How CCSD 59 Flipped Its Triangle and Transformed Student Support

At Consolidated Community School District 59 (CCSD59) in Illinois, the team faced significant changes. Leaders like Katie Ahsell, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, and Trisha Senne, Coordinator for Assessment and MTSS, realized their current system wasn’t meeting the needs of all their students. By adopting a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) and partnering with Branching Minds, the educators at CCSD59 began transforming their practices, restructuring their support system, and building a stronger foundation for student success.

The Challenge: An Upside-Down Triangle

When the team at CCSD59 looked closely at their student support data, they saw a common but concerning picture: an upside-down triangle. This means a large percentage of their students required intervention in addition to classroom instruction, placing significant pressure on the district's intervention resources.

This reality was further complicated by several overlapping challenges.

• First, the district was reacting to significant curriculum needs. "We were adopting new curricular resources in math, ELA, social studies, and science, completely shifting all tier one materials," explained Katie Ahsell. At the same time, they were addressing significant learning gaps, leading to the feeling of "doing everything at once to get students back on track." Resources were constantly pulled toward the most urgent needs, leaving little room for preventative support.
• Second, student needs varied dramatically from one building to the next. "I think as we were launching all new core curriculum... we found that a one size fits all is not going to work," noted Trisha. For example, one school had 29 students recommended for reading intervention, while another just two blocks away had 127. The previous model, which assigned the same number of support staff to each building regardless of need, was no longer practical. “Getting everybody to understand the realities of how different each building was made us realize that as a district, as one unit, we needed to commit to doing better.”
• Third, the district had a large influx of newcomer students, with over 70 languages spoken across the district. In some schools, newcomers made up nearly half of the student body.

The Results: A Stronger System and Incredible Growth

The team in CCSD 59 committed to building a robust MTSS framework, using Branching Minds as a key partner to bring their vision to life.  This new approach allowed them to move from a reactive model to a proactive one. With clear data and streamlined processes, teams could identify student needs earlier and more accurately.

The commitment to implementing MTSS has paid off in remarkable ways: they’ve made strong academic gains and boosted the confidence and collaboration of their staff.

The most powerful result has been the dramatic reduction in the number of students requiring intervention. In the fall of 2022, approximately 1,300 students needed reading intervention. By the fall of 2025, that number dropped to 709. A similar success was seen in math, with the number of students needing support decreasing from 1,358 to 794. This "massive increase" in students succeeding with core instruction, as Katie Ahsell called it, shows that their efforts to strengthen Tier 1 are working.

In addition, when a student is identified for support, they now have the tools to make sure a plan is put into action. Before this work began, only 62% of students identified for reading support received a documented intervention plan. Today, that number has soared to 97%. In math, the improvement is even more significant, climbing from 52% to 97%. This demonstrates a system that is not just identifying needs but actively meeting them.

Systemic change has a ripple effect, Katie noted the work has had a "huge impact on morale, on teacher confidence and confidence in what they're doing, on our collaborative practices as a team and how we support students."

The journey at Consolidated Community School District 59 is a powerful reminder of what is possible with a clear vision and unwavering dedication. As Trisha reflects, "Even when things got tough and challenges presented themselves, we as a team across the district stayed committed and we got the results that we were hoping for and our work is never done."

🎧 Listen to Listen to Katie Ahsell and Trisha Senne share how CCSD59 strengthened MTSS through data-driven leadership and systemwide consistency.