What Does MTSS Mean?
Many schools and districts claim to “do” MTSS. Many educators are very confused on what it actually is and the purpose behind all the work they put into it. So, what does MTSS mean?
MTSS stands for Multi-Tiered System of Supports. Don’t get this confused with RTI, which I’ll explain later.
The hallmark of MTSS is the 3 tiers of support. I’ll explain them briefly here.
Tier 1 within MTSS is the general curriculum for everyone in the school or grade level. That could include all the reading books a grade level is expected to use. It could be a behavior plan that a teacher has for her classroom. The key to tier 1 is that it is for everyone in the classroom or grade level.
Tier 2 is smaller group intervention which is more focused to meet specific needs of students. This includes interventions that aren’t usually needed by most students. Many of the models suggest that about 20% of a school population might need this level of support. Some schools have significantly more students needing this level of support at this time for a lot of reasons. We will talk more about this later on. It is a real issue in schools right now, and something that we need to discuss in detail.
Tier 3 is a smaller intervention group with very specific skills and goals being targeted for the students. These interventions should be very specific to meet the needs that the students have. Also, the progress of the students within this group should be tracked weekly to determine if the strategies are effective. Models suggest that from 3 to 5% of a school population should need this level of support. Many schools have significantly more, which is not surprising given how many students are struggling with learning gaps now. It can be fixed with the right mindset and interventions.
What Some Schools Think MTSS Means….
When schools discuss what MTSS means, they think meetings where school teams discuss student evaluation results from standardized assessments. These evaluations are used to determine student placement in intervention groups, and then progress monitoring starts.
More effective MTSS teams include the teacher, interventionists and other stakeholders in the students education, including parents. The team discusses what interventions would be most effective in meeting the students needs. They then agree on appropriate goals, and set up a time to review the results of the intervention.
Less effective MTSS teams go through the motions of meeting. They want to be able to document that they met so that the next steps toward asking for evaluations can be accomplished.
It is an unfortunate fact that some schools and districts have not set up their teachers to be able to successfully use MTSS to best meet student needs.
The MTSS team can be an incredibly supportive group to assist teachers in accessing and using effective interventions and strategies to support student progress. Well-built teams share ideas and create an environment where teachers and interventionists can learn from each other. The focus is to find ways to help students.
I mentioned earlier that some teams go through the motions in order to move closer to evaluation. What I’m referring to is what I call the Slip-N-Slide to special education. Some teachers or schools see MTSS as the vehicle that is used to get students into special education.
While some states do require progress monitoring data to find students eligible for special education…
The idea that MTSS is only useful in finding students eligible is wrong and dangerous.
When schools focus their efforts on finding students eligible for special education, they lose sight of what MTSS means. Finding interventions which support students and using them to help students get back to grade level is the priority. The focus should be on accessing help for students before they are so far below grade level that they must have special education supports and accommodations to be successful.
When the focus is just on getting a student into special education, the teams can’t help but go through the motions without putting in real effort. This is because the goal is special education, not getting the student on grade level.
Develop an MTSS team that is focused on increasing student achievement, and school cultures shift to the same focus. Focusing on increasing student achievement no matter what skill level, creates robust increases in student progress across grade and ability levels.