Stephanie Stollar Consulting

Stephanie Stollar Consulting I support educators to improve reading outcomes through learning and using the science of reading.

06/17/2026

How to get a quick win with MTSS

What should you teach next? 🤔The best assessment plan is the one that helps you answer that question.As you dig into thi...
06/11/2026

What should you teach next? 🤔

The best assessment plan is the one that helps you answer that question.

As you dig into this year’s data and think about your assessment plan for next year, ask: Are your assessments giving you the kind of information you need to target your next chunk of instruction?

1️⃣ Does it measure essential skills?

Good curriculum-based measures assess the early literacy skills most connected to reading growth, so the data helps you see what to teach next.

2️⃣ Is it sensitive to learning?

If students are making progress, your assessment should pick it up. Strong measures help you see small changes over time, not just big end-of-year outcomes.

3️⃣ Does it require production responses?

The best assessment data comes from students doing something: reading, spelling, or responding. That gives you more useful information than recognition tasks like multiple choice.

4️⃣ Does it support data-based decision-making?

Strong measures help teams decide what to target, who needs support, and whether instruction is working well enough to keep going or needs to change.

🔍 These are just some of the characteristics to look for in a strong curriculum-based measure.

Great CBMs work like GPS tools. They show where students are now and help you decide where instruction should go next.

Access more assessment resources in my free Resource Library: https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_06_11_Assessment

06/10/2026

Kari went “all in” on Reading Science Academy — her way.

When she did, she found:

✅ Weekly support
✅ Practical presentations she could use right away
✅ A community of educators who helped bring order to the chaos

That’s the heart of Reading Science Academy: research, resources, and real people helping you make stronger instructional decisions for students.

If you’re ready for that kind of support, join Reading Science Academy today: https://www.stephaniestollarconsulting.com/register?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=26_06_10_RSA_Promo

Collective efficacy is not just believing we can make a difference, but building the systems that allow us to make a dif...
06/09/2026

Collective efficacy is not just believing we can make a difference, but building the systems that allow us to make a difference together.

In reading instruction, that means we stop asking, “Whose student is this?” and start asking better questions:

❓ What skill does this student need next?

❓ Are Tier 1, intervention, and special education aligned to that same skill need?

❓ Are the adults supporting this student using shared language, shared data, and shared goals?

❓ Is the student getting continuous learning across the day, or starting over every time they move to a different adult?

That alignment makes the difference.

When general education, intervention, and special education are all pointed in the same direction, students get stronger support.

The work becomes more sustainable because no single teacher is carrying the whole responsibility alone.

We move from “your students” and “my students” to “our students.”

That is collective efficacy in action.

Want to nerd out with me? Unlock my free K-12 Resource Library to find tools to support these conversations within your systems.

https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_06_09_Research_Real_Talk

When you think about small groups, do you picture too many tiny tables? 🤯 You can’t be everywhere at once. Six tiny grou...
06/04/2026

When you think about small groups, do you picture too many tiny tables?

🤯 You can’t be everywhere at once. Six tiny groups are impossible for one educator to manage.

Instead of thinking about the groups as “small,” think of them as “skill-based.”

It’s still core instruction. 🧑‍🏫

Try this:

1️⃣ Administer screening assessments.

2️⃣ Use screening data to identify students who need to learn the same skill next.

3️⃣ Group accordingly so instruction is targeted instead of one-size-fits-all.

Remember: Groups should be flexible.

📊 Screening helps you form them.

🔍 Diagnostic data helps you refine them.

🔀 Progress monitoring helps you adjust them.

Some groups won’t actually be small.

Only the students with the greatest needs typically require the smallest groups.

The goal isn’t to have equal group sizes, but group sizes that match student needs.

This shift in your thinking and planning helps every student get instruction that is:

👉 Better aligned

👉 More responsive

👉 Quick to close gaps

Whether you’re forming groups now or building your systems for next year, this is the process you want to have in place.

Get my free grouping resources for tools to help you interpret assessment data, form groups, and apply these principles in your classroom.

https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_06_04_Classroom_Instruction

06/03/2026

Good progress monitoring gives educators a trend.

That trend helps you see whether a student is actually making progress over time, so you can make instructional decisions based on a pattern instead of one isolated data point.

But not all progress monitoring tools give you that kind of clarity.

A strong progress-monitoring assessment should use measures of equal difficulty each time.

That way, when a student’s score goes up, you can be confident it’s because they’re learning, and not because this week’s measure was easier.

📽️ Want a free, quick video to go deeper on this?

Get “5 Progress Monitoring Tips to Help Improve Your Instruction” in my PreK-12 Resource Library.

https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=26_06_03_Assessment

Are you supposed to stop using leveled text? 🤔Educators hear, “Don’t use leveled text,” and understandably wonder: Then ...
05/28/2026

Are you supposed to stop using leveled text? 🤔

Educators hear, “Don’t use leveled text,” and understandably wonder:

Then how should I choose text for small groups? For fluency? For instruction?

The confusion exists because people often use similar words for very different ideas.

💡 Leveled text isn’t the same thing as instructional level.

Leveled systems and Lexiles are mostly based on vocabulary and syntax. They don’t tell you whether a student can actually decode the text.

So instead of asking, “What level is this student?” we need to ask a better question:

❓ What is the instructional purpose of this text?

📘 If the instructional purpose is word recognition, students need text matched to the phonics skills they have actually been taught. That means text is controlled for decodability, even if it is below grade level.

📗 If students need heavy support to read the text, it is probably not a good fit for that lesson. Practice text should let them apply their skills successfully, not have them guess their way through or rely on you to carry it.

📣 Bottom Line: “Don’t use leveled text” doesn’t mean, “Don’t make text decisions based on student need.”

It means we need to make those decisions using the right variables.

Unlock my free PreK-12 Resource Library to get more plug-and-play educator support: https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_05_28_Research_Real_Talk

Is your Tier 1 time built around sameness or student need? 🤔You might be leaving growth opportunities on the table.✅ Yes...
05/21/2026

Is your Tier 1 time built around sameness or student need? 🤔

You might be leaving growth opportunities on the table.

✅ Yes, every student gets Tier 1 minutes.

❌ But not every student gets the exact same instruction during those minutes.

Every student shares grade-level outcomes and time, but identical teaching won’t get them there.

💠 Some students are behind.

💠 Some students are on track.

💠 Some students are ahead.

It’s an educator’s responsibility to look at the screening data and integrate it into Tier 1 lessons that target student skill levels.

Students who are behind need more targeted minutes every day. 🎯

They need to work on exactly what they need next.

They don’t need more minutes sitting through content they can’t access because they haven’t nailed the prerequisites yet.

✨ This is how you can use MTSS to accelerate progress.

Want help strengthening Tier 1 reading instruction in ways that actually match student data?

👉 Get the 10 Ways to Enhance Tier 1 Reading Instruction resource from my free K-12 Resource Library: https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_05_21_Classroom_Instruction

05/15/2026

I’m sure your MTSS implementation isn’t stalled out, but….

Address

Terrace Park, OH

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Stephanie Stollar Consulting posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Stephanie Stollar Consulting:

Shortcuts

Share