Intervention Strategies for Struggling Readers with Shannon Moore

Sara

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed trying to support your struggling readers or wished you had a more structured approach to intervention, then you’re in for a real treat. Today, I’m chatting with the amazing Shannon Moore, a certified reading specialist and the educator behind More Literacy Leaps. Shannon works closely with schools and teachers to help them implement effective literacy intervention programs, and she has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to supporting struggling readers.

In our conversation today, we’re breaking down the four essential components of literacy intervention, and Shannon is going to share some really practical strategies that will help you feel more confident and prepared when working with students who need extra support. So whether your school has a formal intervention program or you’re trying to figure it out on your own, this episode is going to be perfect for you.

Hi, Shannon! Welcome to the show. I’m so excited to have you on as a guest today.

Shannon

Hi, thank you, Sara, for having me. I’m so happy to be here.

Sara

Yeah, I know literacy intervention is such an area of expertise for you, and I know my audience is going to be so excited to hear from you about this topic. So like I said, I really appreciate you coming on and sharing all of your knowledge today.

So we’re going to go ahead and jump right in. I know that you talk a lot about literacy intervention, and you work closely with schools in that specific area. How did this really become your area of expertise?

Shannon

I would say it became my area of expertise around 2011—that’s when I became a certified reading specialist. I had been a classroom teacher since 2003, and with the changes to the IDEA Act and the introduction of Response to Intervention (RTI) around 2004, schools started to implement intervention programs. But the process was slow, and some schools are still in the process of implementation today.

When I became a reading specialist in 2011, my administrator asked me to start implementing the RTI framework at my school. At the time, nobody really knew what it was, except for the special education director. And by law, special education isn’t supposed to oversee RTI, even though it’s technically connected to that sector. So in 2011, I took on the role of reading specialist and intervention coordinator at my school.

Sara

Yeah, that sounds so common, right? Your principal is like, Here, do this thing—with no training, no guidance—and you’re left to figure it out on your own. But obviously, you did!

Shannon

Yes, yes!

Sara

Before we dive into the specific components of intervention—because I know there are some really important things teachers need to keep in mind—can you give us a clear definition of literacy intervention? I feel like that term gets thrown around so much, but what is the actual definition of literacy intervention, and why is it so important, especially at the elementary level?

Shannon

Let’s keep it simple—literacy intervention is just research-based strategies used to support struggling readers. That’s it.

Sara

I love it!

Shannon

Yeah, because we could get technical, but I want to keep it basic. When implementing literacy interventions, you want to ensure you’re incorporating the five pillars of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Effective literacy intervention touches on all five of these components.

Literacy intervention is especially important in elementary because that’s when the reading foundation is built—starting in kindergarten, or even before. It’s imperative that students master these foundational skills before moving on to secondary education.

For example, when I worked as a reading specialist in high school, I was certified K-12, so I worked with ninth and tenth graders. I often had to go back and fill in gaps because their reading foundation wasn’t strong in elementary school. I found myself teaching phonics to high schoolers, and at that age, they would say, This is babyish!

Sara

And you’re like, you still need it.

Shannon

Right. So I just dressed it up and said, Okay, well, we’re doing word study. We’re going to study words. And they were like, Oh, okay, this is great. So that’s how I did it. And again, the same thing happened when I worked as a reading specialist in middle school. I was working with sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and they gave me a reading lab because there were so many students who needed support due to gaps in foundational skills. So once again, I found myself teaching foundational skills at the secondary level. That’s why literacy intervention is so important in elementary school.

Sara

I think sometimes we forget that, as elementary literacy educators, we have this amazing opportunity to give our students a strong foundation so that when they reach middle school and high school, they don’t have those gaps that need to be filled. We shouldn’t have to disguise phonics as word study just to get older students to engage with it.

So if students are struggling in elementary school, we can’t just ignore it. We can’t overlook it. We can’t just keep passing them along, hoping the next teacher will take care of it. No, we have to get serious about helping those students fill their gaps so that they don’t carry them forward.

I’m sure you see this a lot in your conversations with schools and teachers. What are some misconceptions people have about literacy intervention?

Shannon

I would say the most common misconception I’ve seen is that reading interventions are too time-consuming. But if you have effective practices in place—if you implement them strategically, stick to a schedule, and plan ahead—it won’t feel overwhelming.

Another big misconception I’ve seen, and this varies by district, is that many teachers are completely removed from the intervention process. Some teachers think, Oh, I don’t deal with that. The interventionist comes into my room, pulls the students, and that’s it. So the misconception is that teachers aren’t a part of the intervention process.

Sara

And they should be, probably pretty integral, right?

Shannon

Absolutely. But what’s happening is that districts are hiring interventionists to handle all the intervention roles. They’re either pushing into the classroom or pulling groups for Tier 2 reading interventions, and then for Tier 3, specialists are working with students. But every district does it differently. Some districts are just pulling students and putting them on computer-based programs—which could be a whole other topic for another time.

Sara

We might have to have you back to talk about that!

But to your point, I think so many teachers, educators, and administrators assume they don’t have time for intervention because it seems overwhelming. There’s this gut reaction—if something feels new, important, or like a big responsibility, it must take a lot of time. But in reality, literacy intervention—when scheduled and well-planned to meet students’ specific needs—doesn’t have to take up a ton of time. It doesn’t have to pull students away from class for long periods, and it’s so important.

I love that reminder—Nope, it doesn’t have to take a ton of time!

Okay, so let’s talk about the components of intervention. I know you’ve shared with me that for intervention to be successful, certain components must be in place. Can you give us a brief overview of these four components? Then we can do a deeper dive into each one.

Shannon

Sure, the four components of intervention are data analysis, skills-based groups, progress monitoring, and planning. We need to take a data dive after each assessment.

Then we have skills-based groups. I always say I prefer skills-based groups over level groups, and we’ll talk more about that because you want to be strategic in targeting your interventions.

Next, we look at progress monitoring. A lot of times, this step gets skipped, or it can feel daunting because it really takes planning at a school-wide level.

And last but not least is planning, and we’re going to talk about why that is important as well.

Sara

I love it! So let’s start with data analysis. Now, I know there are some teachers out there thinking, Ooh, data… that’s not my thing.

So when we talk about data analysis for intervention, what data should teachers be collecting, and what does that actually look like in practice?

Shannon

So when we talk about data, we’re looking at benchmark assessments. In most districts, benchmark assessments are given three times a year—at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. We want to analyze that data carefully, because a lot of times, when teachers first look at data, it can feel overwhelming. There’s a lot of it. You see all these colors—reds, greens, yellows, and now even orange. And sometimes, we get caught up in just comparing the previous benchmark results, asking, Did students move from red to green? That’s fine, but it’s not enough.

To really track student progress, we need to go deeper than just looking at the composite or raw scores. We want to analyze the specific standards that were tested. Essentially, we need to do an item analysis of each standard and see how students performed on those particular skills. Then, we use that data to group students into skills-based groups based on their areas of need.

So it’s not enough to just say, Oh, this student moved from red to yellow, or They went from 35% on Benchmark 2 to 38% on Benchmark 3. We have to truly analyze what skills they need support with so that our intervention can be targeted and effective.

Sara

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I think one of the biggest challenges for teachers is that there’s so much data to sort through. Maybe you can provide some insight on this—when teachers are looking at item analysis and different standards, what should take precedence? How do they decide which areas to address first?

Like, if a student is struggling across the board—their data is all red—how do teachers determine where to start? How do they prioritize interventions so they’re not trying to tackle everything at once?

Shannon

First, teachers should default to their school improvement plan or literacy improvement goals because that serves as a roadmap for which literacy standards to prioritize. Many schools focus on power standards—those key foundational skills that are prioritized across multiple grade levels.

If your school doesn’t have a set roadmap, then take a close look at your grade-level standards and determine which ones are being assessed. Start by identifying what students have already mastered, because that gives you a foundation to build upon. Their mastered skills are their independent level, so you don’t need to spend intervention time reteaching those concepts. Instead, focus on their instructional level, which is where they almost have mastery but still need support.

I always suggest starting with students in the yellow zone—the ones who are close to proficiency but need targeted support to move up. Some schools refer to these as bubble kids—students who are right on the cusp of meeting expectations. By focusing on those students first, you can make measurable progress quickly.

Of course, you also need to look at students in the red zone—the ones significantly below grade level—but even there, focus on trends in the data. Look for common skill gaps across multiple students so you can plan intervention efficiently.

Sara

Yeah, and now with all these different testing companies, they’ve added even more colors, right?

Shannon

Right! Now, in addition to red, yellow, and green, some tests include orange. So you want to focus on the skills students have almost mastered first and then move toward the areas where they need the most help.

Sara

I think it’s super smart that you encourage teachers to look at what students can do as well. I think it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the gaps, but every student has strengths. Every student is making progress in some area, and we need to acknowledge that.

Even though we don’t want to spend too much time reteaching things students have already mastered, it’s still important to recognize their strengths. That way, we can build on them and help students feel successful while also filling in their gaps. I love that perspective.

So once teachers complete their data analysis, the next step is forming skills-based groups. And I love how you said skills-based rather than level-based groups. Can you talk more about how to determine intervention groups effectively?

Shannon

So once we analyze the data, we want to group students based on their skill. Going back to the previous part about data analysis, look at the standards. You want to take those yellow, orange, and red standards, but we need to be careful. I’ve seen this a lot where teachers will say, “Oh, they’re in red or orange in comprehension.” We need to get specific. We need to be laser-focused. What about comprehension? Comprehension is such a broad topic. It can look different in second grade than it does in fifth grade. What standard are you looking at? We need to break it all the way down and be very, very specific. Are we looking at text structures? Are we looking at inferring? Are we looking at comparing and contrasting characters? Get very specific, and even unpack those standards. I know schools often do that at the beginning of the year, but unpacking the standard again allows you to be even more precise in identifying skill deficits.

The same goes for phonics. If a student is in the 10th percentile for short vowel sounds, we need to ask, “Okay, which ones?” Are we looking at CVC short vowels? Are we looking at L-blend vowels? There are a lot of possibilities, so we need to be very specific. Once you do that, you create your groups based on those skills. If my students have a deficit in short a CVC words, that’s my group. If I have students struggling with inflected endings, that’s my group. Skills-based groups get you the fastest results, which is why we want to stay focused on them. That’s why I always say skills-based groups over leveled groups.

And it’s funny—I want to go back to this really quickly if I can. I was working with a school, and I went into my little office there, and on the floor, I saw about 10 of the balanced literacy books. They were all open, and I was trying to decide whether this school was using them or not. It was difficult to tell because it looked like the boxes had been gone through, like they had picked things out of them. But then they told me, “No, no, no, we’re not using that anymore.” So that made me think again—how are they grouping their students? They’re saying they’re using one program, but then I see another program. That’s why we need to move away from leveled groupings. If my students are in Level A, what does that tell me?

Sara

Absolutely, it’s vague. What skills are they working on? And two things you said that I think are so important—one, this idea that we have to really unpack and get specific with what students need. Phonics is such a broad category. Even short vowel sounds—if a student struggles with short vowel sounds in CVC words, what specifically are they struggling with? The same goes for comprehension. At the upper elementary level, comprehension is such a complex topic because so many factors influence it. If students are still struggling with vocabulary or phonics, that’s going to impact their comprehension. So we have to get laser-focused on what they actually need.

But I love how you talk about the fastest way to get results—put students in skill-based groups for intervention. I think I’ve mentioned this on the podcast before, but I heard at a literacy conference that students don’t age out of whatever it is; they skill out of it. That idea really stuck with me. It doesn’t matter what age they are, how long they’ve been in a program, or what grade they’re in—you wait until students have mastered that skill before moving on to the next one. And I think that’s especially important with intervention. The focus needs to be on mastery of the skill, not time, not grade level, not anything else. Have they mastered it or not? Keeping students in those skill-based groups is such a smart reminder.

Shannon

Yeah, and it’s hard sometimes too, because teachers only have so much time to introduce a skill. But we have to remember that literacy interventions are for review. As interventionists and specialists, we should not be teaching anything new. Everything we go over with students should be a review. Students need a lot of time with a skill, and that’s where pacing becomes an issue. Teachers often feel like they just don’t have enough time, which makes it really difficult.

Sara

You just said something so important for teachers to keep in mind. Everything we’re talking about is through the lens of intervention. This is not necessarily about tier one instruction or what’s happening in the classroom as a whole. We’re talking specifically about intervention—when students have gaps. And, yeah, interventionists should be reviewing and practicing skills, not introducing new ones. These are skills students have already been taught in the classroom, but they haven’t mastered them yet. Intervention is there to provide that extra support. So let’s talk a little bit about progress monitoring. I know you said that’s an area that can be challenging for schools and teachers. What should that look like in an ideal world?

Shannon

This is a hot topic. I find that administrators often blame teachers, saying they’re not progress monitoring enough. Then teachers say, “Well, we’re not given enough time to do it,” or “We don’t know exactly what to do,” and then it gets left entirely to the interventionist. There’s a lot of finger-pointing here. But it really starts with administration. Schools need to have a clear plan in place that aligns with their intervention framework. Whether they’re using Response to Intervention (RTI) or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), progress monitoring needs to be built into that framework.

The main component of progress monitoring is frequency, and that depends on the framework being used. I’ve seen schools monitor progress every two to four weeks or every six to eight weeks. When I say progress monitoring, I mean the time allotted for tracking student progress. Schools need to decide how frequently they will monitor progress, make it a building-wide decision, and then stick to it.

It’s also important to determine who is responsible for progress monitoring. Too often, teachers take their hands off and say, “That’s the interventionist’s job.” But teachers need to be involved in the process. Many times, teachers feel disconnected, saying, “Oh, the interventionist came up with this group, but I don’t know what they’re working on.” That’s why interventionists need to be in constant communication with classroom teachers about progress monitoring.

Another issue is that sometimes we only monitor the students who are struggling. But we need to monitor all students to track both growth and areas where progress is lacking. Progress monitoring should help inform data, determine whether interventions are working, and show whether we need to make adjustments.

Sara

One of the things that keeps standing out as I hear you talk through all of this is how essential building-level collaboration is for interventions to work. Administrators need to clearly communicate with interventionists, who need to clearly communicate with classroom teachers. Everyone needs to be involved in decision-making and on the same page. Like we talked about earlier, literacy intervention is so important, but it’s not something that happens in isolation. It’s not a one-person job—everyone needs to be involved.

So maybe a little encouragement to teachers: If you’re on a campus where everything feels disjointed, you can be the catalyst to help get everyone on the same page. But that communication and collaboration are absolutely essential for successful intervention.

Shannon

And when you progress monitor, make sure you’re monitoring the specific skills that you’ve taught over that time frame. Sometimes, people assume they should just re-administer the benchmark assessment and monitor all the same standards that were tested there. But that’s not effective. You want to progress monitor the specific standards you’ve been working on.

If the deficit was in short vowel CVC words, specifically short a, then that’s what you need to progress monitor. You need to track whether students are making progress in that skill. If they aren’t, you may need to pivot and adjust your targeted instruction. Progress monitoring should be directly tied to the skills that were identified as gaps after the benchmark assessment.

Sara

Well, I think that’s such a good point too, right? Because I think sometimes teachers hear “progress monitoring,” and they immediately think it means a long, formal assessment that takes a lot of time. But maybe you can give us some examples because progress monitoring can actually be quick. It can be relatively informal. It can happen in the moment. It’s really just a checkpoint—asking, “What have I taught, and do I have any indication that students are making progress in that area?”

Shannon

Yep. And I do want to make a distinction between progress monitoring and formative assessments because sometimes, when I’m coaching teachers, they’ll say, “Oh yeah, I progress monitor—I give formative assessments.” But formative assessments are quick checks that happen during tier one whole group instruction. They help teachers see, in the moment, who understands the material and who doesn’t. It’s just a quick analysis.

But when we talk about progress monitoring, it can still be quick. Progress monitoring does not mean giving another long, computer-based assessment that takes an hour. It can be something the teacher creates. A lot of assessment companies now include progress monitoring components, and they often provide short assessments for this purpose. I’ve seen one-page assessments that focus only on the specific skill you’re tracking. So just to clarify—progress monitoring doesn’t mean giving another 45-minute to an hour-long test. It’s meant to be short and targeted.

Sara

Yeah, quick. And hopefully, that makes teachers feel better about their ability to actually do it consistently. So the last component of intervention that you mentioned is planning. What does that look like? What do teachers and school administrators need to keep in mind when planning an intervention program?

Shannon

For this component, I always say, “If you don’t plan, you plan to fail.” Because intervention, small group instruction, stations, centers—however your school structures small group intervention—cannot be done on the spot. If you try to do it last minute, you’ll be pulling your hair out strand by strand, scrambling to make copies, standing in line for the copier, realizing it’s jammed, or that you don’t have the materials you need. It takes planning.

I always tell my teachers to plan for the week. Some are a little more adventurous and plan for the month, but at the very least, plan for the week. It will help reduce stress, ensure that your instruction is targeted, and take the guesswork out of your intervention time.

And if your school still requires lesson plans—I know some schools mandate them, while others don’t—your intervention planning should be separate from your formal lesson plans. I’ve seen one-page lesson plans that work well for small groups. I’ve also created small group lesson plan templates, and there are plenty of great ones available. These plans don’t need to be complicated—just a quick, one-page outline that ensures you’re hitting all five reading pillars.

And I’ll say it again—plan for the week!

Sara

Yeah, I think that’s so smart. Throughout different stages of my teaching career, I was definitely that teacher who planned day to day—constantly thinking, “What am I doing today?” I was so disorganized. But eventually, I figured out that planning for the week is such a good time frame. Sometimes, I would want to plan further ahead, but you never know what’s going to happen, right? You could plan for a whole month and then realize your students need more time on a skill, or they master it faster than expected, and you have to adjust. But planning week to week ensures that you’re set for all of your lessons while still allowing flexibility to make adjustments as needed. So I think that’s such a good reminder—move away from day-to-day planning, but you don’t have to plan months in advance. Weekly planning keeps you in a good place to be both effective and efficient with your intervention groups.

I love hearing about all of these components, and I think this gives a really strong overview of what an effective intervention program should look like. I remember being at a school where the administrators would say, “Give your students Tier 3 intervention.” And I was like, “I don’t even know what Tier 3 intervention is! How do I even begin?” So the fact that you’ve broken it down so clearly—starting with data analysis, forming skill-based groups, doing progress monitoring, and continuously planning before actually meeting with students—it makes intervention feel much more manageable.

Now, if a teacher is working at a school that doesn’t have a formal intervention program in place, or they’re not following these four steps, and they’re kind of left to figure it out on their own, but they know how important literacy intervention is, where do you suggest they start? What encouragement do you have for them if they know intervention is important but don’t necessarily have the support or structure from their school?

Shannon

I’m so glad you brought this up, Sara, because that’s probably the most common question I get in my DMs—especially from teachers at smaller schools, private schools, or even public schools where intervention is only partially implemented. I always hear, “Well, my school isn’t doing interventions—what can I do?”

My answer is always: start with the data. Because regardless of whether your school has an official intervention program, every school assesses students at some point during the year. That means you have data available. So even if your school doesn’t have formal data days or a structured data wall, you can take the initiative to do your own Data Dive.

If you need to, go old school—grab some markers, highlighters, red, yellow, and green, and start highlighting to your heart’s content. Identify the standards your students have mastered, the ones they almost have, and the ones where they’re significantly below level. Doing this helps you see exactly where those gaps are so you can begin working to close them.

Once you’ve identified those gaps, use your personalized data to inform how you group your students and what skills you focus on. Even if your school doesn’t have a formalized intervention plan, you can create your own process and start making an impact in your classroom. So I would say, definitely start with a Data Dive after your assessments—it’s the first step in building a meaningful intervention strategy.

Sara

Obviously, it’s going to be more challenging for a teacher to do this on their own without school-wide support, but it can be done, right? If you’re a teacher who doesn’t have intervention support, you can still walk through this process yourself. Yes, it’s going to take more time and more intentionality, but you can still provide intervention for your students.

And I know you are such an amazing resource for teachers in this area. So before we wrap this up, if my audience wants to connect with you or has more questions—whether they’re looking to support their own classroom interventions or trying to get more school-wide support—how can they reach you?

Shannon

They can connect with me on Instagram at @mooreliteracyleaps or visit my website at www.mooreliteracyleaps.com.

Sara

We will link to both of those in the show notes as well. Shannon, I can’t thank you enough for coming on today. Like I said, intervention is such an important topic, but it’s definitely not my area of expertise. I’m so grateful that it’s yours and that you were willing to share your knowledge with my audience today. Thank you so much!

Shannon

Thank you for having me!