How Wyoming's Crook County Schools Built a Connected MTSS Practice

Wyoming is a big place with school districts scattered far and wide across the state, but Wyoming educators are united in their desire to provide the best possible education for all of their students. As Tina Inghram assumed the role of Director of MTSS at Crook County Schools, she recognized the importance of a tiered intervention system to support struggling students. Inghram discovered that Branching Minds could be a great tool to help Crook County schools create a consistent and collaborative MTSS practice.

“Our staff and our teachers across our district needed a more effective and systematic way to document what we were already doing with students. We are trying to establish a system district-wide with our processes for MTSS.”

THE CHALLENGES:

Inconsistent MTSS District-Wide Practices

Even though schools in the district “did MTSS,” there was no standard process for documentation and data collection. "Prior to the creation of an MTSS coordinator position in our district, documentation wasn't typically happening at the secondary schools, and each elementary school utilized their own process/methods. There was no consistent district-wide process for MTSS implementation or documentation which is what Branching Minds is helping us to achieve."

Each school implemented MTSS differently, hindering the creation of consistent plans and support for students as they progressed through grade levels. And, while elementary schools received state grant assistance, secondary schools lacked the same support.

In addition, Wyoming mandated literacy intervention plans for students not meeting benchmarks, a task complicated by the absence of a uniform MTSS process.

THE RESULT:

Supporting and Documenting Intervention Plans

With Branching Minds, educators in Crook County made substantial strides in supporting students. “We're more focused on research-based interventions and implementation of those, making sure that we are using progress monitoring tools that meet the guidelines to support what we're doing with students."

Tina has already seen the change in the documentation process, even though teachers and interventions have limited collaboration time. “I can look back now because everything was uploaded in the supporting documents from last year, what happened last year with this student, what meetings occurred, and what was talked about in these meetings. I think that the longevity of this and looking at students over time and what has happened and what has been in place for them is a positive aspect.”

And literacy plans? Branching Minds provides the tools to support meeting state requirements. "The platform offers a space for our teachers to input, create, and monitor literacy intervention plans, ensuring compliance with state standards."