If the last two weeks have taught us anything…from digging into mid-year assessment data to analyzing real student work…it’s this: we can’t “hope” kids catch up. We have to plan for it.
This time of year, right before the holidays, gives leaders a unique window. You finally have enough data to see the story clearly… and just enough time to respond before spring hits you like a freight train. Mid-year is no longer the warm-up. It’s game time, and how we show up as leaders over the next few months will directly determine how our students finish the year.
As a former principal who spent 16 years turning around struggling campuses, I can tell you nothing, and I mean nothing, moves a school faster than a strong, campus-wide academic intervention system. Not one teacher working in isolation. Not a handful of PLC meetings sprinkled with “data talk.” A system. One built with equity, urgency, and collaboration at the center.
Let’s break down what that actually looks like.
Start With What the Data Is Really Telling You
You’ve got your mid-year assessments. You’ve looked at the student work. Now it’s time to answer the most important question:
What are the exact skills students do and do not have?
Not percentage scores.
Not color-coded spreadsheets.
Not “high/medium/low.”
Skills.
This means spending time with your leadership team asking:
- What is the specific learning progression for each tested area?
- Where do our students fall on that progression?
- Where do we need them to be by May?
- What gap sits between those two points?
When you know the gap, you can solve it. When you don’t, you chase symptoms.
This is also the moment where urgency needs a seat at the table. Not fear. Not panic. Urgency. Students are depending on adults to take this data and create a plan that closes the distance between where they are and where they deserve to be.
Design Interventions That Are Prescriptive, Not Generic
Once you understand the actual gaps, you can begin your intervention design. Here’s where schools go wrong: they create broad, one-size-fits-all groups that look good on paper but don’t actually close any true gaps.
A real intervention system does the opposite.
1. Every student has an individualized skill plan.
This doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be one page. But it needs:
- The student’s specific skill gaps
- The instructional strategies that will support them
- How progress will be monitored
- Who is responsible for each part
When I led turnaround campuses, every student…every single one…had this plan. And yes, it was work. But the kind of work that pays off in real, measurable growth.
2. Interventions happen in multiple ways, not just after school.
Strong leaders understand that intervention is a schoolwide responsibility, not an afterthought.
You can build your approach through:
- Small-group pullouts led by specialists, interventionists, or support teachers
- In-class small groups during instructional blocks
- After-school or before-school tutorials for targeted skills
- Tier 1 adjustments that tighten up instruction where common gaps appear
- Push-in support for teachers who need an extra set of hands during guided practice
The key is this: students get what they need in multiple spaces, not in a single 30-minute block that disappears when the schedule gets tight.
3. Teachers must be part of the design.
If teachers don’t understand the “why” or the “how,” your system collapses before it begins. Leaders must make the plan visible, simple, and clear. Teachers need the strategies, the data, and the runway to execute well.
This is leadership in action, not from the office, but in partnership with teachers.
Plan First. Communicate Second. Train Third.
One of the biggest leadership mistakes I see is rolling out intervention plans before staff has had enough time to learn them. You want teachers confident, not confused.
A strong rollout includes:
- A clear overview of the system
- Time for teachers to ask questions (real questions…not drive-by questions in a hallway)
- Training on strategies that will be used with students
- Continued coaching as the system launches
- Progress checks to see what’s working and what needs adjustment
If you’ve worked with me for more than three minutes, you know I believe deeply in systems that allow people to thrive. And interventions require a system that is tight, predictable, and anchored in support, not compliance.
Use Past Performance to Strengthen What Comes Next
Here’s the bonus that too many leaders skip:
Use the struggles from the last unit to plan the next one differently.
If 40% of students missed a standard built around inferencing, don’t wait until next year to address it. Build more modeling, stronger text-dependent questions, and structured practice into your next unit now.
Reactive intervention is necessary.
Proactive intervention is powerful.
Schools that do both? They win.
This Is the Work That Changes Trajectories
Academic intervention isn’t glamorous. It’s not flashy. It’s not the kind of work that shows up on social media with a cute hashtag.
But it is the work that transforms campuses.
It is the work that moves struggling students into success.
It is the work that strong leaders lean into…thinking with their head and leading with their heart.
If you’re ready to build a campus-wide system that actually works, I’ve created a free tool to help you get started.
Take the PD Plan Survey to get a personalized professional development roadmap for you or your team.
Then come join us inside UNCOMMON, where this month’s sessions go even deeper into building academic interventions that drive real results.
Your students are ready for the turnaround.
Your teachers are ready for the support.
And you? You’re ready to lead it.
Cheri