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Picture a second grader who is struggling to read at a school trying hard to fix that. He gets his regular classroom lessons, is pulled out for intervention during the day and works with a tutor. On paper, he is a child surrounded by support.

But here鈥檚 what it feels like from his seat. In his classroom, his teacher references a 鈥渟ilent e,鈥� but the intervention software calls it a 鈥渕agic e.鈥� His tutor uses different hand signals and follows a different skills sequence. Supports meant to reinforce classroom learning are unintentionally cutting against that, leaving him to sort it out alone.

When a student hasn鈥檛 mastered something in class, the standard response has been to try a fresh approach 鈥� a different program, a new strategy. But evidence from Knox County Schools in Tennessee suggests the opposite: What they need is more of the same.

Last year, Knox County conducted a , the 鈥済old standard鈥� of education research. Students below the 40th percentile on literacy assessments were randomly assigned to one of two tutoring models. Both received the same amount of tutoring time and similar support. The difference was the curriculum.聽

One group used off-the-shelf materials designed specifically for intervention. The other received tutoring built around the high-quality instructional materials used in their regular classroom. Content was delivered with scaffolding and pre-teaching, in groups no larger than four students who met at least three times weekly to ensure intervention kept pace with classroom instruction.

When Accelerate staff visited Pleasant Ridge Elementary, one of the pilot schools, the difference was immediately noticeable. Students receiving aligned tutoring moved seamlessly between intervention and regular instruction because the materials looked, felt and sounded the same. 

The data confirmed that impression. Students in the aligned group outperformed peers, posting gains of 0.12 standard deviations, or about 1.3 months of additional literacy growth, with even greater gains among students who began the year in the lower half of the tutored group. Those children saw the largest effect: 0.18 standard deviations in growth.

Under these conditions, trained paraprofessionals also delivered the aligned intervention at least as effectively as licensed teachers. That allows districts to keep experienced educators focused on core instruction while extending proven support to more children.

This idea isn鈥檛 unique to Knox County. In its recent report, “,” TNTP argued that instructional incoherence undermines learning acceleration and widens opportunity gaps. When districts align instruction across settings, students are better supported to engage in grade-level work.聽

This doesn鈥檛 mean standalone interventions should disappear. Some students require specialized instruction. But districts should stop assuming a separate intervention program is best for literacy learning, especially when they have a high-quality curriculum in place.

The practical case is just as strong.

• Teachers benefit from a unified system. When intervention specialists and classroom teachers use the same materials, coordination becomes genuine collaboration. In Knox County, who experienced both models preferred the aligned approach.聽
• Students face less cognitive load. When the words, routines, sequence and strategy hold steady between classroom and intervention, students stop spending energy navigating inconsistencies and can focus on learning.
• Cost savings are real 鈥� and can be redirected to other priorities. Districts invest approximately on literacy instruction, with a significant portion dedicated to parallel interventions. Tennessee SCORE estimated Knox County could save $2 million 鈥� 鈥� by drawing on the core curriculum rather than purchasing separate programs.
• Fragmentation falls hardest on students who need coherence most. Benefits should extend to multilingual learners and students with disabilities, who move between settings more than most. Knox County didn鈥檛 test that premise explicitly, but evidence from the pilot was promising enough that the district is expanding the aligned tutoring method to those students starting this fall. 

Exploring this sort of alignment doesn鈥檛 require major investments or a district-wide overhaul. Erin Phillips, Knox County鈥檚 executive director of learning and literacy, frames the opportunity in a refreshing way: “try in” rather than “buy in.”聽

District leaders can begin with a pilot 鈥� a low-risk one where teachers learn and refine with support, leaders build context-specific evidence, and costs stay low since they鈥檙e using materials they already own.

are drawing national attention, and districts everywhere are looking for what to borrow. Right now, leaders are making decisions about next year’s budgets, staffing and schedules. It may feel late to act, but the strategy embraced by Knox County doesn鈥檛 require a change of course, just a refocusing of intervention around the existing curriculum. Here鈥檚 how to do it:

• Start with a coalition of the willing. Pick one grade level and schools whose leaders want to try this. 
• Plan professional learning. Teachers and paraprofessionals can deliver this well but need effective support. Build training before the year starts.
• Set clear metrics. Decide how you鈥檒l measure success: student movement between tiers, curriculum-embedded assessment results, teacher feedback or dollars saved. Monitor progress and adjust as needed.

The most compelling lesson from the Knox County study may be that it doesn鈥檛 ask leaders to buy another program or adopt a new initiative. It asks them to reconsider how the pieces of their existing instructional system fit together.

Education has no shortage of products promising to accelerate learning. Before investing in the next one, leaders should embrace Phillips鈥� suggestion to “try in.” They might discover, as Knox County did, that the most effective intervention materials are sitting on their shelves.

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