Stephanie Stollar Consulting

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

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….

05/14/2026

Want to see a real shift in your MTSS implementation?

Start by aligning instruction across the tiers.

Tiers 2 and 3 should not feel like separate islands with their own programs and logic.

They should build on Tier 1.

For many students, stronger support means a double or triple dose of the content you teach in Tier 1.

That means that if your students don’t have the prerequisite knowledge to access grade-level content, don’t spend Tier 1 instruction time teaching whole group lessons that they aren’t ready for.

Instead, use skill-based groups so Tier 1 instruction is aligned with student needs.

Then, you can use Tiers 2 and 3 to help them catch up with:

⌚ More time

🎯 More precision

🔁 More intensity

When tiers are aligned, students get coherent support instead of disconnected experiences.

Unlock my free PreK-12 Resource Library for more support: https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=26_05_14_MTSS

05/14/2026

Want to see a real shift in your MTSS implementation?

Start by aligning instruction across the tiers.

Tiers 2 and 3 should not feel like separate islands with their own programs and logic.

They should build on Tier 1.

For many students, stronger support means a double or triple dose of the content you teach in Tier 1.

That means that if your students don’t have the prerequisite knowledge to access grade-level content, don’t spend Tier 1 instruction time teaching whole group lessons that they aren’t ready for.

Instead, use skill-based groups so Tier 1 instruction is aligned with student needs.

Then, you can use Tiers 2 and 3 to help them catch up with:

⌚ More time

🎯 More precision

🔁 More intensity

When tiers are aligned, students get coherent support instead of disconnected experiences.

Comment ALIGN and I’ll send you more support from my free PreK-12 Resource Library.

Fidelity ≠ SamenessA lot of Tier 1 confusion lives in this distinction.Protected instructional time matters, but what ha...
05/13/2026

Fidelity ≠ Sameness

A lot of Tier 1 confusion lives in this distinction.

Protected instructional time matters, but what happens inside that time should be driven by responding to student data.

Because fidelity to a program is not appropriate if the program itself is not aligned with the research or with what students actually need.

📢 Educators hear: “Every Student Gets Tier 1.”

✅ This means that every student gets the same protected Tier 1 minutes designed to meet their needs.

❌ It does NOT mean that every student gets the exact same lesson during Tier 1.

Tier 1 should be responsive.

If your data shows that students are significantly below grade-level expectations on word recognition skills, your instruction should adjust.

Strong Tier 1 does not force every student to sit through the same whole-group, grade-level lesson.

👉 Strong Tier 1 protects instructional time, uses that time well, and delivers high-quality core instruction in a way that actually matches student needs.

You are not wrong if:

You are not seeing your students respond to the strict program commitments your leaders are pushing in the name of “fidelity.”

Try this framing with your team:

📝 Strong Tier 1 instruction is not sameness. It protects time, uses data, and responds to what students actually need.

Access my free PreK-12 Resource Library, which includes a Tier 1 Checklist and other tools to help you explain this to your team: https://www.stephaniestollar.com/prek-12/free-resources?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=26_05_13_Classroom_Instruction

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