Branching Minds - MTSS in Texas

Branching Minds assists our Texas school and district partners in achieving their HB 4545 goals and requirements by:

★ Helping teachers and staff to quickly identify students needing supplemental instruction and accelerated learning committees based on STAAR data

★ Making it easy for educators to document decisions made by the Accelerated Learning Committee and create plans for students

★ Streamlining communication on ALC plans with all stakeholders, including families

★ Allowing teachers to quickly document intervention minutes for each student to ensure that they are meeting targets

★ Providing reports to track intervention minutes logged for students to ensure no students are missed or “slip through the cracks”

HB 4545 WHITE PAPER - MTSS - BRANCHING MINDS

WHITE PAPER: Aligning House Bill 4545 With a Multi-Tiered System of Supports Framework

This report was prepared by Branching Minds in collaboration with our partners in several of the largest school districts in Texas. It outlines the alignment of HB 4545 with the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework which is already operationalized in most Texas schools, and offers recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of HB 4545 by intentionally leveraging the MTSS framework to support accelerated instruction for struggling students.

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Branching Minds Helps Texas Districts With HB 4545 Requirements

Districts need an efficient way to track students needing accelerated instruction and/or ALCs. Campus and district staff should quickly be able to identify these students and track the intervention minutes that have been logged for each one. Most importantly, ALCs should be able to quickly determine intervention efficiency and use the problem-solving approach to edit educational plans as needed for each student.

Branching Minds supports our partners around the world by identifying students in need, creating individual and group support plans, and providing/documenting evidence-based intervention. In addition, through the use of our platform, Branching Minds supports seamless data collection for historical patterns and current decision-making. Here are some ways in which we are specifically helping our Texas partners as they implement HB 4545:

Branching Minds and HB 4545

STAAR data available in the platform:	Teachers and staff can see a student’s historical STAAR data to make the best data-based decisions for each individual student.
Help teachers and staff quickly identify students needing supplemental instruction and accelerated learning committees:	Branching Minds shows which students are in need of support from an Accelerated Learning Committee to plan supplemental instruction, based on STAAR results.
Efficiently document decisions made by the Accelerated Learning Committee:	Track ALC Meeting completion in fulfillment of HB 4545 requirements, leveraging special meeting templates. Document all parent/guardian communications, meeting notes, and decision-making consistently.
Educational plans established by the ALC can be documented and monitored with ease and efficiency:	Individual or group plans including a SMART goal, a progress monitor, and an intervention or support can be quickly and easily created within the platform.
Teachers can quickly document intervention minutes for each individual or group:	Teachers or staff tasked with working with an individual or a group will receive weekly reminders to check off intervention minutes and input progress monitoring data.
Intervention minutes report helps track the minutes that have been logged for students:	Branching Minds provides reports to track intervention minutes logged for students to ensure no students are missed or “slip through the cracks.”

While some districts have found some of these new requirements difficult to manage, Branching Minds helps make the process much easier for teachers and administrators, as illustrated in the chart above. Regardless of HB 4545, it is always a best practice to provide differentiated instruction and individualized support plans to all students identified as needing support at the end of the day.

With the Branching Minds Platform Texas Districts Can:

Document intervention plans in support of Texas HB 4545
View STAAR performance levels, ALC Meeting completion, and intervention minutes documented for each student to demonstrate compliance with Texas HB 4545
Log completion of ALC Meetings in support of Texas HB 4545

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Branching Minds is Empowering Educators and Improving Student Outcomes in Texas

Branching Minds is a mission-driven K-12 education company committed to empowering educators to effectively, efficiently, and equitably improve student outcomes, while saving teachers time and effort. The platform is currently supporting over 1.5M students in nearly every state across the country, including over 500,000 students in Texas. Importantly, the platform helps districts and charters in Texas meet the requirements of HB 4545.

The Branching Minds platform centralizes student assessment data and collective teacher insights to help teachers identify which students need support, with what and why — and then scaffolds the design and implementation of those support plans leveraging evidence-based resources to increase effectiveness and technology to streamline teacher workload.
By making this information actionable, Branching Minds helps ensure that students are receiving the evidence-based accelerated learning support they need to meet grade-level standards and achieve academic success without overwhelming an overburdened teaching staff.

In a survey conducted in 2022, 96% of educators using Branching Minds said that it saved them time and increased their effectiveness.

Branching Minds provides this support to districts by helping them effectively manage and implement Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), a nationally recognized evidence-based framework for effectively integrating supports and interventions to:

★ Improve student achievement
★ Target learning loss recovery
★ Monitor student progress
★ Improve teacher effectiveness and efficiency

MTSS is used across the state of Texas and in schools nationwide to provide well-designed instruction, closely monitor all students’ progress, and provide accelerated learning support to students who are struggling.

San Antonio Independent School District - TX

San Antonio, TX
53,000 Students

“We searched high and low, and after exploring a lot of options, Branching Minds was best aligned to our vision for where we wanted to go in the district.
— Dawn Kulpa, MTSS & SEL/SEAD Director

Waco ISD

Waco, Texas
14,775 Students

“We have students who were previously unsuccessful academically because of their behavior who are now achieving academic success.
— Trudy Bender, Coordinator, District Behavior Intervention

“We are finally able to track students wherever they move in the district and utilize best practices instead of guessing and hoping. This has made it so much easier on teachers and in fact teachers are now asking if they can enter their IEP/504 accommodations in and track them in BrM, many have already started. The communication pieces have had a greater effect on our secondary campuses - they are able to share information. It also creates transparency for our principals - either their teachers are calling parents or they aren't.
— Pennie Graeber, RTI Coordinator Waco ISD

Spring Branch ISD

Houston, Texas

“As our team became more proficient with supporting students individual needs, it became clear that we needed a better way to keep track of how we intervene with students and also more tools on how to intervene and why. Branching Minds provides so much more than just a solution to our problem. Branching Minds has illuminated a path forward for developing the foundational systems and processes we need to truly personalize supports for our students. In addition, Branching Minds multiplies our capacity to identify and respond to student needs.
— Sarah Guerrero, Principal, Northbrook Middle School

Bryan ISD

Bryan, Texas

““Branching Minds has given classroom teachers more in-depth knowledge regarding areas in which a student struggles and the intervention tools to help meet their needs.”
— Kristen Beesaw, RTI and Dyslexia Coordinator at Bryan ISD

Branching Minds: Empowering Educators and Improving Student Outcomes in Texas

Branching Minds is Supporting Students and Schools Across Texas