The Essential Elements of MTSS

We are always working to remind schools that nearly everything that happens each day is part of MTSS. Within an MTSS there are four essential elements. The essential elements can be seen as the “verbs” of MTSS. These are the things that have to happen in order for a school to have a functioning MTSS.

The essential elements are:

• Universal Screening System

• Progress Monitoring

• Data Based Problem Solving

• Three Tiered Model of Instruction and Intervention

Quite often, the three tiered model is the main element people think of with MTSS because that is the intervention part. However, we know that MTSS is much more than interventions. In fact, we can’t really have interventions done to fidelity if the other elements are not in place. Let’s take a look at each of these elements

Universal Screening System

When it comes to academics there is no shortage of options for universal screeners. These are typically assessments given to students three times per year to determine which students are at risk and determine why. More and more these assessments are computer adaptive, so they can adjust to each student and determine their levels. These assessments can also help to determine the strength of our core instruction as well as individual student needs.

Recently there are more options available for SEL screeners. These are usually either student surveys or teacher perception surveys. Both have their strengths and weaknesses and can provide solid data about student social-emotional needs.

Behavior and attendance tend to be more reactive when it comes to universal screening systems. In these areas there is not usually an assessment given to determine needs. However, school leaders need to create a system for how they will evaluate the behavior and attendance needs at their school. How frequently do you look at school wide, or grade level, behavior and/or attendance data?

Progress Monitoring

Progress monitoring uses valid and reliable tools and processes to assess performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction and intervention. It’s important to note that progress monitoring doesn’t just happen with interventions. CFAs (common formative assessments) are a popular format for monitoring the progress of students at core. CFAs are typically standards based and given after students have received instruction on set standards. Then, teachers use that data to determine if students learned the material or still need extra support. The same type of system needs to be set up for interventions. In most cases, CBMs (curriculum based measures) provide the most accuracy for measuring a student’s progress related to interventions.

For attendance, behavior and SEL there must also be a system for monitoring progress both at the core and intervention levels. Typically this will be continual monitoring of the core data in these areas to see if the changes made are working.

Data Based Problem Solving

This element is the backbone of an MTSS. It is important that data based problem solving happens at all tiers and in all areas. We recommend using the four step problem solving cycle: Problem Identification, Problem Analysis, Plan Implementation, Plan Evaluation. These four steps can be applied to any area and any tier. There are other protocols for problem solving (PDSA, TIPS) and regardless of which one you use it’s important to have a standard format for problem solving.

It is important for teachers to understand the problem solving protocol that your school uses. Quite often, with academic data this work happens in PLCs. Teams of teachers work together to analyze and make decisions based on their data.

With any core problem solving it’s important to take a wholistic look at patterns and trends across grade levels or school-wide. Especially for behavior and attendance, it is easy to jump right into looking at individual students. However, when problem solving at the core it’s important to look at the big picture. If 40% of your school is chronically absent, you can’t put interventions in place for all of those students. Instead, think about what could be done to improve attendance for all students.

Three Tiered Model of Instruction and Intervention

It is often this element that people immediately jump to when discussing MTSS. It is always important to remember that we reach the most students at the core level. If there is a significant percentage of students struggling then this must be addressed through core instruction - not just interventions.

Be sure to define the expectations for students and staff of each tier for each area. We refer to this as the ICED model. ICED stands for Instruction, Curriculum, Environment and Data. Consider that each of these should be defined for academics as well as behavior and SEL. A behavior curriculum may just be a matrix of school wide expectations. It’s always important to explicitly teach behavior expectations to all students (even high schoolers). The environment for behavior is typically your adult routines. It’s important to make sure adults are consistently holding students to the set expectations.

The essential elements of MTSS should be defined at your school and communicated to staff. The role of the MTSS Leadership Team is to support staff as they implement each of these essential elements. It’s a lot of work, but creating systems and refining them based on data will produce incredible results. Check out our Store to see resources we have available to support these elements. Be sure to Contact us if you have questions or need support.