Educational strategies
Instructional intervention: What you need to know
By Andrew M.I. Lee, JD
At a Glance
 An instructional intervention is a program or set of steps to help kids
improve at things they struggle with.
 Instructional interventions focus on subjects like reading or math.
 They’re designed so that you and the school can track your child’s
progress.
If your child is getting help in school, you
may have heard the term intervention. A
lot of people use the word to describe any
sort of help a child gets. But instructional
intervention has a very specific definition.
Knowing what it means can help you
better understand the help your child is
getting in school.
What is an instructional intervention?
An instructional intervention is a specific
program or set of steps to help kids
improve in an area of need. Kids can have
many different types of needs.
Instructional interventions
aren’t behavioral interventions. They’re
aimed at academics. (They’re sometimes
called academic interventions.) For
subjects like reading or math, there are
instructional interventions.
Instructional interventions are:

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Intentional: They’re aimed at a particular challenge.
Specific and formalized: An intervention lasts a certain number of
weeks or months and is reviewed at set intervals.
They’re set up this way so you and the
school can monitor progress.
Even though instructional interventions
are formalized, they can be flexible, too.
For example, if a program isn’t helping a
student, the school might change it. This
could mean increasing the amount of time
a student gets reading support each
week. Or it might mean getting more
intense support — like moving from small
group instruction to one-on-one help.
The process of using more and more
intense interventions is the basis
for response to intervention (RTI).
(Some schools use a multi-tier system of
supports, or MTSS.) Many schools use
these approaches to help struggling
students. (Read about the difference
between RTI and MTSS.)
What an instructional intervention isn’t
An instructional intervention isn’t just
a strategy. People sometimes confuse
strategies with instructional interventions.
But there are important differences. A
strategy is a set of methods or activities to
teach kids a skill or concept.
An instructional intervention
may include strategies. But not all
strategies are interventions. The main
difference is that an instructional
intervention is formalized, aimed at a
known need, and monitored. A strategy,
on the other hand, can be informal and
isn’t always tracked.
Here’s an example of an instructional
strategy:
Ms. Tomlin’s second-grade class includes
many kids who have trouble with focus.
To keep the entire class engaged, Ms.
Tomlin often uses movement to teach
math. She assigns each child a number or
a plus or equal sign. Then she has the
students move around to form equations.
An instructional intervention is not an
accommodation. Interventions are also
sometimes confused with
accommodations. An accommodation is
a change to the classroom environment
that gives students equal access to
learning.
This isn’t the same thing as an
instructional intervention. Sometimes the
distinctions aren’t clear because you may
see instructional
interventions combined with
accommodations.
Here’s an example of an
accommodation without instructional
intervention:
Say a student has trouble with reading
and uses text-to-speech (TTS)
software that reads digital text out loud.
That accommodation might not improve
reading skills, but it will help the student
access the content in books.
Here’s an example of an
accommodation with instructional
intervention:
The same student is allowed to use that
TTS software, but uses it along with a
specific reading program that’s being
used as an instructional intervention.
Learn more about the difference
between accommodations and
interventions.
What instructional interventions look
like in practice
Here’s an example of what an intervention
can look like for a child who’s struggling in
a general education classroom:
Marcia is in first grade. She lacks basic
math skills and doesn’t recognize
numbers from 1 to 10. But she hasn’t
been evaluated for special education. Her
school schedules an hour of small group
instruction each day to help her catch up.
Every week, the teacher checks on her
progress.
Here’s an example of what an intervention
can look like for a child who has
an IEP and is getting special education
services:
Jeff is in fifth grade and has dyslexia. He
has trouble
with decoding and phonological
awareness. The IEP team decides to
provide 30 minutes of multisensory
reading instruction three times a week.
Every month, his reading progress is
monitored.
If your school uses RTI, your child may
get targeted interventions in reading or
math. Be sure to ask for progress
updates. Read about how RTI monitors
progress.
Talk to your child’s teacher about any
informal help your child might be getting,
and check for formal interventions listed in
the IEP or 504 plan. You can
also download an IEP goal tracker
form if you want to track your child’s
progress at home.
Key Takeaways


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An instructional intervention is more
than just a strategy.
They have specific, formalized steps to
address an academic need.
Many schools use a framework called
response to intervention (RTI) to help
struggling students.
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About the Author
Andrew M.I. Lee, JD is an editor and former attorney who strives to help people
understand complex legal, education, and parenting issues.
Reviewed by
Bob Cunningham, EdM serves as executive director of learning development at
Understood.