Years ago, as part of a team opening a new high school, our principal emphasized the importance of site-based decision-making. With input from our leadership team, we dedicated considerable thought to our master schedule. Our principal reminded us that scheduling reflects our priorities, leading us to adopt a nonconventional schedule to support deep learning for all students. We decided on a 4x4 block schedule but heard the concerns raised by stakeholder groups, so we modified it. We alternated classes by quarter instead of semester. We also added an extra "floating block" in 9th and 10th grade English to offer additional literacy instruction for all students.
So, you have identified students needing a support plan, created goals, selected and implemented appropriate interventions, and collected data using a progress monitoring tool or assessment. Fantastic! These are all necessary steps to supporting students through your Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS).
As the end of the fiscal year approaches, schools must exhaust allocated funds, whether from local, state, or federal sources. One approach is to view these funds as opportunities for one-time investments that will yield ongoing returns for students.
Here are some practical ways to invest remaining funds for long-term benefits:
In my decade in the classroom, I worked with several co-teachers. Some were special education teachers, some para-educators, ELL teachers, and even gifted and talented teachers. Each year, the co-teaching relationship worked differently. And yes, some were more successful than others. But when we had planning time and appropriate facilitation, co-teaching benefited not only the students who required extra support but all the students in my classes.
Data is central to the MTSS framework. In fact, one of the most important components of an effective Multi-Tiered System of Supports is easy access to data from multiple sources, brought together in a way that supports intervention planning and delivery. But with access can come vulnerability. Schools often struggle to keep up with the cloud security and data privacy standards of their vendors, making them vulnerable to cyberattacks. EdWeek has gone so far as to call it the Cybersecurity Wild-West for schools!
How do you get the most impact out of your MTSS efforts? Impact and effort are often competing realities, so it can be a challenge to know how to strategically approach the work. An Impact-Effort Map is a tool you can use to visualize and prioritize tasks when launching your MTSS practice or with any initiative. It's a two-dimensional matrix where impact is plotted against effort in order to identify which tasks should be done now, done later, or delegated.
A critical part of education is helping students build the life skills and resiliency they need to complete high school and successfully transition to adult life. Branching Minds partners with The Jed Foundation (JED) to bring practical resources to high school classrooms that are informed by direct research with high school students about what they need as they graduate. These areas include:
Just as a pilot uses their dashboard, a farmer measures rainwater, or a nurse checks vitals, data in MTSS is a tool meant to be used for more than determining final success or failure. Data is a helpful guide in real time. Progress monitoring data provides educators with the insight they need to adjust course throughout the year and make the best use of their valuable time and resources to support students. And, school leaders play a crucial role in guiding staff with data analysis.
During a parent-teacher conference, as I was explaining a child's assessment scores and grades, the parent interrupted me in confusion. “I don’t understand. They have an A in your class but can barely write a sentence, and their reading score isn’t that high.” As a young teacher, I stumbled through my answer, realizing that the way that we weighted grades meant that the work that students did in class was graded based on completion and re-takes. These grades often did not align with the results of the standardized assessments we gave. I knew at that moment that my grade book needed a revamp to reflect mastering the standards for the grade level.