What Is a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)?

MTSS is a framework educators can use to help provide academic support to their students. The main factors used in MTSS are the following:

• Universal screening of students at the beginning of the year

• Tiers of intervention that can be adjusted to respond to the level of each student’s needs.

• Continuous data collection throughout the year to monitor student progress

• Parent involvement

Below is a model showing the 3-tiered system of support used in MTSS:

Universal Screening of Students

It is important to universally screen your students at the beginning of the year. This is typically done by schools delivering a nationally normed diagnostic assessment, usually in Language Arts and Math, that will assess where each student is on their learning journey. Accelerate Education does not provide a universal screening of students because schools usually use their own. It is strongly recommended that if a school does not currently have a way to universally screen their students, that they find one to use.

Nationally normed diagnostic assessments are usually given in schools at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. This allows for the opportunity to see growth in students as well as to assess if a student needs more intensive intervention. Data-based decision making is important in any educational program. The data from assessments such as these will provide teachers with a snapshot of the needs of their students so that they can plan for their students accordingly using the 3-tiered MTSS system.

3-Tiered Intervention

Universal screening allows teachers to use the data to identify which tier of instruction their students could fall into. This will allow them to plan for teaching across all three tiers. Below is more information on each tier.

Tier 1: Encompasses approximately 80-85% of students. This is where the core instruction takes place. It is a general classroom setting, taught by the general classroom teacher. Students are able to participate in and actively engage with whole group instruction with little differentiation needed.

Tier 2: Encompasses approximately 10-15% of students. Students in this tier still participate in Tier 1 instruction, but they also are put in small groups of 2-5 students that target their specific needs, including additional instruction. It is important to understand that Tier 2 targeted instruction is supplemental to core instruction.

Tier 3: Encompasses approximately 1-5% of students. These students need intense individualized and/or group instruction with support services beyond the general classroom.

Continuous Data Collection

When using MTSS, it is important to always be collecting student data to ensure students are getting the support they need, regardless of the tier they are in. Accelerate Education’s courses include various activities to collect data, from various assignments and projects to synchronous sessions with a teacher to assessments. These activities provide many data points teachers can use to understand a student’s progress through any course and to help the teacher make informed data-based decisions on what each student needs to succeed in their courses. Below is a list of activities within courses that can be used for continuous data collection.

Continuous data collection is most successful when teachers grade student work in a timely manner, being sure to provide purposeful feedback. When tasks are graded in a timely manner, the LMS system that houses Accelerate Education courses can provide easy-to-view snapshots of student progress so that teachers can readily identify students in need of intervention.

In addition to the data that can be collected from activities within a course, it is highly recommended that schools adopt nationally normed diagnostic assessments that can be given to students at the beginning, middle, and end of the year to measure student growth.

Differentiating Instruction

Regardless of the tier a student is in, teachers need to differentiate instruction. Accelerate Education’s courses can be customized by the teacher to help differentiate instruction for students.

Depending on the tier, activities can be modified to meet the needs of the students. Some modifications that teachers can do are:

• Hide assignments from an individual or a group of students to reduce the assignment load for students who need more time to complete their work.

• Edit directions to customize an assignment to fit the specific needs of students.

• Customize assessments to reduce the number of questions, eliminate answer choices, provide feedback, and allow multiple attempts to take the assessment.

• Add additional lessons, assignments, or assessments to a course.

In addition to making course customizations if needed, teachers can also differentiate instruction in the following ways:

Type of Learner	Ways to Differentiate
For struggling or less independent learners	Review the prerequisite skills that will be needed in the new lesson. Offer additional learning objects as remediation for struggling learners, that can help by either re-teaching or reminding students of very important concepts. Use synchronous instruction to review lesson objectives, concepts, and key words before students take the lesson exam.
For on-level, somewhat independent students	Use synchronous instruction to activate students' prior knowledge of the lesson's key concepts. (For example, what do they already know about the processes or concepts addressed in the upcoming lesson?) Suggest that students spend some time each week with a parent or other adult, reviewing what they have read or written and practicing new skills.
For advanced, more independent students	Encourage students to write additional texts that apply a lesson's concepts in unique and creative ways. Encourage students to find real-life applications for the concepts in a lesson or module. Use synchronous instruction to expand on the lesson's key concepts. Plan discussions in small groups.

Parent Involvement

Parent involvement is important at all tiers in MTSS. Below are some ways teachers can involve parents:

• Make sure the teacher’s contact information and available hours are posted in an easy-to-find location for the parent.

• Reach out to parents periodically to keep them informed about what is going on in class.

• Reach out to parents to discuss their child’s progress in the course.

• Encourage parents to utilize the Learning Coach Website for extra resources and activities they can do with their child at home to support their child’s learning.

• Involve parents in any intervention plans related to their child.