Early Academic Intervention Matters–Holston Academy Does It Differently

October 8, 2025

If a child is struggling in school, early academic intervention might be the most important approach to take to prevent those struggles from becoming long term. Holston Academy can help.

All students deserve a chance to succeed academically. If a child is struggling in school, early academic intervention might be the most important approach to take to prevent those struggles from becoming long term. In this blog post, we’ll look at why early academic intervention matters and how Holston Academy helps our students thrive, even if they struggle early on.

What is early academic intervention?

It can be difficult to identify whether students are struggling with what they’re learning or if they’re simply a bit late in their development. That’s why it’s critical to perform the steps of an early academic intervention.

Early academic intervention programs focus on a child’s cognitive, physical, behavioral, and social/emotional development. By doing so, these programs can help teachers and parents determine whether the student truly is struggling academically. Then, further steps can be taken to address those struggles. And that can help control the risk factors that can endanger a student’s academic and social development.

The steps involved with early academic intervention include:

• Observing and data gathering: Careful observation of student performance, learning habits, and behavior can help identify potential learning challenges. Teachers and parents should not only pay close attention to the student’s behavior in class but also use any early screening tools and strategies at their disposal.
• Intentional instruction: This deliberate type of instruction occurs when parents or teachers actively guide a student’s learning by noting their unique needs, strengths, and interests to create an individualized educational experience. Teachers should take an active role during intentional instruction by using strategies like open-ended questions and activity-based learning to encourage high-level thinking and problem solving within a supportive environment.
• Targeted support: As you probably guessed, targeted support in early academic intervention helps students by addressing specific needs, discouraging challenging behaviors, and encouraging the learning of important skills (such as communication, self-care, coping, and others). The use of sensory and calming tools, stories, activities, peer conflict resolution, and communication support facilitates this.

Why early academic intervention matters

If a student is struggling, early identification and intervention are crucial… the earlier, the better. Why? Because once those struggles become too deeply embedded, it can be very challenging to reverse them later in life. Early intervention helps:

• Prevent deep learning gaps
• Improve early reading and math skills
• Build student confidence
• Build life skills

It is so important to implement student support strategies and early intervention as soon as a parent or teacher observes academic difficulty. It can literally be a life-altering action.

Some early academic intervention examples

Academic intervention can take on a variety of forms, depending on the type of education a student is receiving. For those in traditional brick-and-mortar schools, there are school-based intervention programs that take place in small groups as well as programs that provide support for families through home visits. And, of course, regular evaluation can help determine whether the student is making progress with the intervention and personalized support.

For online students or homeschooled students, early academic intervention programs share some similarities with those in traditional schools. But parents and families take on far more responsibility.

What does this intervention look like for online students?

For students attending online school on a full-time basis, early academic intervention consists of many of the same components. But it looks a little bit different. Teachers are obviously not able to meet with the student or family in person, but the lines of communication should always be open. And if a teacher notices any potential learning challenges, it’s important that they notify the parents quickly and meet individually with the student via video.

From there, both the teachers and parents can use similar tools and strategies as a traditional school would. But for parents of online students, digital tools take on significant importance. Parent dashboards monitor performance, and education technology like apps and other online resources provide supplementary instruction and identify learning gaps.

Parents can do other things to set their student up for success while learning at home.

• Create routines: Kids generally thrive if they know what they’re doing and when they’re doing it. School is certainly no different. Parents should establish family routines that include a consistent bedtime, family meals, and dedicated space and time for schoolwork.
• Keep distractions to a minimum: Attention spans tend to be short for kids. Just do your best to keep them focused on their work while building breaks into their school schedule.
• Look into outside help: Parents don’t need to go it alone. There are professionals and specialized services dedicated to early academic intervention. Local school districts often provide those services. It’s definitely worth a phone call or an email to see whether those services are available for home-educated children.

Perhaps the most important component of early academic intervention for online students, however, is personalized learning.

Holston Academy emphasizes personalized learning

Personalized learning is a huge key to any student’s success, regardless of age. At Holston Academy, an accredited online private school, everything we do revolves around personalized learning. That’s why we call our approach “student-centered.”

How do we do it?

1. Upon enrollment, students take assessments that provide the foundation for their Personalized Learning Plan. The student’s Education Team has an array of coaching strategies specific to each student’s needs.
2. Full-time students and their parents then work with their Academic Coach to design a Personalized Learning Plan that supports their academic strengths and challenges and personal interests. This plan includes data from the academic assessment, an assessment to gauge their learning needs, and an interest inventory.
3. NWEA MAP Assessment results are used to establish a baseline and measure a student’s academic growth over time in math and reading. The information from this assessment helps inform the Academic Plan for the school year. It also assists the Education Team in crafting instructional strategies regardless of how far the student is above or below grade level. These insights allow our Education Team to tailor instruction to the individual student’s needs.

Why does Holston take this approach? Because we fully understand that a one-size-fits-all approach does not cater to the diverse needs of students. That’s why our educators work with each (yes, each!) student to create these Personalized Learning Plans. Students and parents can choose from more than 300 online courses to create a courseload that caters to their strengths, interests, and future goals.

Just as importantly, students at Holston Academy learn at their own pace, the way they learn best. Parents and Academic Coaches can build their student’s daily and weekly schedules to maximize the times when they’re most productive. Our primary focus is personalized learning that’s tailored to each student’s strengths and learning preferences. To learn more about Holston Academy and how we approach early academic intervention, contact us here or call us at (833) 782-6922.