#95: Streamlining MTSS: Effective Strategies for Supporting Struggling Students

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How can educators effectively support struggling students without drowning in procedural tasks? Join me, as we uncover the secrets behind the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) on today's episode of the Reaching Struggling Learners podcast. We start with a deep understanding of how systems, whether in teaching or daily routines, help streamline processes. Then, we dissect the three-tiered MTSS structure, from the foundational curriculum for all students (Tier 1) to more tailored support for those requiring extra attention (Tier 2 and Tier 3). Learn how different levels of intervention play a crucial role in providing timely, systematic support to students in need.

In the second half of this episode, I offer practical tips to make the implementation of MTSS more efficient and less time-consuming for educators. Imagine reducing procedural workload through simple strategies like checklists, allowing more time to focus on the unique needs of each student. We'll discuss various tools and resources to further streamline your MTSS process and preview future topics that will continue to enhance your educational systems. Engaging, insightful, and packed with actionable advice, this episode promises to be a game-changer for anyone committed to improving student outcomes.

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5 Steps to Getting Started with Progress Monitoring

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Systems are really important.
We hear a lot about them inbusiness and education, but what
exactly do we mean by the MTSSsystem?
That's what we're going to talkabout today.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hi, I'm Jessica Curtis of Teaching Struggling
Learners.
I'm a boy mom and a veteranteacher.
You're listening to theReaching Struggling Learners
podcast, where we talk all abouthelping students succeed
academically, socially andbehaviorally.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you so much for tuning in.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
System is really just a fancy word for the process or
the steps that we take to dosomething.
We use systems all the time inteaching, in our classrooms, in
our offices.
For example, there is a systemto adding or subtracting

(01:11):
fractions with like or unlikedenominators.
There's a system that you useevery day to sign in at work,
check your mailbox, go to yourclassroom, check your emails,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blahJust about everything that we do
.
We have a system for A lot ofthe systems that we have.
We just kind of naturally do.

(01:32):
We don't have them written down.
Another example of a systemcould be, honestly, just the
habits that we have.
When you walk in a room andit's dark, you turn on the light
.
That's your system for fixingthat it's too dark in the room.
Mtss is just another system, butit's an overarching system or

(01:55):
process the steps that we taketo identify and help the
students who are struggling inour schools.
It incorporates a lot ofsmaller systems in it so that we
can get the kids the veryspecific help that they need.
Now we'll talk about thespecific processes over the next

(02:16):
few weeks, but when we'relooking at MTSS as a system in
general the real way we look atit is that there's three steps.
We call them tiers, but there'sthree steps to the system of
MTSS and we've talked about thatin previous podcast episodes.

(02:36):
But the first step thateveryone in the school is at is
tier one and that is everyone.
That's the baseline curriculumthat everyone in the school gets
.
If they're struggling with that, then we have some clues, some
like red flags that come up thatsay, oh, we need to do a little

(02:58):
bit more here.
And even at tier one, stillwithin that tier one, some of
those flags could be oh, thischild is struggling with reading
, so we're going to put them ina differentiated reading group.
Maybe they're struggling withsome math in the classroom and
so the teacher gives them extramath facts to do to practice

(03:22):
their math fluency.
That can all be at tier one, aslong as everybody at that group
, that tier the classroom levelhas access to it.
Now if those thedifferentiation or the extra
practice that's at that samelevel, isn't enough and the
student is continuing to fallbehind, we have flags that go up

(03:43):
If the student fails a class ormaybe is failing or performing
poorly on a state assessment orour pre-mid-post, our formal
assessments throughout the year,that could be a red flag that
says, uh-oh, we really need togive extra, more specific

(04:03):
practice.
So the system of MTSS iseverybody gets the baseline
curriculum.
If these flags are noted, thenthey go at this higher level,
tier two, where the child wouldget a little bit more intensive
practice on specific skills thatthey missed at the tier one

(04:28):
level.
Over a certain length of timewe perform interventions, we
collect data and then, based onthat data that determines
whether the child doesn't needtier two anymore, can, just,
will do fine in tier one.
Or maybe the data throws upsome more red flags and says,

(04:49):
uh-oh, we need more, this childneeds more intensive than what
they've been getting here at thetier two level.
When the system noted notes,went through the meetings and
all that, that the child isstill struggling at tier two,
that's when we get to tier threeand it's even more intensive,

(05:10):
individualized, focused help.
Given more intensive,individualized, focused help.
Of course it goes on from there.
There's other red flags.
For example, if they've been intier three for an extended
length of time, if they're notmaking the progress that the
team believes should be possible, then you have other flags, for

(05:31):
this starts the we need to lookat maybe evaluations, flags for
uh-oh, this starts the we needto look at maybe evaluations.
Or maybe we need to look atsight testing, hearing testing,
those kinds of things.
So all along the way throughthose tiers, there are flags or
things that start the processfor something else, and within

(05:54):
that, of course, there aredifferent, smaller systems that
we incorporate, but MTSS as asystem is just the overarching.
This is how we do things in ageneral way, and then there's
smaller systems within MTSS thatcan get a little convoluted and
a little crazy, honestly.
But there are smaller systemswithin MTSS that can get a

(06:14):
little convoluted and a littlecrazy, honestly.
But there are smaller systemswithin that that help us to
figure out should the studentmove on to Tier 3 or do they not
need Tier 3 anymore?
There's very individualized forschool or districts ways to
figure out where we need to gofrom there.

(06:35):
It incorporates a series offormal meetings and, of course,
there's a system to thosemeetings.
You can have an agenda and youcan have a.
Maybe you do a school-wide datachat and that's how you figure
out that these are the kids thatwe need to be working on.

(06:56):
So you can see there's hundredsof smaller systems or steps,
processes that we use to figureout how to review the school
data, how to review classroomdata and then, specifically,
student data.
Honestly, let's look at it.
If we think about just onestudent, we don't just look at

(07:19):
Susie Q and say, oh, your hair'snice today, we should put you
at tier three.
We don't do that.
That would be ridiculous.
We sit with the data and welook at it systematically.
We look at the pre-med postinformation, we look at previous
year's information on aspecific test, we look at grades

(07:40):
, we look at attendance, we lookat behavior, we look at all of
these different things and,let's be honest, we give a
little bit more weight to somethings over others, depending on
what the concerns are for thestudent.
But there really is, and thereshould be, a system to that
Meaning there should be steps,specific steps that we know

(08:03):
we're going to take to addressthe data, look at the data and
figure out what are our nextsteps.
If we're just taking a binderfull of information and throwing
it on the table and haphazardlylooking at it and going, oh, I
think the kid needs tier three,no, they really need special
education, that's not helpingthe student.

(08:26):
We do need to have steps that wetake to figure out what is the
best course of action for eachstudent, and of course we also.
Part of that is figuring outwhat interventions should the
student have and what type ofprogress monitoring would be
best for a child.
For example, our students thatare high anxiety, we probably

(08:50):
shouldn't be doing a whole bunchof timed testing.
That's not going to help themand it's probably not going to
give us accurate information onwhat they actually know.
We could do, you know, forstudents that have anxiety, we
could do some other things tohelp them reduce their test
anxiety.
For time tests, there's lots ofdifferent things we can do.

(09:12):
But when we're just startingout and the student we know has
high anxiety for taking tests,we don't want to give them
really crazy high intensity timetests.
That would be ridiculous.
It's not going to give us gooddata.
But again, there are steps,systems that we can take to
figure that kind of stuff outand a lot of it is just

(09:35):
ingrained.
When you're sitting with yourteacher besties and you're
figuring out what would workbest for your child or your
students or your classroom,everybody in their head has
their own little system thatthey're going through check
boxes, if you will.
In their head they're going oh,that program would be good, it
would take the right amount oftime, it would hit the right

(09:57):
skills for that goal, but it'sall timed.
I don't think that would begood for that anxiety, that
student that has anxiety, nextprogram Okay, and they go down
the check boxes.
It's the exact same thing.
So over the years, taking allthat into account, I've really
come to develop a framework thatencompasses the large processes

(10:21):
and the smaller parts, becauseit can get overwhelming,
convoluted, intimidatinghonestly, included, intimidating
honestly to look at the wholesystem and try to break it down.
And all that especially ifyou're an administrator or a
teacher who's going into MTSSand you know you have to follow

(10:44):
the process, you have to followthe systems, but there's just so
much to it, there's so muchbreadth to it, and so I've, over
the years, just kind of slowlydeveloped my own framework that
I use to help smooth out theprocess, make the smaller bites
more manageable, and over thenext coming months I'm going to

(11:07):
be sharing some of that with you, just because I feel like
obviously I developed thisframework to make it easier on
myself to understand and tofollow the steps, so hopefully
it'll also make it a little biteasier for you in your classroom
or your school your teachers,however it is.
If you have any questions,please feel free to message me.

(11:30):
You can message me on Instagramor on Facebook at Teaching
Struggling Learners.
Also, my website isteachingstrugglinglearnerscom.
I'm always there ready toanswer questions and, yeah, over
the next few months we're goingto talk about the different
systems that you could put inplace, just basically the
checkbox systems that you couldput in place, just basically the

(11:51):
checkboxes that you can put inplace to help streamline your
MTSS process, your system, sothat it's more manageable, it's
not taking as much time and,probably most importantly, it's
actually creating impact foryour students, because you can

(12:11):
focus on getting the kids whatthey need instead of figuring
out what the steps are that youneed to take.
So, until next time, may yourcoffee be strong, your students
calm and your summer break fastapproaching Bye.