By Candy Hubbard

Director of Student Services Gering Public Schools

Gering Public Schools uses a Pyramid of Interventions to meet the academic and behavioral needs of all students. The pyramid is set up to provide a more sequential, effective and timely manner of delivering interventions so the students can experience increased success in school.

A Pyramid of Interventions is a collective and systematic approach that enables schools to provide appropriate instruction and interventions. It is based on a multitiered level of instructional support and services that increase in specificity, intensity and duration from one tier to the next. The three tiers are based on the identified needs of the students.

This model provides a framework to address the educational needs of all students given that all students do not learn academic and behavioral requirements at the same time or in the same manner. Research suggests the tiered model will help in achieving the district’s vision of maximizing students’ individual potential.

The pyramid’s three tiers represent progressive levels of support – school wide, targeted and intensive. Research shows that strong school wide instruction – the pyramid’s bottom and largest tier – leads to success academically and behaviorally for 80 – 90 percent of students. The middle, or targeted tier, provides strategies for helping students who are struggling, about 5 – 10 percent of students. Strong interventions at the lower two tiers greatly reduce the number of students needing the top tier, or intense intervention, about 1 – 5 percent.

Gering Public Schools has many programs, interventions, and strategies available to address the specific needs of students. Professional development is provided regularly to keep staff aware of various means to develop the academic potential of all students.