Flipped MTSS Triangle? Effective Strategies for School Administrators.

Before becoming a professional development consultant with Branching Minds, I spent 34 years in the roles of teacher, interventionist, and instructional specialist; and I’m currently supporting a school district as they continue to improve their MTSS system. My roles allow me to spend time with teachers and administrators from all over the country. And while fall has everyone drinking, eating, and smelling all things pumpkin...for those in education, this season also ushers in a time of data and stress.

Universal Screening

At the beginning, middle, and end of year, scores from universal screening come rolling in. Universal Screeners are a standardized assessment tool to help educators evaluate whether core instruction is effective, and to identify students who need additional support. (Jenkins, Hudson, & Johnson, 2007). 

After administering the universal screener to students, we want to see that at least 80% of students are achieving success with core instruction alone and do not need intervention support. This is the measure of an effective Tier 1 core instructional program!

Tier 2 and Tier 3 Supports in MTSS

Approximately 10% to 15% of students perform below their grade-level expectations and require additional Tier 2 instructional intervention beyond the universal classroom instruction all students receive. These students benefit from targeted small group sessions, allowing educators to address specific gaps in understanding and performance. Furthermore, about 5% of students exhibit performance well below their grade level, highlighting a need for Tier 3 individualized intervention. This involves intensive, often one-on-one, tailored instruction designed to meet unique learning needs and to bridge significant educational gaps.

As I collaborate with schools, I often hear from educators that their MTSS Tier level triangle does not look like the graphic above. In many districts across the country, those perfectly distributed groups are a thing of the past. 

In some cases, districts have 50% or more of students falling into the Tier 3 intervention category for academics or behavior, a flipped MTSS triangle! This leaves teachers and administrators alike scrambling to make plans to assist and accelerate student learning to close gaps while maintaining a quality core curriculum.

Flipped MTSS Triangle

After listening to Dr. David Steiner, Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and Professor of Education at Johns Hopkins University and reading through the Delaware Department of Education Strategy to Accelerate Learning, I was directed to core actions we can take to shift the distribution of students within a tiered system of supports and close student learning gaps. 

Your first instinct may be to pull out all these students from the core classroom setting and begin remediating their instruction. WAIT! Read through the following recommendations before rushing into any plan of action.

The DDOE (Delaware Department of Education), along with Dr. David Steiner from Johns Hopkins University, recommends these four core actions:

1. High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM)
2. Ongoing professional development and learning for Tier 1 instruction
3.  Balanced assessments and data leveraged to diagnose learning needs
4. Create support structures to accelerate student learning

These are foundational key understandings that we shouldn’t “assume” all educators know and understand. Let’s take a closer look at each of these core actions for tiered MTSS support.

⬆️ Watch: The Difference Between MTSS on Paper and MTSS in Practice. Is your MTSS working the way it’s written? See what it looks like when the process is actually carried out in schools.

1. High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM)

Dr. Steiner points out that many times, our first reaction regarding instructional materials to address a large number of students performing “below” grade-level expectations is to “water down” materials we feel are “too rigorous.” All students should have access to grade-level, high-quality instructional materials and a rigorous curriculum. All students should be held accountable to high standards.

 The curriculum should be vetted through sources to cite evidence of effectiveness to maintain those standards. Sites such as What Works Clearinghouse, and Evidence for ESSA are good places for you to determine whether your curriculum meets quality standards. Students should keep progressing on grade-level content while gaps are filled.

Related Resource: Understanding MTSS Tier Levels: Common Problems and Solutions

2. Ongoing Professional Development and Learning for Tier 1 Instruction

A curriculum is only as effective as the instructor. Teachers are always juggling new initiatives and learning. To expect any teacher to know and effectively deliver an HQIM curriculum with one day of professional development is to set both the teacher and student up for failure. 

By investing in programs with evidence-based professional development, we can remove another barrier that could keep our underperforming students from success within our HQIM curriculum. Invest the time and resources needed to support teacher excellence with any curriculum/programs delivered on campuses. Your students and teachers deserve every opportunity to excel and succeed.

Related Resource: Supporting Early Literacy With MTSS and Branching Minds

3. Balanced Assessments That Reveal Student  Needs

Having the right data for a data-based decision, and the knowledge to identify learning needs, is crucial to shifting the distribution of students across tiers. Through balanced assessments, leaders and teachers can be more aware of large and small learning trends. These assessments also lead to asking tough questions: Do teachers know where students are on key skills? 

Related Resource: How To Use Progress Monitoring Data To Guide Decision Making in MTSS

4. Structures That Accelerate Learning

Imagine you’re at the airport. You decide to take the moving sidewalk to get to your next flight gate and just leisurely stand while the conveyor moves you along. Next to you is another traveler who, in addition to being on the conveyor, supplements this wonderful means of transportation by walking as usual. 

Who will reach the goal destination first? You guessed it—the traveler who utilizes the provided means of transportation while adding additional support to move more quickly to the next destination. 

In terms of learning acceleration, this means that in addition to an HQIM curriculum, schools are supplementing with high-impact tutoring, acceleration academies and summer learning programs. Students are on the Tier 1 instructional conveyor and, in addition, they are “walking” to supplement their progress.

MTSS Plan of Action

We cannot afford to continue with outdated approaches in response to the overwhelming needs of our students who are performing below expectations. Let’s make a plan of action for your MTSS system:

• Analyze your curriculum and make sure you are delivering high-quality, data-driven instruction that is rigorous and standards-based.
• Seek out professional development, whether by requesting this from a company, watching a webinar series, or reading blog articles. Be proactive in your learning.
• Make sure you utilize the assessments available to find trends, gaps, and needs for your students.
• Supplement your core curriculum with acceleration and get your students on a quicker path to achieve grade-level success.

Be strategic and make the hard but important educational decisions to shift your MTSS tiers right-side-up!

Resources:

• https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-leveraging-data-to-understand-students-obstacles-and-ideas-for-data-practices/2019/02

• https://edpolicy.education.jhu.edu/author/the_institute/

• Accelerated Learning Presentation by Dr. David Steiner for the Delaware Department of Education

• Jenkins, J. R., Hudson, R. F., & Johnson, E. S. (2007). Screening for at-risk readers in a response to intervention framework. School Psychology Review, 36, 582–600.