Branching Minds Hall of Fame

A Lasting Legacy of Student Support

Susan has been an integral part of our school community. During Secondary Team meetings, Susan has encouraged the use of the tier movement reports to identify students who exhibit overall needs based upon internalizing and externalizing characteristics. She has collaborated on moving our CICO data into the Branching Minds platform to have all student tiered intervention data in one location and attended Branching Minds trainings for us to continually improve our process and use of the platform. Even when she is no longer working directly with the district students, she wants to make sure that student social emotional needs are always taken care of by our teachers and staff. Her influence will be her legacy, and our schools could use more people like Susan!

Turning Data Into Growth, Celebration, and Support

Mr. Hartman is intentional with bringing teachers and staff to the table to review data to notice strengths and areas of needs for students and their own teaching practices. Our attendance has improved greatly, with most days at a 95% rate of attendance for our students. The "Our Story" program that Mr. Hartman brought to Creekside is a great reminder that not all learning outcomes are quantitative. Mr. Hartman is committed to the growth of the whole child and looking at all data - assessments, behavior reports, and daily interactions - to get the information needed to support and celebrate. Branching minds is critical to the work we do with staff and families. Mr. Hartman regularly uses Branching Minds in staff presentations, conversations and parent meetings. Mr. Hartman has an incredible drive to serve students and staff well, grow teams to be even better at our craft, and empower leaders across our building in students and staff so Creekside is the BEST place to be. He is truly an MTSS Hero!!!

Going Above and Beyond for Every Student

Robin Cansler took Branching Minds when our district first implemented it, trained our staff, worked with our staff to get Branching Minds up and running with fidelity. She continues to work with teachers to train them as needed and helps where needed so that all of our documents are turned in on time for the district. When we have questions about Branching Minds, we know to go to Mrs. Cansler. She knows the program like the back of her hand. She does this, plus keeps up with Dyslexic students that she teaches, and she has 30 minutes of lunch duty each day. She is a dedicated hard worker who gets things done for our students. That is the core of her—she wants what is best for our students.

Transforming MTSS Support Across an Entire Campus

This past school year, our campus's MTSS system was entirely revamped positively thanks to the initiative and contributions of our 24-25' Teacher of the Year, Ms. Cathy Preciado. She asked the question, "How can we best support our 4th grade students?" and became the trailblazer and revamped how our MTSS process and expectations would look, feel, and sound like across the entire Pre K-5th grade campus. Additionally, the systems needed and family collaboration, including MTSS consent forms, home visits, and follow-ups from the administration team, were inspired by Ms. Preciado's leadership and direction.

Building a Stronger, Data-Driven MTSS Process

Sean took the MTSS process that was in place and made it very specific and explicit, listing steps that could be easily followed by staff members. Sean implemented Data Day meetings with teachers three times a year to review student progress and to work collaboratively with teachers and interventionists on determining which students should be receiving Tier 2 or Tier 3 support based on benchmark scores and teacher input. He worked to provide training for staff on how to create plans and goals in Branching Minds for their Tier 2 students and continued that support by scheduling in time for teachers to create plans and goals with the support of interventionists during the school day.

Helping Schools Work More Collaboratively With Data

Sue has leveraged Branching Minds to refine the systems at her elementary school and has really focused on using many of the reports in the platform. Through her leadership, the school has been focused and collaborative in their work this year.

Keeping Students at the Center of Every Decision

Alex Murnan is truly the heart of Carolina Charter Academy, and her impact on our school community cannot be overstated. Through her work with Branching Minds, she has helped staff better understand student data and implement targeted supports, ultimately strengthening outcomes for our students. Because of her, our students are more successful, our teachers feel more confident, and our school is stronger.

Building a Strong Foundation for Student Success

Tina proactively identified that our district lacked the necessary tools and structure for a truly comprehensive MTSS system and introduced us to Branching Minds. Tina spent this spring focusing on the "why" and strengthening our Tier I practices. She worked tirelessly with stakeholders to create coherent systems for student success.

Using Data to Drive Meaningful Change

Zack consistently goes above and beyond in his leadership of our MTSS work, using Branching Minds not just as a tool, but as a driver of meaningful change across our district. He takes complex survey and student data and translates it into clear, actionable insights, helping staff understand trends, identify strengths, and target areas for growth. Because of his leadership, our district is not just collecting data, we are using it to drive decisions, improve systems, and ultimately support every student more effectively.

Turning Data Into Actionable Support

Sara is the definition of proactive support. She doesn’t wait for roadblocks to appear; she clears the path ahead of time by checking Branching Minds daily to ensure everything is running smoothly. Her focus on Tier 2 interventions for both behavior and academics ensures that our most at-risk students receive the specific, targeted support they need to thrive.

Using MTSS to Support Every Student

Elise is a reading intervention superstar. Elise specifically plans lessons to meet individual student needs, and Elise truly is always looking for what's best for each student as an individual. She continually uses the platform to inform student instruction, check on behavior and parent communication, and use data to inform what we should be moving toward as the intervention team, as well as where the school should be moving.

Keeping Students at the Center of Every Decision

Josie Giannini has been instrumental in shaping and elevating our MTSS systems at Leigh School, but beyond that, she is truly the heart of our building. What truly sets Josie apart is the way she shows up for people every single day. She consistently puts students at the center of every decision.

Bringing MTSS to Life Through Collaboration

MTSS is for everyone and at Lugoff Elementary Mrs. Beth Kirincich works to ensure this message is clear. Together, Mrs. Kirincich and I have worked to bring MTSS to life at Lugoff Elementary in a way to keeps student growth at the center of decision making. Mrs. Kirincich provides support to our teachers through the MTSS process by analyzing data, leading meetings with parents, intervening with students, progress monitoring students and using data to match student need to the appropriate intervention.

Strengthening MTSS Across an Entire District

Tracy has brought leadership, organization, and a vision to our school district in so many ways. One of these ways was to strengthen our district’s MTSS process by bringing Branching Minds into the fold. Her goal was to help all of us help more kids in the most efficient way possible.