Built by a 25-year Mississippi educator who tutored students from Delaware to California. The gaps are real. These resources close them.
I spent 25 years in Mississippi classrooms — teaching, intervening, coaching, and watching students struggle with reading and math resources that had nothing to do with their lives.
Generic passages. Generic problems. Content from nowhere in particular, about nothing students recognized.
I kept thinking — Mississippi students deserve better than this. They deserve to read about the places they know. The Gulf Coast. The Delta. The blues music their grandparents listen to. The catfish farms and pecan orchards that feed their communities. The rivers and landmarks and history that make Mississippi the remarkable state it is.
So I built it.
But the story doesn't stop in Mississippi.
In recent years I have worked as a virtual tutor with students from Delaware to California and states in between. What I discovered confirmed everything I had observed in 25 years of classroom work — the gaps are real, and they are everywhere. Third graders across this nation are struggling with the same foundational reading and math skills. And almost none of them have access to resources that are truly rigorous, truly scripted, and truly built around content that connects to their lives.
That virtual tutoring experience shaped every product in this shop in ways that go beyond content. Any tutor working online knows the challenge — keeping students engaged through a screen, managing pacing without a physical classroom, and delivering instruction that works whether you are face to face or miles apart. Every Intervention by Design lesson includes built-in Virtual Learning Notes with platform-agnostic strategies specifically designed for online instruction. A virtual tutor can open one of these lessons and teach it confidently in any digital environment — no adaptation needed.
Intervention by Design grew out of that experience. It started as a Mississippi solution — fully scripted, MAAP-aligned reading and math intervention resources built around real Mississippi places, culture, and history. But the framework I built to serve Mississippi students serves every student. The skills are universal even when the content feels personal.
Every product in this shop is built on a 23-component framework — fully scripted from the first Teacher Says to the last answer key rationale. Science of Reading grounded. MTSS differentiated for Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 students. Rigorous enough for a veteran interventionist. Simple enough for a substitute teacher — or a homeschool parent — to pick up and teach on day one.
Whether you are a Mississippi classroom teacher preparing students for MAAP, an interventionist building your Tier 2 small group materials, a virtual tutor working with students across the country, or a homeschool parent teaching your child at your kitchen table — these lessons were made for you.
I have seen the gaps firsthand. From Delaware to California and everywhere in between. And I built the resources to close them.
No shortcuts. No filler. No acceptable good enough.
Just great resources for students who deserve the best.
Read. Think. Respond. Succeed.
— Cindy Cooley
Creator, Intervention by Design
Laurel, Mississippi