In Pennsylvania's Response to Intervention framework, curriculum, instruction, and assessment are intricately linked at all three tiers. The data generated by assessment drives instruction and assists in determining the adequacy of both the standards-aligned core program, instructional practices and the standard protocol interventions provided to students.  Assessment data drives student movement through increasingly intense levels of intervention and will, in some cases, form the foundation of referrals for special education eligibility determination.  The analysis and use of screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring data is a core feature of the Response to Intervention framework.

• Universal Screening: All students are screened in reading, math, and behavior a minimum of three times per year.  Screenings should be brief, standards-aligned, with benchmarks predictive of future student success.  Grade-level or other teams analyze screening results within one week of administration.  Screening data is analyzed to set grade-wide goals, determine the adequacy of the core program, and to identify those students who may be in need of additional resources for success.
• Diagnostic Assessment: Screening data alone are not adequate , by design, to inform/guide instruction.  Diagnostic, often informal, assessment follows screening.  These measures are detailed measures of possible skill deficits.  They assist in determining the degree of need for intervention and where in the scope and sequence of skill acquisition the deficit occurs.  Diagnostic measures assist in determining the degree of need and the type and frequency of intervention to be implemented.
• Progress Monitoring:  Progress monitoring measures drive instructional decisions through the tiered intervention process. These measures must be brief, research-based and sensitive to small increments of change.  They may be outcome or skill-based measures.  Progress monitoring measures track attained student progress against the progress necessary for a student to attain the next benchmark or to close the gap.  Tier 2 student progress is measued a minimum of twice monthly and Tier 3 progress is monitored at least weekly.  Intervention intensity is adjusted based on these progress measures.  The degree of student progress will play a key role in special education eligibility determination.