intervention duties across all teachers adds complexity to everyone's job without improving results. One specialist with proper training and a structured curriculum will outperform a building full of classroom teachers doing ad hoc support. Stop choosing complexity in the name of saving money -- it doesn't actually save money.
Watch the video -->Why is early reading intervention so important?
Catching reading difficulties in K-2 is far more effective than trying to remediate in later grades. A dedicated interventionist who sits down with every kindergartner and first grader to ensure they know every letter and every sound is one of the highest-leverage investments a school can make. If a student reaches middle school without those skills, the hole is almost impossible to dig out of.
Watch the video -->Does a schoolwide RTI intervention block actually work?
In most cases, no. Setting aside 45 minutes a week where any teacher can pull any student for random ad hoc support is a massive waste of time. Students who are years behind need a dedicated class period with a trained interventionist and a structured curriculum -- not a grab-bag of teachers trying to wing it without materials. Schools do this because it seems free, but staff time has real opportunity costs.
Watch the video -->Can good Tier 1 instruction close big gaps from previous years?
No. Your Tier 1 instruction can be perfect and it still won't close gaps in content you don't teach at your grade level. A seventh-grade teacher can't go back and reteach first- and second-grade content during their regular math block. That's like asking the roofer to fix the foundation. Students with big gaps need dedicated Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention -- a separate job, not a side task for classroom teachers.
Watch the video -->How does standards-based grading work when students are far below grade level?
It doesn't, really. If every student in your intervention class is below grade level by definition, standards-based grading just produces failing grades with no useful feedback. Students who are working hard and making progress deserve grades that reflect effort and engagement, not a mastery score of zero on standards they aren't yet ready to meet.
Watch the video -->What do we do when students lack prerequisite knowledge?
Scaffold the grade-level content rather than permanently dropping down to below-grade-level material. Students without prerequisites can still access grade-level work with appropriate support -- pre-teaching vocabulary, reviewing foundational knowledge, and using strategies like repeated reading. The goal is always to get students to grade level, not to permanently accommodate their gaps.
Watch the video -->Can repeated reading help below-level students access grade-level text?
Absolutely. A five-step protocol -- teacher read-aloud, echo read, choral read, partner read, then solo performance -- lets below-grade-level students successfully read at or above grade level. It takes no prep, builds fluency and comprehension, and stops the cycle of always giving struggling readers easier text that keeps them further behind.
Watch the video -->Is social promotion a good thing?
I think so. The consequences of separating a child from their age peers are catastrophic. Retention rarely offers a different instructional approach, so there's no reason to expect different results the second time through a grade. The real answer is early intervention to prevent students from falling so far behind that we're stuck choosing between two bad options.
Watch the video -->Should retention be used to hold students accountable?
Almost never. Holding a student back has serious social and emotional costs and rarely produces better academic outcomes. The research on retention is not encouraging, especially beyond the early grades. If a student is struggling, the answer is intensive intervention -- not making them repeat the same thing the same way and hoping for different results.
Watch the video -->Classroom Management Foundations
What is the single most powerful classroom management strategy?
Teach routines and procedures. Nothing does more heavy lifting. Routines clarify expectations so students know what to do without being told every day, and they free up your mental bandwidth so you're not constantly managing logistics. If something in your classroom isn't going the way you want, routines and procedures are always the first thing to fix.
Watch the video -->Is Teach Like a Champion authoritarian?
No. Structure is not authoritarianism. Cold calling and no opt-out are about making sure every student participates and learns -- that's good teaching, not oppression. The people confusing authoritative with authoritarian have forgotten there's a third category: permissive. And permissive is what you get when you reject every form of adult authority in the classroom.
Watch the video -->Do teachers need to earn student respect?
No. Teachers have professional authority by virtue of their position. Students owe their teachers respect as part of how school works. The real question isn't how to earn it -- it's how not to lose it. Be consistent, be fair, follow through on what you say. But this idea that every teacher starts at zero and must prove themselves worthy is backwards and makes the job impossible.
Watch the video -->Should students sit in groups all the time?
No. Seating should match the task. If students are doing individual work, sitting in clusters of four invites distraction and off-task conversation. Rows have their place. It is completely fine to have students face forward when they're not collaborating. The idea that rows are somehow wrong is an extreme position that hurts learning.
Watch the video -->Is group work usually productive?
Usually not. In most groups, one or two students do the work while others coast. Group work should be the exception chosen for specific purposes, not the default instructional mode. If you're having students solve math problems, each individual needs to understand it -- collaboration can't substitute for that. Be very selective about what is truly a group-worthy task.
Watch the video -->Discipline & Consequences
What's the difference between office-managed and classroom-managed behaviors?
Low-level issues -- not doing work, minor noncompliance, talking out of turn -- stay in the classroom. Serious behaviors -- violence, threats, persistent defiance, major disruptions -- go to the office. Every school needs a clear, agreed-upon list so teachers and administrators are on the same page. Without that clarity, teachers either handle too much alone or send too much to the office.
Watch the video -->What should happen when a student gets sent to the office?
Never send them right back to class. That's the worst thing you can do. It tells the teacher their judgment doesn't matter and tells the student there are no consequences. There needs to be a meaningful conversation, a consequence, and a clear plan for re-entry before the student returns. Keep secondary students at least until the end of the period.
Watch the video -->What if our school policy says teachers can't send students to the office at all?
That's a recipe for disaster. When every student stays in the classroom no matter what, you get escalating behavior, contagion to other students, and teachers with no safety valve. Having an administrator come sit with a disruptive student doesn't scale -- there aren't enough administrators. And rewarding acting-up with one-on-one adult attention guarantees more acting-up.
Watch the video -->If administrators don't want teachers sending kids to the office for low-level stuff, what should they do instead?
Give teachers actual tools. Teachers need the ability to issue low-level consequences themselves -- detention, loss of recess, behavior contracts, parent phone calls. If you take away every in-classroom consequence and also discourage office referrals, you've left teachers with nothing. That's a policy failure, not a teacher failure.
Watch the video -->Can good classroom management overcome a lack of administrative support?
No. Individual skill cannot overcome systemic failure. Even the best classroom managers need admin backup for serious incidents. When students know there are no consequences at the office, word gets out fast and behavior deteriorates schoolwide. Effective discipline is a team effort between classroom teachers and school leadership -- not a solo act.
Watch the video -->Common Pushback
"Have you tried building a relationship with that student?"
This line should never be the response to serious misbehavior. The teacher-student relationship requires a context of authority where the teacher is respected and backed up. Relationships can't do the job that consequences are supposed to do. Telling a teacher who was just threatened to "have lunch with the student and learn their interests" is not support -- it's cruelty.
Watch the video -->Should we stop telling teachers to "build relationships"?
Yes -- at least in the way we usually say it. Replace "build a relationship" with "treat students as if" and then finish the sentence with whatever the relationship was supposed to accomplish. Treat them as if you like them. Treat them as if you have high expectations. That gives teachers something actionable instead of a vague mandate that gets weaponized when things go wrong.
Watch the video -->Is "all behavior is communication" a useful idea?
Not really. It's technically true the same way "everything is everything" is true -- which makes it useless as guidance. In practice, it's a sleight of hand that shifts blame to the educator. If a student punches the principal, saying "that's communication" implies the adult should have prevented it. Students are responsible for their own behavior. Full stop.
Watch the video -->Can we really teach self-discipline, or does it have to be developed another way?
You can't teach self-discipline the way you teach fractions. Students already know what to do and what not to do -- it's not a knowledge gap. Self-discipline develops through practice within a structured environment with clear expectations and real consequences. Think of it like stamina for a cross-country runner: lessons about stamina don't build stamina. Running builds stamina.
Watch the video -->Why is student elopement getting worse?
Because we're allowing it. When nobody blocks the door, nobody escorts the student back, and the response is a parade of adults offering snacks and preferred activities, every kid in the building learns that running out of class gets you attention and freedom. The way to stop it is to stop tolerating it. This is not a new disability -- it's a policy-created problem.
Watch the video -->Is a general classroom an appropriate setting for students with extreme behavioral needs?
No. A general education classroom with one teacher and 25-30 students is not a therapeutic setting. When a behavior plan says "let the student elope," that's incompatible with in loco parentis -- you can't be responsible for a child and simultaneously let them run into traffic. Students with extreme needs deserve specialized settings with appropriate staffing, not a gen ed room without support.
Watch the video -->Are educators on a power trip when they have expectations for students?
No, and framing it that way is ridiculous. Having expectations for behavior, enforcing dress codes, and maintaining order are basic parts of running a school. Clear expectations and consistent rules benefit all students, including neurodiverse students, by providing predictability and structure. Nobody goes into education for the power trip.
Watch the video -->