Ever spend your lunch break scrambling to find the data you need or to document the work you’ve already completed? For teachers everywhere, time is the resource they need most but never have enough of. One major time drain is the endless data collection and analysis required to plan and track student interventions. For administrators looking to lighten this load, Branching Minds offers a game-changing solution that saves teachers time and helps them focus more on what they love—teaching!
You watch your educators hustling at the end of the school day to create sub plans and make copies for tomorrow. You have asked your teachers to leave their classrooms in the hands of an unknown substitute to attend professional development for a new district initiative. Fast forward a few years or even months and you can’t remember what the initiative was, what the expectations were for you as an administrator or your educators, or even how to get ahold of the resources shared. Have you been there? This experience occurs far too often in education as we continue to search for the silver bullet, the initiative to end all initiatives.
So much time, money, physical, and emotional investment can be saved by planning for sustainability with your professional development implementation. Fortunately, MTSS itself holds the key — it’s a framework to support all learners. What if we applied that way of thinking to our adult learners as well?
Just as a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) systematically provides universal, targeted and intensive instruction for students depending on their needs, providing systematic MTSS learning for educators depending on their needs will have an exponential impact on your MTSS efforts over time.
Hooray! You've already laid the groundwork for MTSS success by establishing a clear vision for the work in collaboration with your colleagues. The initial hurdle of getting systems off the ground and providing basic training for staff members on board has been completed. But now, as you move toward full implementation and continuous growth, you're stepping into the big leagues.
Recently, my sister asked me if emailing teachers several times a week is too much. She wanted to know how her three elementary-age children were doing in class, and one child in particular. Whether a parent, a teacher, or both, you know how important it is to work as a team. Families and school staff are working for the same outcome: student growth and success.
The ability to read with fluency and comprehension is THE foundational academic skill that leads to all others. Despite the importance, reading performance in the US has been stagnant for decades. In 2022, only 32% of 4th graders demonstrated proficiency in early literacy skills.
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.