Math Screening in an RtI/MTSS System

Over the last several years, elementary priorities have been heavily shaped by literacy initiatives, particularly those influenced by the Science of Reading. These efforts have brought needed clarity and focus to early literacy instruction, professional learning, and intervention systems.

More recently, we have seen a similar reckoning in mathematics. Educators, districts, and states are taking a closer look at early math instruction and asking whether students are developing the foundational number sense they need for long-term success. This shift has brought early numeracy screening and instruction into sharper focus, especially in the elementary grades.

At the state level, this work is no longer peripheral. Early numeracy initiatives in Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, and other states reflect a growing understanding that mathematics instruction in the early grades deserves the same level of attention, investment, and coherence as literacy. These initiatives often emphasize universal screening, instructional alignment, and ongoing support for teachers. They are positioning math alongside literacy as a core instructional priority rather than a secondary one.

Within this context, RtI and MTSS frameworks remain essential. The questions districts are asking today are familiar ones:

• How do we identify students who need support early?
• How do we know whether core instruction is working?
• And how do we respond in ways that actually improve learning?

The Role of Math Screeners in RtI and MTSS

Universal screeners are designed to give educators a snapshot of student learning across an entire grade level. Within an RtI or MTSS system, they serve several important purposes.

Screeners help teams understand how well Tier 1 instruction is supporting all students. They help identify students who may need additional instructional support. And they provide a common data source for instructional conversations across classrooms, grade levels, and schools.

When used thoughtfully, math screeners are not simply a way to sort students into tiers. They are a tool for understanding patterns in student thinking and for asking better instructional questions. What concepts are students making sense of? Where are misunderstandings emerging? And how might instruction shift in response?

The Universal Screeners for Number Sense were designed with this instructional purpose in mind. Rather than focusing only on whether students can produce correct answers, USNS surfaces how students reason about numbers. This makes screening data more meaningful for teachers and more useful within an RtI or MTSS framework.

From Screening to Action: Why Progress Monitoring Matters

As early numeracy screening becomes more common, districts are also grappling with what comes next. Identifying students who need support is only the first step. Educators also need ways to check whether instruction is helping students move forward.

Progress monitoring plays a critical role here. Effective progress monitoring allows educators to revisit key ideas, listen for changes in student reasoning, and adjust instruction based on what they hear and see. Aligning progress monitoring to the original screener strengthens the connection between assessment and instruction.

Forefront supports this work through both open resources that are freely available to educators and optional platform tools available to district partners, allowing teams to choose the level of support that best fits their context.

New Progress Monitoring Supports for USNS

To support districts moving from universal screening into instructional follow-up, we recently released new progress monitoring supports connected to the Universal Screeners for Number Sense. These parallel tasks can be downloaded from the USNS assessment guide download page linked here.

The USNS Progress Monitoring resource is an open source document that includes alternative and parallel prompts for USNS tasks. These prompts allow educators to reassess the same underlying skills without repeating identical tasks. The directions and scoring criteria remain consistent with the original USNS prompts, supporting instructionally sound progress monitoring across grades K through 5. As of January 2026, the midyear prompts are available to the public, with additional guides for fall and spring assessments planned for later in the 2026 calendar year.

In addition to these open resources, Forefront school district clients have access to in-platform progress monitoring tools within the Forefront software. These tools allow educators to create custom, student-facing progress monitoring probes that align directly to USNS written prompts. This work has built-in technology and printable handouts that streamline preparation and administration while keeping the focus on student thinking. More information about using progress monitoring probe handouts within the Forefront platform is available here.

Bringing It Together: Screening and Progress Monitoring in Practice

To support districts and educators navigating this work, join us for a virtual session focused on using universal screening and progress monitoring together within an RtI or MTSS framework. In this session, we will explore how early numeracy screening is an essential component of MTSS/RtI systems, how USNS supports both screening and progress monitoring, and how open resources and platform tools can be used together to monitor growth in student thinking over time. The focus will be on practical implementation and instructional decision-making. Learn more and register.

Looking Ahead

The growing emphasis on early numeracy reflects a broader shift in how educators think about foundational learning. Just as literacy initiatives prompted deeper conversations about instruction, assessment, and intervention, early numeracy efforts are encouraging similar reflection in mathematics.

When math screeners, progress monitoring, and instruction are intentionally aligned, assessment becomes a tool for learning rather than a compliance task. Within an RtI or MTSS system, this alignment helps educators respond earlier, teach more intentionally, and better support students as they develop strong mathematical foundations.