Dr. J. Douglas Willms is the founder of The Learning Bar. He is the President of the International Academy of Education, a Member of the US National Academy of Education, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He recently held the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Literacy and Human Development for 14 years.
Dr. Willms has published over 200 research articles and monographs pertaining to youth literacy, children’s health, the accountability of schooling systems, and the assessment of national reforms. He developed the Educational Prosperity framework over the course of his career, which is used by jurisdictions in their capacity-building efforts and the development of educational policy. The model has been adopted by the OECD for PISA for Development, an initiative aimed at building capacity for low- and middle-income countries to monitor progress towards nationally-set targets for improvement. Dr. Willms and his colleagues have developed the questionnaires and the analysis plan for this international study.
Colette Wasson is the Chief Executive Officer of The Learning Bar, a senior executive accountable for the strategic success of the company, the success of our partners and clients, and the achievement of our vision “Giving all children the opportunity to thrive”.
Colette attained an MBA to complement her Computer Science degree. She brings over 25 years of business and management experience working with large public and private sector organizations in a variety of industries. Over the years, Colette has developed a solid reputation for delivering results by empowering teams and bringing heart and mind to every challenge.
Colette is a volunteer with the ELF (Elementary Literacy Friends) program and loves to read with Grade 2 students.
Colette is the proud mother of two children and has a passion for the well-being and success of all children; she values and recognizes the importance of a quality education to ensure that all children reach their full potential.
Allison is the Managing Director with responsibility for the growth and profitability of the Australian operation. With a Master of Business Law from Southern Cross University, Lismore, in Business Administration from The University of Technology, Sydney and Risk and Governance qualifications from the Governance Institute of Australia, Allison has extensive experience in all aspects of project and operations management.
Prior to joining The Learning Bar, Allison gained extensive experience during her 10 years at Mars, Incorporated as Chief of Staff and College Director for the Global Legal Function reporting to the General Counsel. With excellence in operations, including business transformation and finance, Allison led the delivery of a number of global programs for the legal function in the area of finance and compliance. Prior to that Allison was a senior intellectual property paralegal at the international law firm Baker McKenzie, managing a multimillion-dollar key account. Allison believes that expectations for success play a key role in children achieving their full potential and having the opportunity to thrive.
Fred is the Chief Technology Officer of The Learning Bar. Bringing over thirty years of technology experience, ranging from satellite operations, military and aerospace, as well as both enterprise and internet software, on projects ranging from small to multi-billion-dollar, Fred applies a broad knowledge of software architecture, technology, and development processes to lead The Learning Bar’s technology team, and to drive a technology vision which solves real problems, and brings real value.
Ethan leads the Product Management and Client Success teams here at The Learning Bar. Their objective is to ensure that our products and services are continually evolving to better meet the needs of educators and that our customers receive the world-class service, training, and support required to achieve their goals. Ethan has over 15 years experience in building teams and processes that can help grow a business from start-up to industry leader. A proud father and project manager, Ethan’s commitment to The Learning Bar’s mission, vision, and values is why, after over a decade at The Learning Bar, he is still excited to come to work every single day.
Danielle leads a responsive research group, and is well experienced in providing a strong supporting role in provincial and state-level initiatives. Danielle and her research group are equipped to assist the ASM team, often behind the scenes. Danielle frequently prepares responses to questions about the survey measures, underlying statistical methods, or other research techniques that periodically arise from various stakeholders. She provides information about any aspect of the data or findings, conducting statistical analyses, preparing reports based on the findings for meetings, or generally assisting where needed when questions arise.
Nicki manages the marketing team at The Learning Bar. She brings over 20 years international experience in the management and implementation of marketing and communication plans and strategic analysis. She is responsible for ensuring the vision and messaging of the company is represented clearly in our internal and external communications at the highest standards.
Susan is a highly skilled administrator with a background in not-for-profit and hospitality; she holds a Masters of Business Administration in International Business, and is service-oriented. Her work experiences include outreach services at the Salvation Army, assistant to the chief executive officer of a rescue mission, and leadership roles in the hospitality industry.
Stephanie holds a BA in History from Bishop’s University and a B. Ed from St. Thomas University. She has completed several professional development courses over the years including project management and adult learning.
Stephanie Guignion brings her 10+ years of classroom teacher experience to The Learning Bar and uses this experience to support educators implementing the various solutions across the company. Her interests include resource development, process improvement & documentation, and early literacy.
In her spare time, she enjoys reading and gardening, and volunteers with several local community organizations.
Stephanie is the Director of Professional Learning and Engagement and has been on the Research team for over 6 years. She holds a Masters of Applied Health Services Research from the University of New Brunswick, and is a Project Management Professional (PMP). She finds it especially rewarding to support others to understand and interpret their data, and enjoys having conversations about how school context can help explain results. In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys trying new recipes and playing soccer.
Shaun McBride is the Human Resources Manager at The Learning Bar, a senior Canadian Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) accountable for the full cycle Human Resources (HR) administration, HR project management, coaching & talent development, and employee communications. Her key objective is to give all The Learning Bar employees the opportunity to thrive.
Shaun has certificates in Business Administration, Negotiations, and Strategic Workforce Planning and has over 20 years experience in the field of Human Resources Management, working with large private sector organizations in a variety of industries. Over the years, Shaun has earned the respect of other Human Resources professionals through one-on-one mentorship. She is passionate about helping managers and employees perform at their best. Shaun is guided by her intuition and authentic desire to help others in her work.
Shaun is a volunteer Board Member for the Provincial Canadian Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) Fredericton Chapter.
Shaun is a proud mother and grandmother and has a very large extended family who rely on her to hold it together even when the going gets rough. Her free time is spent in the kitchen making her family’s favorite meals, or baking cookies to be included in the next parcel that will go to the grandchildren who live out west.
Ola is an experienced product manager with a proven track record of delivering successful products that meet customer needs and drive business growth. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, Ola has developed a deep understanding of product development and management, as well as market trends and consumer behavior.
Ola works with cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, marketing, research, and sales, to ensure OurSchool and Tell Them From me continues to fulfill the product’s commitment to educators by continually evolving. He is skilled in product strategy, road mapping, and agile development methodologies.
Ola holds a Master of Business Administration, B.Tech (Agricultural economics), A certified Scrum Product owner, Scale Scrum master and Scale product owner/ Product Manager.
Thomas Verghese is the Director of Customer Success and Client experience, and has been with the learning bar since 2022. He has a bachelors of engineering in computer science, and has been working in the Edtech sector for over 12 years. Thomas is responsible for driving the Learning Bar’s mission for achieving Educational prosperity for clients through strategic and thought leadership initiatives. He is passionate about grooming and building up the customer success team into becoming trusted advisors who are able to constantly drive value for their clients, and create unique client experiences as they journey with us. One of his strategic objectives is to position the Learning bar as a Strategic trusted Partner to clients as opposed to being just another software vendor.
Janette has worked with the Client Success team at The Learning Bar since 2017. She has also worked in the field of literacy for over a decade: training teachers and tutors, delivering workshops, and creating resources. She has spent many summers delivering math and literacy camps in Indigenous communities in New Brunswick. Through her forestry and science background, she has also worked in the fields of outdoor education, outreach, and research. Janette grew up in a small francophone community in Manitoba, and later lived in various communities in northern Ontario and Quebec; she now lives near Fredericton, New Brunswick. Her passion for helping others has been a great asset in her work building strong and collaborative partnerships throughout her career. During her spare time, Janette likes baking goodies for friends and family, as well as camping and hiking.
Lorna is a member of the Client Success Team. Lorna and the team empower educators by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to collect, review, interpret, share and action their data in meaningful ways. Lorna’s passion is to inspire educators as they collaborate in school planning to activate the power of students’ voices by including students as participants in the school planning process and change-makers in their learning journey. Prior to joining The Learning Bar in 2017, Lorna was an educator and administrator for twenty years. She keeps a finger on the pulse of what is happening in the field of education by maintaining relationships with former colleagues and connecting with educators as part of her current role. Lorna has a BA with first-class honours in Psychology from St. Thomas University (1995) and a B.Ed. with a concentration in Home Economics from the University of New Brunswick (1997).
Lorna has presented two webinars for The Learning Bar. Watch them here!
Account Success Manager EYE Latin America (2017-2019) and OurSCHOOL / EYE Canada (2019- Present)
Bachelor Degree in Foreign Language (English) / Education
Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) Certified Instructor by the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks
Customer Success Management Level 1 Certification
Teaching Experience in Mexico and Canada
Teaching Experience with individuals with different cultural background
Part of the Training Team when EYE was introduced in Ecuador.
Volunteer: Jr NBA program Coach with Fundy Minor Basketball Assn. Soccer Coach with Soccer Chaleur and currently with Charlotte County United Soccer Club.
“Every time I have time and the opportunity, I share/teach sport skills (basketball/soccer) with children. My best advise to them (including my 2 sons) is “Practice will make you better”. I like music, and mixing music. I do mobile DJing for private functions.
Jennifer Caporas is a Product Delivery Specialist at The Learning Bar. She has a Postgraduate Certificate in IT Business Analysis from NBCC (New Brunswick Community College).
Riet joined the Client Success Team in November 2021, supporting clients in achieving their educational goals. Every day she is building customer loyalty and fostering long-term customer relationships by ensuring that customers have a positive experience. Her day is good when she can make her clients happy by actively listening, pinpointing, and solving the issues they encounter. She strongly believes in The Learning Bar’s mission that quality education should be a right for all children. She has a Master’s in Language Arts, specializing in German and English, and a teaching degree from the University of Ghent, Belgium. At the University of Antwerp, she got a degree in International Politics, a field that very much interests her.
Riet lives in rural New Brunswick and combines working from home and in the office. She loves the outdoors, and in her free time, she is busy in her garden, experimenting in the kitchen, making maple syrup, doing yoga, reading, playing with her toddler, and volunteering in her community.
Angela works within the Australian Implementation Team to deliver the Tell Them From Me and Early Years Evaluation products.
Josée worked for 20 years in Telecommunications, In progressive roles from sales rep to Manager of the Onboarding solution team. Josée has a background in building strong relationships with clients. She obtained a diploma in Teacher Aid from Stratford Career Institute recently. Josée takes pride in volunteering at her son’s school and being part of the Parent School Support Committee. She enjoys walks in nature, reading, and crocheting in her spare time.
Esther brings over a decade of experience in education to The Learning Bar. Prior to joining The Learning Bar as a Learning Specialist, she worked in various roles in education serving the needs of teachers and students. She has a background in literacy and reading education and practised as a reading specialist with the public school in Stafford, Virginia. She holds a master’s degree in Education and Human Development Curriculum and Instruction from The George Washington University in Washington D.C. Esther is passionate about books and reading and loves to transfer her passion for reading to students. What truly keeps her motivated is that every child can learn.
Ericka Sutherland is a learning consultant in the Confident Learners program at The Learning Bar. Ericka completed master’s degrees in Literacy and Curriculum Studies from Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax, NS, and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS, with a focus on professional learning communities and teacher professional development.
Ericka taught with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education for 31 years as an early elementary classroom teacher, Literacy Coach, Literacy Consultant and a Reading and Writing interventionist. Regardless of whatever roles she took on, her heart was always in the early elementary classroom with students at the beginning of their literacy journeys. She believes that a strong, early start to literacy learning creates a solid foundation for all future learning and social-emotional well-being.
Most recently, Ericka has taught in the master’s of Education program at Mount St. Vincent University developing and delivering courses on Literacy Learning and Teaching and Reading Popular Culture. Throughout her studies and career, Ericka has pursued her passion for student literacy success through quality teacher training in the areas of literacy curriculum and instruction and collaborative professional learning.
Ericka lives in Nova Scotia with her husband and two grown children. Ericka firmly believes that through building collaborative educational relationships between all educational partners, students, families, teachers, school and district staff, every child can thrive and succeed.
Ashleigh works within the Australian Implementation Team to deliver Early Years Evaluation products and support single school clients with Tell Them From Me.
Sandi is an Instructional Literacy Consultant for the Confident Learners Program with The Learning Bar, bringing extensive experience in both rural and urban educational settings across Canada and the United States.
With a rich background that spans roles as an Early Learning Supervisor and Learning Coach for Livingstone Range School Division in Southern Alberta, and over 15 years with the Calgary Board of Education as a classroom teacher, learning leader, and Early Learning Specialist, Sandi brings a wealth of knowledge and a proven track record in early childhood and literacy education. Additionally, she has classroom experience in Manitoba and, before joining The Learning Bar, served as an Early Childhood Data Coach in Texas, supporting local education agencies statewide in strengthening early childhood programs.
Throughout her career, Sandi has demonstrated a strong commitment to professional growth and data-driven decision-making, leading professional development sessions, coaching educators and administrators directly in classroom settings, and using data-informed practices to shape instruction and programming.
Sandi holds a Master’s Degree in Education with a specialization in Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning from the University of Calgary.
Jennifer Morgen is a Research Assistant at The Learning Bar and works primarily on data and report deliverables. Jennifer has a BA with first-class honours in psychology and has over 10 years of teaching experience as a lab instructor at the university level. Her studies and teaching were focused on neuropsychology, research methods, and statistics. She also has 10 years of research experience working in an addiction research lab. She is proud to be part of a company that focuses on data-driven change and research-based tool development. She believes in The Learning Bar’s commitment to helping users at all levels of data literacy leverage their data to make meaningful change in the lives of students.
Joel Henderson is a Research Associate at The Learning Bar. As a member of the research team, he works closely with school districts across Canada to support their needs, with a particular focus on assisting school leaders as they understand and explore their OurSCHOOL data. Joel holds a master’s degree in education and his expertise extends to the areas of instructional design, e-learning, and curriculum development.
Christine completed her dual honours degree in Psychology and Criminology at Saint Mary’s University, and holds a Master’s Degree in Social Personality Psychology from the University of Manitoba. Prior to attending graduate school, Christine taught elementary school children in South Korea, ages 4 – 13, for two years, focusing on English as an additional language. This amazing experience served to strengthen her respect and admiration for teachers and solidified her passion for improving the life chances for all children. Christine has also been fortunate enough to work with children with special needs, in addition to a number of SLP’s, OT’s, PT’s and SP’s, while working with the Halifax Regional School Board and the Calgary Board of Education.
Yessica Enriquez is the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Media Specialist at The Learning Bar in Fredericton. She has expert knowledge of The Learning Bar mapping processes and technologies; leads the production of all mapping deliverables for The Learning Bar clientele, ensuring that all mapping deliverables meet The Learning Bar ’s high standards of accuracy, quality, and timely delivery. She collaborates with the web design and multimedia production in the marketing department; developing material for animations and graphics. She holds a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Arts degree, both from prestigious institutions and Universities in Mexico. She brings over 20 years experience in web design and development; multimedia and visual art production.
Kelly is an Education Service Partner with over 25 years of experience. She specializes in the implementation of assessment tools and has expertise in K-12 and Higher Education. Kelly has closely worked with several administrators to ensure the successful integration of technology tools.
Kelly’s passion for education began when she started teaching K-12 students as a substitute English teacher in Moncton, NB after graduating with her Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Mary’s University. Her love for education has persisted throughout her entire career. Kelly spent over 20 years working in Education Publishing, helping thousands of faculty and students embrace new technology tools to enhance their classroom experience and foster an inclusive learning environment. Recently, she has been working with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities to help preserve local language and culture by creating customized classroom and community resources.
Kelly’s ability to work as a trusted partner while fostering relationships with clients is one of the skills she brings to The Learning Bar.
Deepa is a Product Delivery Specialist at the Learning Bar. She is part of the delivery team providing technical support and guidance to The Learning Bar’s employees and clients. Deepa is an all-round product expert, responsible for delivering reports and services that meet client expectations. She has a strong working knowledge of the OurSCHOOL product and is well experienced with responding to problems instantly, managing and delivering products and services.
She also has considerable experience working with various departments within the company to help identify and develop process improvements to better serve TLB clients. Deepa is passionate about The Learning bar’s vision and mission of equality, diversity, and inclusion.
Erin is a Junior Developer with The Learning Bar and is responsible for contributing to the achievement of our company’s vision by participating in the research and development of The Learning Bar’s products. Erin has always been interested in technology, teaching herself to code and enrolling in Computer Science electives while studying Psychology. Eventually she made the decision to change educational paths and completed her diploma in Information Technology Programmer Analyst from New Brunswick Community College in June 2021. As a mother, Erin was drawn to The Learning Bar and the meaningful opportunity to help children thrive through her work as a developer. In her spare time Erin enjoys reading, video games and spending time with her partner, son and two rescue cats.
Nishanth Chillarige is the staff software engineer of the learning bar, responsible for leading and mentoring a team of developers as they execute the technological product development activities, make design decisions to build scalable and maintainable software solutions, drive technical initiatives, and ensure our products adhere to industry best standards.
Nishanth attained a Master’s in organizational management, which adds to his profound technical experience. Nishanth worked with large Multinational companies as a Technical lead and a Senior Research Engineer in Research and Development Centre’s in various industries, such as Automotive and Industrial automation. A deep understanding of software development principles and broad technical knowledge enabled him to provide robust software solutions for products that manage industrial time-series data and derive data analytics.
Nishanth takes pride in his contribution to constantly strengthening industries and aspires to design their work environments updated with present-day technologies that serve humanity.
Hayley is the Finance and Adminstration Officer for the Australian business. Working closely with the Managing Director, Hayley is responsible for the management of all aspects of Finance and Operations in the Australia business. She has worked at The Learning Bar since Feburary 2021. Hayley holds a certificate in Accounting and Bookkeeping.
Kaitlyn Gallant is a recent graduate student from the University of New Brunswick with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource. While obtaining her degree she found an interest in psychology of childhood development and education. Her hobbies include reading, relaxing on the beach, exploring, and spending time with family and friends.
Neil is a former principal and a member of the M’Chigeeng First Nations, located on Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron. Neil has held principal positions at Kashechewan, Mikwemikong and M’Chigeeng First Nations.
He was awarded the prestigious Meritorious Service Medal by Governor General for service supporting Indigenous Education and is now working as a consultant at The Learning Bar.
Neil has presented a webinar for The Learning Bar. Watch it here!
Connie Freeman is the Senior Instructional Literacy Consultant at The Learning Bar. She has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education and over a decade of experience in the classroom. Connie’s philosophy of education is grounded in a fundamental belief in the importance of equitable education for all and the critical role literacy plays in ensuring success for all students. As a literacy support specialist, Connie has experience supporting students and teachers in the classroom, as well as building professional learning communities in schools.
A proud mother of two, Connie is an environmental advocate and a nature enthusiast. In her free time, she can be found raising and releasing Monarch butterflies and volunteering with her therapy dog, Bear. Connie makes her home on beautiful Mnidoo Mnising/Manitoulin Island, in the heart of Northern Ontario.
Dr. Lori Bryden is an instructional literacy consultant with The Learning Bar. As a former teacher, coordinator of special education, and principal of 37 years, Lori believes in the power of education!
Lori holds a Doctorate in Education in Curriculum and Special Education; a Masters’ of Education in Curriculum and Instructional Technology from Acadia University; a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University; and a Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University. In addition to her principle qualifications, Lori has also earned her Supervisory Officer’s Qualifications.
Lori’s areas of research include the science of reading, teacher questioning, inclusion, equity and trauma-informed leadership. In addition to her work at The Learning Bar, Lori is an Assistant Professor for students in the Professional Masters’ Degree Program. Her work includes supervising capstone projects and instructing literacy courses. Lori is also a course instructor and course writer with the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario. Lori enjoys writing and reviewing curriculum for school districts, universities, and other professional educational organizations throughout Canada.
Lori strongly believes that all children can achieve at a high level when provided with appropriate support. She is passionate about assisting school teams to create the best learning environments for their students.
Lori enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter and their many rescue animals at their homes in Ontario and New Brunswick.
The Confident Learners framework was developed over the course of a three year research partnership with 32 First Nations communities to develop a scalable program, informed by best evidence, and designed to meet the literacy needs of each child, school and community. To outline some of the key challenges we addressed through our research, and evidence underlying the program’s approach and design, we have developed the Confident Learners Program Overview. To receive the Overview directly in your inbox please provide us with your contact details below.
The Confident Learners program provides a rigorous curriculum aligned with teaching activities, assessments and quality professional development. The program covers all pre-literacy to literacy skills required to achieve reading fluency by the end of 3rd grade. The foundational model of literacy and language development that the Confident Learners Literacy Program uses, draws upon is the widely recognized and validated ‘Simple View of Reading.’ This model has two critical and complementary dimensions:
Code-related skill: Concepts about print, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and reading fluency (decoding and spelling, recognition and spelling, speed and prosody).
Language skill: Vocabulary, receptive language, expressive language, and written language.
Children must master both to read proficiently.
Click to view a Code-Related Instructional Activity or Language-Related Instructional Activity.
School monitoring programs and national and international studies such as PISA provide trailing indicators of student’s outcomes. The primary aim of trailing indicators is to assess changes in system performance across schools and districts, and over time.
Educators need leading indicators to inform timely school policy and instructional decisions. Leading indicator data allow you to not only focus on what is happening in your school now, but also to predict what will happen as a result (e.g. high bullying rates now will lead to high anxiety rates later). Leading indicator data are collected before learning occurs or as it is occurring. They typically employ short tests and administer surveys more frequently. The data can be used to:
We enable schools to continuously monitor several leading indicators that can help guide school policy and practice and assess the effects of school reforms.
High accuracy of reported measures is best achieved by having 100% of students participate. However, a reasonable estimate can be achieved by having as few as 30 students participate.
Validity refers to whether a set of survey questions is measuring what it is intended to measure.
Steps for establishing the validity of an OurSCHOOL measure
Data are analyzed using two psychometric techniques: factor analysis and item response theory (IRT). The analysis provides an indication of how well the questions hold together to provide a measure of a single unified construct, and whether each question contributes to the reliable measurement of the construct.
Reliability refers to the consistency of the measurement process and is one of the key criteria for a sound measure of a schooling outcome or school process.
Join the OurSCHOOL Engagement Team in one of our personalized interactive sessions. Each session was designed to reach all levels of data literacy, meaning you don’t need to be a data expert or statistician to attend. Let our team of experts guide you in finding your data story!
1
PRE-SURVEY
STRATEGY SESSION
2
DATA
DEEP DIVE
3
ASSESSING
YOUR IMPACT
4
BUILDING A
THRIVING SCHOOL
Explore topics such as:
In this year-end online debrief, the
Engagement Team will provide
you with tips and resources you
can use to:
A school is thriving when teachers,
students, parents / guardians, and
the community are working together
toward a common vision of success.
Take a deep dive into your data!
• Data-driven planning,
• goal setting, and
• using survey measures and
custom questions to capture
actionable evidence.
Our experts will:
• Review your data
• present notable highlights, and
• identify areas for further
investigation.
• Review your progress,
• assess the impact of your
implemented strategies, and
• discuss ways to help your team
adjust strategies and set
priorities for the coming year.
In this session you will:
• Explore strategies for how to
engage your whole school
community and build a culture of
consultation and collabora-tion
between all stakeholders, and
• learn how to triangulate the
perspectives of students,
teachers and parents to gain
deep insight into your school
communities' alignment.
• This session is available for
schools that use the OurSCHOOL
suite of surveys (Student, Parent,
and Teacher).
Leave the session with:
Participants will:
• Strategies and resources to
generate excitement for the
OurSCHOOL survey, and
• ideas you can use for a
successful survey
implementation.
• Learn to interpret and share
their OurSCHOOL findings,
• identify areas to celebrate,
• pinpoint opportunities for
improvement, and develop
achievable action plans
for further success.
Leave the session with:
• Knowledge and resources to
assess the impact of your
current strategies, and
• tips and resources for creating
a plan before your next survey
implementation.
* Sessions are available in both online and in-person format with up to 50 attendees. Pricing is based on session details and availability may be limited.
The RTI classification includes three tiers, which are based on a prediction model derived from longitudinal data that estimated the likelihood of a child being a successful reader at age 8 or 9, based on his or her EYE-TA domain scores. Children with a greater than 80% chance of becoming a successful reader are classified as having Tier 1 learning needs; those with a 50% to 80% chance of becoming a successful reader are classified as having Tier 2 learning needs; and those with less than a 50% chance are considered to have Tier 3 learning needs. The prediction model takes into account the age of the child at the time of the assessment and his or her skill level in each of the five domains. The results derived from the model weights some skills more heavily than others. Skills in the Cognitive and Language and Communication domains figure most prominently; children’s Awareness of Self and Environment, Social Skills and Approaches to Learning, and Fine Motor skills also contribute to the classification.
An RTI classification is not permanent or necessarily long term, nor is it a label assigned to a child. As children are developing their literacy skills, their progress should be monitored on a regular basis, using a variety of formal and informal tests. In practice, teachers use the domain-specific results to plan their instruction. Schools with more than one kindergarten or 1st grade classroom can use the RTI score to ensure the prevalence of vulnerable children is evenly distributed among classrooms.
Also, children with Tier 2 or Tier 3 learning needs do not necessarily have a specific learning or intellectual disability. The classification simply indicates that a child may need extra instructional time and resources during the primary school years.