MTSS / RTI

MTSS /RTI

DEFINITIONS

MTSS: Multi-Tiered System of Supports.  A comprehensive framework to provide targeted assistance to students facing academic and behavioral challenges.  It involves a  planning and implementation approach for identifying issues and solutions for students.  

A multi-tiered approach – (TIER 1) involves support and interventions in the classroom with careful monitoring and support; (TIER 2) Includes for intensive small-group or individualized instruction that supplements core instruction; (TIER 3) The most intensive and individualized instruction provided (sometimes Special Education).  Success for Tier 2 and 3 is when student returns to Tier 1 conditions and makes similar progress to peers. MTSS was first initiated in 2012 in Seattle Public Schools as an enhancement to MTSS.  MTSS is a protocol for teacher collaboration, planning, and instructional design. 

RTI: RTI as a framework for planning gained prominence in the early 2000’s as a precursor to MTSS.  Response to Intervention (RTI), is a multi-tiered approach aimed at early identification and support for students with learning and behavioral needs. The essential components of RTI include high-quality instruction, universal screening, progress monitoring, interventions at different tiers, and data-driven decision-making. These components work together to create a well-integrated system of instruction and intervention guided by child outcome data.

Difference Between MTSS & RTI: MTSS is an “off-shoot” of RTI.  RTI focuses on individual student needs and introduced the concept of tiered levels of instruction and intervention.  MTSS is a more comprehensive framework that goes beyond academics to support for students in classrooms.  MTSS incorporates a broader range of components, including academic, social-emotional learning, behavior support, school culture, teacher professional development, family engagement, and community involvement. It encompasses a collaborative, evidence-based approach to personalize instruction and intervention across various domains for all students.

DATA

• 8 Meta analysis reviews

• 180 Research studies

• 21,000 Students in studies

• 4 Confidence level.   Hattie (2023) p. 359

QUOTES

It’s not rigid adherence to standards; it’s not purchasing new curriculum materials on a 5-year-cycle; it’s not curriculum alignment…all of these approaches have there place but they don’t influence student achievement much.  Instead, we need to invest in our teachers!

We need to break down the doors to classroom isolation. We need to spend many more hours weekly in collaborative teams discussing students find reviewing potential interventions, and we need to learn about and apply what works best: evidence-based practices.

Create this environment for teachers and they and their students will flourish. We have been spending money on all the wrong things – spend it on teachers working collaboratively with a menu of evidence-based options.   Mark Tompkins, I2L

MTSS is so effective it should not be limited to students requiring learning assistance. Every student would benefit for a learning plan. The need an invitation to come and learn; the opportunity to make errors and move beyond what they already know, can do, and care about. Hattie (2023)

“Some estimates are that about one in five students need support beyond what their receive in their classrooms.”  Hettleman (2019)

MTSS is framed in a culture of collaboration with teachers to enhance student learning then the traditional model of having specialists take students out for more intensive remediations. In MTSS, Professional Learning Communities are responsible for examining student data, engaging in systems analysis, engaging in problem solving protocols for instructional decision making, evaluates the effects of these interventions, and thus, puts the primacy of working with teachers who work with the students. Sugai & Horner (2009)

There is enough negative energy in our schools these days…we need to reframe with positive energy to move schools to the next level.

“Focus on the root cause of strengths or success, instead of the root cause of failure or deficit.”

Teachers need agency – they cannot be passive recipients of decision made by administration.  They need to collaborate in order to learn evidence-based instructional methods, agree on curriculum expectations, develop formative assessments, and create methods to enhance learning for all students. Lefstein (2020)

“Is not adjusting the curricula, tinkering with structural aspects, introducing new grouping or enrichment classes, worrying about resources or the deficits of parents, asking for more money, and building brilliant web pages…instead it is the promotion and development of building the collective community of adults in the school to positively impact student learning and outcomes.” Hattie (2023) p. 72

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs. The RTI process begins with high-quality instruction and universal screening of all children in the general education classroom (Tier 1). Struggling learners are provided with interventions at increasing levels of intensity to accelerate their rate of learning. Those not making progress are then provided with increasingly intensive instruction usually in small groups (Tier 2). If still no progress, then students receive individualized, intensive interventions that target the students’ skill deficits (Tier 3).link

“Why change if it’s the student’s fault? The most powerful lever for changing professional practice is concrete evidence of irrefutably better results. The other lever for persuading teachers is the power of positive peer pressure.”Dufor (2015) p. 178

Students placed in interventions with other below-grade-level students and curriculum, will end below grade level at the end of the year.  Typically, teachers focus on “what the students can’t do and do more of it slower” in intervention settings staffed with assistants, aides or others less sophisticated than classroom teachers…. this is a recipe for disaster. What’s required is accelerated instruction based on evidence-bases approaches utilizing the strengths of the students. We need to accelerate student growth – not slow it down. Mark Tompkins (TSL)

“What most schools call MTSS is really a new form of tracking…the high group is taught the rigorous curriculum, the middle group the grade level curriculum, and the lowest group gets a modified curriculum.  This is code-word for remedial, watered down expectations. Schools must  stop debating what they think student’s can or can’t do, and instead change the question to ‘how can we get every learner there?”Dufor (2015) p. 205

“If your child needs additional time and support to learn at high levels it is our job to figure out how and we will guarantee will receive the support they need until they succeed.” Dufor (2016) p. 165

“Developing professional competence requires a ‘challenge network’ – a group of colleagues we trust to point out our blind spots, recognize our strengths, and overcome our weaknesses. Their role is to activate rethinking cycles, pushing us to be humble about expertise, doubt our knowledge, and be curious about new perspectives.” Grant (2021) p. 83

“At the highest levels of expert performance, the drive for improvement will always involve search and experimentation at the threshold of understanding, even for the masters dedicated to redefining the meaning of excellence in their fields.” Lipton & Wellman (2022) p. iii