Team Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) Model
Guiding Questions for Individual Student Problem Solving
Step
Guiding Questions
Reminders
Do we have a problem?
Identify Problem
What discrepancies exist between what we want and what we have?
Are there any patterns or trends?
Is there a problem?
 If there is a problem, is it significant?
 If significant, which problems need to be addressed first?
What questions related to the problem do you have about
 Instruction
 Curriculum
 Environment
Instruction: How will you collect information on the instruction through reviewing
information, interviewing those that maybe helpful, and observing?
Look at multiple data sources,
including academic, behavior,
and attendance.
Brainstorm questions.
Write your assessment plan
across each area that is
relevant to the problem.
Curriculum: How will you collect information on the curriculum through reviewing
information, interviewing those that maybe helpful, and observing?
Develop Hypothesis
Environment: How will you collect information on the environment through reviewing
information, interviewing those that maybe helpful, and observing?
If you don’t have the information from the assessment plan, then set a follow up date to
allow time for data collection. (Consider how long it will take to collect this data before
setting the follow up date.)
Why does the problem exist?
Instructional Barriers:
 Level of instruction (information is presented at a level that student doesn’t
understand)
You will likely need to set a
follow up meeting to review
results & continue process.
Goal is to help student be
successful.
Team Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) Model

Rate of instruction (presentation of information is too fast or slow, time for practice
and repetition is too long or short, frequent corrective feedback is not provided)
 Presentation (length of learning sessions or activities are too long for engagement,
meaningful content is not presented, clear directions are not provided, intrinsic
reinforcement is not embedded in presentation, high levels of active responding are
absent, scaffolding and prompting aren’t present or frequent enough)
 Grouping format (large group, small group, individual, peer partners, etc.)
Curriculum Barriers:
 Content (central and necessary skills are given enough attention; review of precursor
skills are included in learning session; materials are engaging; materials are at
instructional or independent level, depending on learning format; materials are
culturally responsive- students can identify with the materials)
Environmental Barriers:
 Routines and procedures (class attention signal is taught and utilized, morning
routines are defined, routines for managing work are defined, ending routines are
defined, routines are taught and/or re-taught)
 Expectations and rules (classroom expectations are clear, classroom expectations are
taught throughout the year, classroom expectations are re-taught when needed,
classroom expectations are incorporated into instructional units
 Encouraging positive behavior (system for reinforcing individual students, class-wide
reinforcement system, strategies for increasing positive feedback, strategies for
increasing personal regard)
 Changing problematic behavior (function of behavior is utilized to change behavior;
antecedents and consequences are used to change behavior
 Beliefs about school (parents value academics and learning, parent relationship with
school, peers support academic success)
 Medical factors (diagnosed illnesses, syndromes, etc. impacting exposure to
instruction; medication side effects impacting exposure to instruction; nutrition,
hunger, thirst, sleep limiting instructional impact; fatigue)
 Transience (missed instruction due to attendance, misalignment of curriculum due to
changing schools, frequent changes in school has limited time to identify effective
Remember the definition of a
problem.
Focus on the things that you
can change within instruction,
curriculum, and environment
to help the student be
successful.
Write your hypothesis for
why the problem exists.
Team Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) Model
learning approaches, missed critical pre-requisite skills due to absence or tardies,
class size limits student praise and corrective feedback, class size limits exposure to
effective peer role models)
Based on the informal information collected through reviewing, interviewing, and
observing, why do we believe that the problem exists?
What is our precise problem statement?
Discuss & Select
Solutions
Develop &
Implement Action
Plan
How will we know when our student is learning?
Create action items, including the date & time for completion, name a responsible person
(ensures that the action is completed), and a way to measure fidelity (ensure that the
action item was put into place as intended).
Outline how your plan will be measured.
Create a SMART goal for the targeted problem areas. When setting your SMART goal,
think about baseline, short-term goal, and long-term goal for each target.
Write down your precise
statement.
Brainstorm possible solutions.
Write down who, where, with
what, how often.
Write down who, with what,
where, and how often.
Do a SMART check: Is our
goal?
 Specific?
 Measurable?
 Attainable?
 Relevant?
 Time-bound?
Use rate of improvement for
calculating off-grade level
goals, when grade-level goals
aren’t Attainable.
Set up data- decision rules.
Record in ‘if… then…” format
with a review date.
Team Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) Model
Evaluate & Revise
Action Plan
How will we respond when students don’t learn or have already learned?
Has the goal(s) been met?
If yes, consider:
 Increasing the goal for the same problem
 Choose another problem to address
 Create a plan to gradually fade the plan
If no, consider:
 Was the plan implemented with fidelity? (If you picked an evidence-based strategy,
then it should work. Be honest if the plan wasn’t implemented as outlined. We are
human. You don’t want to stop something that would have actually worked had it
been implemented correctly!)
 Did we correctly identify the problem? Was it the right problem?
 Was our hypothesis accurate?
 Was the amount of time reasonable?
 Do we need to adjust the solution?
 Did we compare the student with “like peers”? Like peers are students receiving
similar intervention with similar demographic characteristics.
Important Terminology



Problem- difference between what we have and what we want
Problem identification- difference is discovered and significance determined
Problem solving- a plan to reduce or eliminate difference
Document your team
members who participated in
this meeting.