The story of the CORE journey to inclusivity
In 2022, Texthelp and Don Johnston merged companies, creating the largest UDL provider on the planet. It was only then that stories of how both company’s products were being used together to address MTSS became evident.
Naperville Community Schools in Illinois has been using solutions from both companies for many years. We heard from customers that Read&Write is used as a Tier 1 support for all learners while Co:Writer addresses Tier 2 needs across the district.
This knowledge has helped Texthelp develop and now offer its CORE Inclusion toolset.
CORE provides comprehensive supports for Tiers 1 and 2 across the curriculum from literacy to STEM, ensuring that students have the tools to learn in the classroom with their peers, independently, and on-grade-level.
How does CORE use MTSS?
In education, MTSS stands for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. MTSS is a proactive, three tier framework that provides a systemic approach to academic, behavioral, and social emotional support.
Tier 1 refers to high quality, universally designed instruction, supports and tools that are provided to all learners. Tier 1 instruction is intended to reach 85-90% of learners.
When a student needs increased or more targeted support than is offered in Tier 1, those supports can be found in Tier 2. A student may need Tier 2 interventions in some areas and not all. Tier 2 support generally accounts for 5-10% of learners. For instance, a learner may need Tier 2 support in math, but not in other areas. They may also not need that Tier 2 support forever. With progress monitoring, they may return to Tier 1 instructions and supports.
Tier 3 in the MTSS model is reserved for learners who are not responding to Tier 1 or Tier 2 support either because of a significant behavioral diagnosis or a learning need that may be undiagnosed. Tier 3 support is much more intensive, such as seeing a school counselor, specialized support services, behavior interventions or individualized educational plans (IEP).
MTSS Tiers
The MTSS model aims to identify needs as soon as possible so learners can access the right interventions. This is important because intervention is usually more effective when it’s done early. Texthelp’s CORE solutions can help create a strong, universally designed Tier 1 while providing additional targeted support and intervention for learners who need Tier 2 interventions.
What each CORE product is
Read&Write is a literacy support tool that offers help with everyday tasks like reading text out loud, understanding unfamiliar words, researching assignments and proofing written work.
The main benefits of Read&Write are:
• Increased test scores
• Reduced IEP/AT evaluations
• Increased student independence
Along with these benefits, Read&Write supports Tier 1 of MTSS, compliance and inclusion in all districts.
Co:Writer uses grammar-smart and vocabulary-smart word prediction, translation supports, and speech recognition to help unstick ideas and get them to flow in writing.
The main benefits of Co:Writer are:
• Increased writing output
• Increased writer confidence
• Higher scores on state tests
Along with these benefits, Co:Writer supports Tier 2 of MTSS, empowers emergent writers and supports IEP, 504, At-Risk and ELLs.
OrbitNote allows you to transform and interact with documents in a completely different way. Create an accessible, dynamic and collaborative space that works for everyone.
The main benefits of OrbitNote include:
• Improved performance via accessibility tools
• Streamlined feedback/assessment workflow
• Reduced paper/printer costs
Along with these benefits, OrbitNote helps create easy digital documents, makes documents accessible (OCR) and works seamlessly with familiar tools such as Read&Write. Also, Math tools are now available in OrbitNote, making math digital and accessible in PDFs.
Equatio is a powerful equation editor that makes it easy to create digital, accessible math. It saves time, lowers stress and eliminates frustration. It makes math and science more accessible and engaging for every student.
The main benefits of Equatio include that it:
• Helps more struggling students succeed in math
• Streamlines math feedback & assessment
• Makes all licensed math content made accessible
Along with these benefits, math tools is now a part of the OrbitNote experience (powered by Equatio), which make math digital and accessible in PDFs.