Tier 1 systems, data, and practices support everyone – students, educators, and staff – across all school settings. They establish a foundation for positive and proactive support. Tier 1 support is robust, differentiated, and enables most (80% or more) students to experience success. Tier 1 practices include:

• Collaborating with students, families, and educators to define positive school/program-wide expectations and prioritize appropriate social, emotional, and behavioral skills
• Aligning classroom expectations with school/program-wide expectations
• Explicitly teaching expectations and skills to set all students up for success
• Encouraging and acknowledging expected behavior
• Preventing and responding to unwanted behavior in a respectful, instructional manner
• Fostering school/program-family partnerships
  
  

In addition to your Tier 1 foundation, students receiving Tier 2 supports get an added layer of systems, data, and practices targeting their specific needs. On average, about 10-15% of your students will need some type of Tier 2 support. The support you provide at Tier 2 is more focused than at Tier 1 and less intensive than at Tier 3. Tier 2 practices include:

• Providing additional instruction and practice for behavioral, social, emotional, and academic skills
• Increasing adult support and supervision
• Providing additional opportunities for positive reinforcement
• Increasing prompts or reminders
• Increasing access to academic supports
• Increasing school-family communication

At most schools and programs, there are a small number (1-5%) of students for whom Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports have not been sufficient to experience success. At Tier 3, students receive more intensive, individualized support to improve their outcomes. Tier 3 supports are available to any student with intensive need, whether they receive special education services or not. Tier 3 practices include:

• Engaging students, educators, and families in functional behavioral assessments and intervention planning
• Coordinating support through wraparound and person-centered planning
• Implementing individualized, comprehensive, and function-based support

Reference:  Center on PBIS | What is PBIS?