May 4, 2018
Janice Wyatt-Ross, EdD
MTSS
What is MTSS
Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a
multi-step process of providing instruction
and support.
MTSS is a framework for systematically using
data and problem solving to allocate
educational resources to improve learning for
all students.
Integrated Multi-tiered System of Support
for Academics and Behavior
Academic System Behavioral System
1-5% Intensive Individualized 1-5% Intensive Individualized
Interventions Interventions
5-10% Targeted Interventions 5-10% Targeted Interventions
80-90% School-Wide 80-90% School-Wide
Interventions Interventions
Decisions about tiers of
Adapted from OSEP Effective
support are data-based
School-Wide Interventions
Essential Components of MTSS
There are four essential components of the
MTSS system that must be implemented
using culturally-responsive (Klinger &
Edwards, 2006) and evidence-based
practices. Those four components are:
Components of MTSS
A school-wide, multi-tiered instructional
(RTI) and behavioral system (PBIS) for
preventing school failure (Batsche et al.,
2005).
Screening (Fuchs and Fuchs 2007).
Progress Monitoring (Barnett, et al., 2004;
Bradley, et al., 2005; Brown-Chidsey &
Steege, 2005).
Components of MTSS
Data-based decision making for high qualify
instruction, movement within the multi-tier
system, and special education identification
in accordance with state and federal
regulations (Barnett, et al., 2004; Bradley, et
al., 2005; Brown-Chidsey & Steege, 2005).
Grounded in CRT
According to Klinger (2006), educational
systems are most successful when they are
grounded in the belief that culturally and
linguistically diverse students can excel when
their language, cultural heritage, and lived
experiences are valued and used to facilitate
their learning and development.
Grounded in CRT
Successful systems also provide students
with access to high quality teachers,
programs, and resources.
These high quality teachers, programs, and
resources are applied at the first tier within
the general education classroom.
Although culturally responsive teaching is at
the foundation of any good MTSS system,
the system itself is comprised of several
components that when viewed together
render practices that respond to various
cultures within a school community.
Activity 1
MTSS is a multi-step process of providing
instruction and support.
Interventions are available to students
typically categorized into three tiers.
Emphasis is placed on schoolwide,
differentiated universal core instruction at
Tier 1;
Tier 2 and Tier 3 provide intensive and
increasingly individualized interventions
(Batsche, et al., 2005).
Integrated Multi-tiered System of Support
for Academics and Behavior
Academic System Behavioral System
1-5% Intensive Individualized 1-5% Intensive Individualized
Interventions Interventions
5-10% Targeted Interventions 5-10% Targeted Interventions
80-90% School-Wide 80-90% School-Wide
Interventions Interventions
Decisions about tiers of
Adapted from OSEP Effective
support are data-based
School-Wide Interventions
Tier 1 refers to the core curriculum delivered
to all students.
Tier 2 provides supplemental instruction in
addition to the core curriculum, to those
students who display poor response to the
core instruction provided at Tier 1.
Tier 3 provides more individualized
instruction in addition to the core curriculum
at Tier 1, and supplemental instruction at Tier
2.
MTSS is most commonly used in addressing
reading, math, and behavior, but it can be
also used in other areas. The MTSS process is
flexible and designed by school districts to
meet the needs of their students.
Academics
Tier 3
Intense instructional Tier 3
Tier 3 support is provided to Frequent Progress
students with the Monitoring
greatest need.
Tier 2 Tier 2
The school provides supplemental instructional Small Group Instruction
support, usually in small groups, to students who in addition to general
need additional support to what they are receiving education classroom
from the general curriculum instruction.
Tier 1
All students receive high quality curriculum and instruction in the
general education classroom. The teacher assists all students.
Behavior
Tier 3
Student centered planning Tier 3
Tier 3 in used to develop Small group sessions are held
customized interventions with students to help them
with frequent progress chart their own behavior.
monitoring
Tier 2
Tier 2
Behavior interventions
The school provides supplemental targeted
are taught/ retaught in
behavior skill interventions usually in small groups
a small group setting.
Tier 1
All students are taught positive behavioral expectations.
All teachers use a consistent approach to discipline.
MTSS is not a program
MTSS is not a service
MTSS is not a curriculum
MTSS is a system for promoting high quality
core curriculum for students who are
struggling.
The supports are monitored frequently and
consistently to determine whether (a) the
intervention is working and is no longer
needed, (b) the intervention is working and
should be continued, or (c) the intervention is
not working and therefore a different and/or
more intensive approach should be
implemented.
A key component to the MTSS process is that all
children receive high quality curriculum and
instruction in the general education classroom
(Tier 1)
Another component of the MTSS process is that
the school conducts universal screenings.
Universal screenings review the progress of all
students. These screenings are typically given
three times a year. Universal screenings help
schools identify students who may need more
support or other types of instruction.
As a result of universal screening, students
may be identified as needing supplemental
instruction (Tier 2) in addition to the high
quality instruction they are receiving in Tier 1
Research based interventions are used to
support students in the area of need.
Research based interventions are teaching
strategies or methods that have been proven
to be effective in helping children be more
successful with academics and behavior.
There are different kinds of interventions and
instruction that can happen in the classroom,
outside the classroom or in small groups.
MTSS Review
Activity
Progress Monitoring Bingo
What is Culturally Responsive
Learning?
Culture and language include understanding
the impact cultural identity has on learning.
Saunders & Kardia, (2011), suggest that
classroom interactions are influenced by the
prior assumptions the instructor has of
certain racial groups.
If instructors are guilty of making prior
assumptions about students what is to be
said about the assumptions that students
make about their teachers?
Culturally Responsive
Learning
To truly create an authentic culturally
responsive learning environment, every
teacher should be aware of his or her own
physical appearance, opinions, and
assumptions and the extent to which they
differ from those of their students (Center for
Teaching and Learning, 2012).
The Student’s Perception
The instructor should anticipate the possible
reactions among the students based upon his
or her race, gender, ethnicity, and other
physical characteristics.
When creating a culturally responsive
learning environment instructors should
incorporate key instructional strategies that
are designed to break down the barriers of
marginalization or racial superiority. One
such method is the Jigsaw method.
The Jigsaw method is an instructional method first
used with students in newly desegregated
classrooms.
Implementation of the Jigsaw method called for
students in a classroom to be arranged into groups,
which are evenly balanced according to “race,
ethnicity, gender, and academic ability” (Walker and
Crogan, 1998).
Aronson and Bridgemen, (1979) believed that to
decrease prejudice and to increase self-esteem there
needed to be some sort of “highly structured
method of interdependent learning (p. 440).”
Jigsaw
What Squares With Your Thinking?
Share points that you can
immediately begin
implementing in your
What questions classroom/school
do you still have
about MTSS and
CRT?
Identify 3
points from
the
information
Fidelity
One bedrock of MTSS for academics and
behavior is the use of evidenced-based
interventions.
Another foundational mandate is for the
evidenced-based interventions and strategies
to be implemented with fidelity.
Mellard (2010) states that it is important for
protocols to be used consistently and
accurately in order to explain a student’s lack
of response to the intervention or a student’s
positive response to the intervention.
He likens instructional fidelity to that of
protocols identified for surgical procedures.
This is a very good argument and analogy,
however in both situations there is a human
factor that cannot be ignored.
As educators we are stuck on our
implementation models and demanding that
all children deemed eligible for intervention
services be taught the same way under the
same conditions under the guise of fidelity.
We are critical of a one-size-fits-all model
while requiring a one-size-fits-all model.
We are in danger of responding with
interventions that are unresponsive to a
student’s individuality and devoid of making
adjustments based on student engagement.
In a video presentation, Dr. Beth Harry (2016)
points out that we can’t assume that because
a practice is evidence based that it is
appropriate for every child.
If a child is not engaged in the learning
process it does not matter how scientifically
based an intervention is said to be.
If the child is not engaged we are failing the
child all in the name of fidelity.
Can Parents Refuse
Interventions?
Within the MTSS/Response to Intervention system,
there is a continuum of general education
instructional supports, all of which are considered a
part of the general education curriculum.
As with any general education curriculum, parent
consent is not required to adjust the curriculum
based on parental requests. Schools are
encouraged to include parent perspectives when
adopting curriculum as well as when determining
supports for a particular child.
Parents do not have the right to opt their children
out of general education curriculum supplemental
instructional services.
What if I Think A Child Needs
Special Education Services?
If at any time there is a believe a child has a
disability/exceptionality and needs special
education services, you have a right to
request an evaluation for these services (34
CFR §300.301(b)).
In addition to the information gathered for
assessments and interventions during the
MTSS process, other forms of evaluations
must occur to determine if a child is eligible
to receive special education services.
The use of an MTSS process may not be used
to delay or deny a full and individual
evaluation under 34 CFR §§300.304-300.311.
Parents must give prior written consent
before this evaluation is conducted.
Assess Your Intervention
System
What curriculum is being taught in my
classroom?
What are the targeted interventions that school
uses if a student is struggling in the classroom?
What are the formal guidelines my school uses
for progress monitoring?
How are parents informed of the progress their
child is making?
What happens if an intervention is not working?
Where can I find out more
information about MTSS?
Center on Instruction
www.centeroninstruction.org
Kentucky Department of Education
(502) 564-4970
National Center on Response to Intervention
www.rti4success.org
