Stephanie Stollar Consulting

04/09/2026

Same Score ≠ Same Instruction 💡

Assessment scores tell you how well a student performed, but not what to do next.

The instructional hierarchy fills that gap by helping you determine what kind of instruction each student needs next.

Students move through 3 phases:

1️⃣ Accuracy Phase
Students are learning the skill. They need modeling, scaffolds, clear steps, and immediate feedback to produce the skill accurately.

2️⃣ Fluency Building Phase
Students are accurate but slow. They need repetition and practice to build automaticity.

3️⃣ Generalization Phase
Students can use the skill fluently in new situations. They transfer it to reading, writing, and problem-solving without prompts.

Two students with similar scores may be in different phases of the instructional hierarchy. That means they need different instruction to move forward.

When you pair your assessment data with the instructional hierarchy, your next steps are clearer and more effective.

🎥 Watch my free Diagnostic Assessments video to go deeper: https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_04_09_Research_Real_Talk

04/07/2026

Sounding it out isn’t the same as reading it. 📖

If your students can say each sound but can’t blend them into a word, you’re not alone.

🔍 Here’s what’s actually happening:

Many students can decode sound-by-sound, but they get stuck when it’s time to blend those sounds into a real word.

Educators see this all the time with simple CVC words like cat, bat, and hit. Students will say each sound correctly, and then freeze. 🥶

It’s so common that I recently tackled it in a members-only Reading Science Academy Masterclass.

Inside that session, I broke down what it really takes to move students from sounding out to automatic word reading. Then I gave members practical tools they can use right away.

Here’s a peek at what’s inside the masterclass: 👀

1️⃣ The Secrets of Success
Automatic word reading doesn’t happen by accident. Students need specific prerequisite skills in place before they can make that leap, and when you know what those are, everything starts to click.

2️⃣ Step-by-Step Instructional Routines
Members get plug-and-play routines for sounding out, blending sounds, building automatic word reading, and structuring practice so students actually progress.

3️⃣ Exact Educator Language
What you say matters. Each routine includes the instructional phase, educator signals, student responses, and the exact wording you can use in the moment. These are things you can implement tomorrow.

4️⃣ Bonus Content
Members also received exclusive access to draft chapters from my upcoming book on this topic.

If this is something you’re seeing in your classroom, you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Inside Reading Science Academy, you’ll find the full Masterclass, downloadable routines, and hundreds of resources to support your science of reading and MTSS implementation.

You’ll also meet a community of educators doing this work alongside you. 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

✨Join us now to access this Masterclass and everything else Reading Science Academy has to offer: https://www.stephaniestollarconsulting.com/register?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_04_07_Classroom_Instruction

04/02/2026

You’ve done the screening. You have the data. But what comes next often feels unclear or overwhelming.

Screening (along with diagnostic data) can help answer one key question:

➡️ What instruction does each student need next?

When you step back and group students by patterns in their data, everything starts to make more sense.

Here’s how to think about it:

Group 1️⃣ is students meeting benchmarks across decoding and fluency.
👉 Up Next: Focus on extending skills through advanced phonics, fluency, and comprehension.

Group 2️⃣ is accurate decoders who aren’t fluent yet.
👉 Up Next: Focus on fluency building, repeated reading, and oral reading with feedback.

Group 3️⃣ is students who can decode in isolation but struggle in connected text.
👉 Up Next: Focus on advanced phonics patterns and applying skills in controlled text.

Group 4️⃣ is students who know letter sounds but can’t blend.
🚩 This is a major red flag.
👉 Up Next: Focus on explicit decoding routines and blending practice.

Group 5️⃣ is students struggling with foundational skills.
🚩 These students need the most time, intensity, and support.
👉 Up Next: Focus on high-utility sounds, blending, and early word reading.

When you group like this, your instruction becomes targeted, efficient, and actually moves students forward because you’re meeting them where they are.

Want help doing this in your own classroom or school?

✨ Get my Grouping Worksheets for BOY, MOY, and EOY inside my free K–12 Resource Library: https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_04_02_Assessment

04/01/2026

I’m looking forward to this one! Join us!

If you join the MTSS Collective before May 4, this won’t be a rhetorical question.

➡️ All MTSS Collective members will be able to join a LIVE workshop with Dr. Archer!

Dr. Archer will be sharing her proven instruction strategies for increasing classroom engagement for secondary students. ✅

These techniques will deliver quick wins no matter what grade level or subject matter you support!

Normally, you’d have to travel and pay potentially hundreds of dollars to join a live session with Anita Archer.

An MTSS membership gets you the opportunity to be in the (virtual) room with Anita – plus access to all of the MTSS templates, tools, research briefs, and workshops in our archive – for a fraction of the cost.

🍎 We know that many districts are looking to spend the last of their 2025/2026 budget.

If you want support to get your participation funded, we created an advocacy email template that you can copy, paste, and send directly to your leadership.

Don’t miss your chance to hear directly from Dr. Anita Archer!

Download the template or join now: https://www.mtss-innovations.com/mtss-collective

03/31/2026

Progress monitoring is one of the most powerful tools we have in MTSS.

It’s also one of the most misunderstood.

For example, have you been told that students need “3 data points above the goal” before moving on?

❌ That rule was never meant to be a pass/fail checkpoint. It’s simply a way to identify a trend in the data so you’re not reacting to a single score.

Instead:

✔️ Compare the most recent three data points to the goal line. Above the goal means growth is faster than expected, below the goal signals instruction may need to change, and around it means instruction is likely working.

📈 The three points are meant to show a trend in growth, not require students to hit the goal three times. Those trends empower teams to make timely instructional decisions instead of waiting too long.

Still confused? 😵‍💫

✨ Grab the free Progress Monitoring Implementation Guide inside my free K-12 Resource Library. ✨

Inside, I answer 15 of the biggest questions educators have about progress monitoring, including:

❓ What is the purpose of progress monitoring?

❓ Which skills should be monitored and for which students?

❓ How often should I monitor, and how will I find time to do it?

❓ How does progress monitoring fit into MTSS?

❓ What makes a strong progress monitoring assessment tool?

Plus, I share a free progress monitoring tool that meets all my criteria.

➡️ Want my free Progress Monitoring Implementation Guide? Grab it here: https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_03_31_Assessment

03/26/2026

Strong systems are built together. 🤝

If your MTSS meetings, curriculum decisions, and intervention plans don’t includespecial ed teachers and administrators, you’re designing a system with a missing pillar.

Special education should not be an island that pulls students away from core instruction.

It should strengthen Tier 1 and deliver the double dose in Tier 2.

I’m hearing about classroom teachers who hesitate to refer students to special ed because the support feels disconnected.

🚩That’s a red flag for a problem in the system.

The strongest reading outcomes happen when special ed is embedded in skill-based grouping, intervention planning, and data conversations from the start.

Want tools you can share with your special ed team to align science of reading and MTSS work?

Access my free resource library here: https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_03_26_Classroom_Instruction

03/24/2026

MTSS isn’t a sorting hat. 🎩

I was recently invited on The Colorful Classroom - Literacy in Color Podcast with Michelle Sullivan to share about my book, MTSS for Reading Improvement.

Michelle and I talked about schools treating MTSS like a system for sorting students into Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. But that’s not the point.

When we shift the focus from categorizing students to strengthening supports, MTSS becomes what it was meant to be:

✅ A framework for prevention

✅ Effective instruction for every learner.

What’s the biggest misconception about MTSS you’ve seen in schools? 👇

03/19/2026

There’s a common myth in education that Direct Instruction only works for foundational skills and can’t build deeper comprehension.

This free webinar with Dr. Kurt Engelmann, President of the National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI), will challenge that idea.

In this 90-minute session, you’ll learn how explicit language instruction builds the conceptual knowledge students need for strong reading comprehension, with real examples from Reading Mastery Signature Edition.

If you care about instructional design, sequencing skills for success, and helping students reach higher-level comprehension, this is a session you won’t want to miss.

📅 Thursday, March 26

⌚ 3 PM PT

🎟 Free to attend

Reading Science Academy is proud to co-sponsor this event alongside the Evidence Advocacy Center and System Impact Consulting.

✨ Save your seat: https://www.nifdi.org/training-events/events-calendar/free-event/sor-series-1.html

03/17/2026

MTSS implementation is messy by nature.

Every system we’ve helped build includes moments we now look back on as “Epic Fails.”

We scaled too fast, solved the wrong problems, and forgot about the people.

But here’s the truth:

Epic Fails aren’t permanent failures. They’re signs of real implementation progress.

Most mistakes come from urgency without infrastructure.

Good Intentions + Missing Systems = Burnout

We’ve since learned that:

✅ Scaling requires district readiness
✅ You can’t intervene your way out of Tier 1 problems
✅ Teaming breaks down when classroom teachers aren’t at the center
✅ Recovery starts when we stop fixing individuals and start redesigning environments

Our recent mega-popular Epic Fails webinar dives into the stories of how experienced leaders analyzed what went wrong, adjusted course, and rebuilt stronger systems.

Share in our ups and downs. You just might learn something!

Watch the replay here: https://www.mtss-innovations.com/free-resources/epic-fails-lessons-in-promoting-effective-mtss-implementation

03/17/2026

Flat progress monitoring graphs make educators nervous.

Too often, the next move is escalation: a referral, a new program, a new group, or special ed.

But a strong MTSS team pauses before changing and asks the questions below:

✅ Was the intervention delivered as planned?

✅ Is instruction targeting the right skill?

✅ Was an evidence-based program used that contains a clear scope and sequence?

✅ Do all students in the group need instruction on the same skill?

✅ Was diagnostic assessment data used for grouping?

✅ Is progress being monitored at least every other week?

When you have enough data points, you can stop relying on your gut.

Clear intensification guidelines stop teams from defaulting to refer–test–place or overloading special education teams.

👉 Need help deciding what to adjust and when to intensify?

My free PreK–12 Resource Library is filled with tools similar to this checklist for strengthening and intensifying supports.

https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_03_17_Research_Real_Talk

03/13/2026

Are your MTSS teams using the ICEL-RIOT matrix to examine 4 domains of influence across 4 sources of input?

So much data. So little organization!

The ICEL/RIOT Matrix helps teams slow down assumptions and ask better questions by examining 4 domains of influence across 4 sources of information.

❌ Instead of defaulting to, “What’s wrong with the student?”

✅ This framework helps teams ask, “What in the system might be contributing to this outcome?”

Changing the question is how MTSS shifts into redesigning environments that support success.

Inside the MTSS Collective, Dr. Pam Radford walks through exactly how to implement and apply tools like the ICEL/RIOT Matrix as part of building a cohesive behavior blueprint.

Members can watch the full webinar on demand and see how this thinking translates into real implementation decisions.

Want to have stronger conversations with your leadership or district team?

✨ Start with our free resource: Essential MTSS Conversations

Use it to introduce tools like this one, align your team, and move from discussion to action.

Get the guide here: https://www.mtss-innovations.com/free-resources/essential-mtss-conversations

03/12/2026

If most of your students in Tier 2 aren’t catching up, it’s worth asking a different question:

❓ Is it the program or the dosage?

Students catch up when they receive ✨more✨ instruction that is precisely matched to their current skill level.

➡️ That’s what double-dosing is about.

Double dosing gives students aligned instruction in Tier 1 and then again in Tier 2 or Tier 3, allowing them to move through content at a faster pace than their peers.

Here’s why this matters:

When Tier 1 instruction is above a student’s current skill level, one additional intervention block often isn’t enough to produce accelerated growth.

Students may improve, but not quickly enough to close the gap.

Double dosing gives them the extra, aligned minutes they need to:

✅ Build prerequisite skills

✅ Increase accuracy and automaticity

✅ Move through lessons more quickly

✅ Catch up to grade-level expectations

If your Tier 2 system feels stuck, consider whether students are getting enough of the right instruction at the right level.

Want help grouping students and planning double doses that actually click?

Find practical tools and templates inside my free K–12 Resource Library.

https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_03_12_Classroom_Instruction