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Top 5 Features Every K-12 Universal Screener Should Have

Written by Adrianna Serna on .

Choosing a universal screener can seem pretty straightforward at first. Districts need a way to assess students a few times throughout the year, identify where additional support may be needed, and give teachers data they can use to make informed instructional decisions.

But once you start looking more closely, there’s a lot more to consider:

  • Can teachers understand and act on the results?
  • Does the screener support your RTI or MTSS process?
  • Can it help monitor student growth over time?
  • Does it address specific district or state needs, such as dyslexia screening, early childhood readiness, or bilingual assessment?

Over the years, we’ve seen that the districts getting the most value from universal screening are rarely focused on the assessment alone. They are thinking about what happens after students complete it.

The real question becomes: What can our educators do with the information we receive?

As districts evaluate universal screening tools, here are five areas I believe are especially important to consider.

1. Make Sure the Data Means Something to Teachers

A universal screener should do more than tell educators whether a student scored high, low, or somewhere in between. Teachers need to understand what that result means for instruction. One of the most important things to look for is transparency. Can educators easily see where students are performing, where gaps may exist, and what those results mean in terms they already understand?

The easier the data is to interpret, the easier it becomes to turn assessment results into meaningful classroom decisions.

With LION, for example, reading results can be connected to familiar frameworks such as Lexile, Fountas & Pinnell, DRA2, and Reading A-Z. Rather than asking educators to learn an entirely new way of interpreting student performance, the goal is to connect assessment information with tools and language they may already use.

A score is useful. Understanding what to do with that score is much more valuable.

2. Look Beyond a One Size Fits All Approach

Every district has different students, different priorities, and different requirements. Sometimes those needs are very specific.

A district may need a dyslexia screener that supports its screening process. Another may be focused on kindergarten readiness. Others may need assessments available in both English and Spanish. Those needs deserve more than a workaround.

When evaluating a universal screening solution, I encourage districts to look at whether the tools were actually designed for the populations and purposes they are expected to support.

Within LION, that includes solutions such as the LION Dyslexia Screener, a stand-alone K-8 tool aligned with International Dyslexia Association risk factors and principles of Structured Literacy, as well as LION for Prekindergarten, which is included on the Texas Education Agency Commissioner’s List of Progress Monitoring Instruments.

The important takeaway is not that every district needs every tool. It is that your assessment system should be flexible enough to support the needs that matter to your students.

3. Ask What Happens After the Assessment

This may be one of the most important questions a district can ask. A student completes the screener. The teacher receives the results. Then what?

The best assessment processes give teachers a clear starting point for what comes next. That might mean identifying a skill that needs additional attention, planning small group instruction, selecting an intervention, or finding additional practice opportunities for a student.

Universal screening should help inform instruction, not replace a teacher’s professional judgment. That is why LION connects assessment results with instructional resources such as lesson plans, small group activities, intervention measures, and interactive student practice.

The goal is to give educators useful information and practical resources while keeping teachers at the center of the instructional decision-making process.

4. Make Progress Monitoring Part of the Process

Universal screening is most valuable when districts can see more than a snapshot. A screening window can tell you where a student is today. Looking across multiple screening, windows can begin to tell you something even more important: whether that student is growing.

That becomes especially valuable within an RTI or MTSS process. District leaders should be able to see which students may need additional support, how students are progressing over time, and whether interventions are having the intended impact.

LION provides grade level status, RTI tier information, and a LION Index scale score benchmarked to national norms, along with longitudinal reporting designed to help educators follow student progress from one assessment window to the next.

The goal is to make progress monitoring an ongoing part of supporting students rather than something districts have to piece together at the end of the year.

5. Think About the Bigger K-12 Picture

It is easy to evaluate an assessment tool based on one immediate need. Maybe the district is looking for a reading screener today. Maybe math is the priority next year. Maybe another department is already looking at science or early childhood assessments.

Before long, districts can find themselves juggling multiple platforms, separate reporting systems, and different ways of measuring student performance. That is why I encourage district leaders to step back and look at the bigger picture.

  • Can the system grow with your district?
  • Can it support multiple grades and subjects?
  • Can educators access information in a consistent way?
  • Can it serve students who need assessment options in another language?

LION and LEON support reading from kindergarten through grade 12, math through Algebra I, science through biology, and prekindergarten readiness, with assessment options available in English and Spanish.

Having more of that information connected can make it easier for districts to understand student performance across grade levels, classrooms, and subject areas.

Bringing It All Together

If there is one thought I would leave you with, it is this: a universal screener should not simply tell you which students need support. It should help your educators understand where support is needed, how students are progressing, and what they can do next.

The strongest screening processes connect assessment, instruction, intervention, and progress monitoring rather than treating each one as a separate task. That is exactly what we have worked to build with Tango Software and LION.

Our goal is not to give districts another assessment just for the sake of collecting more data. It is to help educators make that data easier to understand, easier to use, and more connected to the decisions they are already making every day.

When districts have clearer information about student needs, teachers can spend less time trying to interpret assessment results and more time deciding how best to support the students in front of them.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

Every district approaches universal screening a little differently, and there is no single assessment strategy that works exactly the same way everywhere.

If your district is reviewing its current universal screener, strengthening its RTI or MTSS process, exploring dyslexia or early childhood screening options, or simply looking for better ways to turn assessment data into instructional action, we’re always happy to share what we’ve learned.

Whether you are looking for advice, comparing approaches, or wondering how technology can help create a more connected assessment process, our team is here to help.

If and when you’re ready, we’d be glad to start the conversation and show you how Tango Software and LION can support a more connected approach to universal screening, progress monitoring, and student growth.

Talk to Our Team

By. Vanessa Ragsdale

Vanessa is an Education Solutions Consultant for Harris Education Solutions with 20 years of experience in education. She began her career as an elementary reading and writing teacher, spending three years in the classroom before moving into secondary education: five years teaching junior high social studies, two years teaching junior high reading and writing, and a decade as a junior high librarian. That range across grade levels, subjects, and roles gives her a firsthand understanding of how instruction, literacy, and daily school operations fit together. Today, Vanessa partners with school and district leaders to deliver tailored solutions that support student success, data-informed decision-making, and operational efficiency.

Teacher Incentive Allotment in Texas (TIA): From Compliance to Confidence in Implementation

Written by Rachel Wentink on .

Most districts don’t struggle with understanding the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA).
They struggle with what happens after they decide to participate. Because that is where TIA stops being a policy concept and starts becoming coordination work across people, systems, and data.

On paper it looks straightforward. Build a local designation system. Measure teacher effectiveness. Submit required data. Reward high performing educators. Simple enough, right?

Until districts start pulling together observation data, student growth measures, evaluator calibration records, staffing information, and reporting requirements from multiple systems and departments.

That’s when the reality of implementation sets in.

What begins as a compensation initiative quickly turns into a districtwide conversation about data quality, instructional consistency, and alignment across systems. And while that can feel overwhelming at first, it is also where many districts begin strengthening the systems that actually support teaching and learning.

The districts seeing the most success with TIA are not treating it as a once-a-year reporting requirement. They are treating it as an opportunity to build a more connected approach to educator growth.

The operational workload behind the program

TIA is often described as performance-based compensation, but district implementation introduces ongoing operational responsibilities.

District teams typically manage:

  • aligning student growth data with teacher assignments
  • validating evaluation results across campuses
  • reconciling differences between systems
  • preparing reporting submissions for state funding

These tasks are not new to education. What changes is the level of coordination and precision required to complete them reliably and repeatedly. As participation scales, the workload becomes more about maintaining alignment than completing one-time setup tasks.

The Difference Between Compliance and Confidence

There is a meaningful difference between just submitting TIA data and trusting the story that data tells.

District leaders do not just want completed reports. They want confidence that classroom observations are consistent across evaluators, that growth measures are reliable and defensible, that teacher performance is interpreted the same way across campuses, and that data reflects reality rather than just compliance.

That level of confidence does not come from spreadsheets or end of year validation cycles. It comes from systems designed for transparency throughout the entire instructional cycle.

When districts have access to consistent walkthrough data, coaching trends, and connected reporting, the conversation shifts. Teams spend less time chasing information and more time supporting teacher growth.

That is when districts move from simply submitting data to having confidence in what that data represents across campuses and systems.

Building a Sustainable TIA Strategy

The districts making the most progress with TIA are not treating it as a once-a-year reporting exercise. They are building routines that make instructional data more consistent throughout the year.

That work shows up in how observations are conducted, how feedback is captured, and how often data is cleaned or validated before it ever reaches a reporting cycle.

Instead of relying on end of year reconstruction, these districts focus on creating repeatable processes during the school year. Classroom walkthroughs are documented in a consistent format. Coaching conversations are tied back to observable evidence. Evaluator feedback is aligned enough that it can be compared across campuses without interpretation gaps.

This is where instructional data collection tools often become part of the workflow.  Districts use solutions such as eWalk to structure walkthrough and observation data, which reduces variation between campuses and eliminates much of the manual work that typically happens later during TIA preparation.

The result is not just more data. It is more usable data. Information that can be trusted without needing to be rebuilt every reporting cycle.

Why Alignment Matters Early in TIA Design

While the state provides the overall structure for TIA, districts are responsible for defining how student growth and teacher evaluation data are combined within their local system. This is where alignment becomes critical, because when evaluation systems reflect one view of performance while student growth measures reflect another, inconsistencies appear later when designations are calculated.

Districts that implement more smoothly establish alignment early between instructional expectations, evaluation frameworks, and student growth and teacher performance measures, which helps ensure that once the foundation is in place, downstream processes become more stable and predictable.

At its core, this work ensures student growth is interpreted consistently, giving districts a clearer understanding of what is actually working in classrooms.

Solutions like Tango support this by connecting student growth, assessment progress, and instructional data into a unified system of reporting and insights, helping districts clearly see how instruction is impacting student mastery.

Moving toward simpler, connected TIA reporting

As districts work through TIA implementation, they often look at how their systems support alignment between instruction, evaluation, and reporting.

This is about reducing the manual work required to connect data across systems. We offer tools like eWalk that helps districts capture consistent walkthrough and observation data, and Tango that connects student growth and evaluation data into a unified TIA reporting structure.

We provide the tools and reports so districts can clearly see the growth behind it.

The goal is simple: reduce friction between systems so districts can trust the data they submit and the story it tells. At Harris Education Solutions, we are always happy to share insights and support districts as they think through how to strengthen their TIA processes and systems.

If you’re looking to simplify TIA reporting or connect your data more effectively, contact us to learn more.

By Becky Grady

Becky Grady is a dedicated education professional with a passion for curriculum development and teacher support. She began her career in the classroom, spending six years as an elementary school teacher where she developed a deep understanding of instructional strategies and student learning needs. Building on this foundation, she transitioned into a trainer role, where she equipped fellow educators with expertise in various reading assessments. Today, Becky serves as a Curriculum Specialist, leveraging her extensive background in education to create high-quality instructional content for school districts across the region.