Traditional MTSS frameworks for student achievement view interventions and programs as a three-tier pyramid with universal supports at the bottom, targeted supports in the middle, and intensive supports at the top.
During a recent technology and learning webinar hosted by Dr. Kecia Ray and sponsored by Otus, education experts talked about how to change this model and ensure that MTSS frameworks are designed to accelerate learning for all students, not just of those who have difficulties.
Watch the full webinar here.
Key Takeaways: Diamond MTSS Design
The reframing of MTSS supports as a diamond rather than a pyramid emerged from the data, said Amanda Ironside, director of the MTSS Center for FIRST Educational Resources.
“What we started to see over the years is that the same data that we use to identify students who need support and those intensive interventions also help us with those students who need something different in terms of extensions to higher levels. instruction,” she said. “Then the model morphs into more of this diamond, where we think about all the students within our class and those who might struggle with the grade level concept, but also those who are already there, or have already moved past it. And now what do we do in terms of intensive intervention for these children?
Ray said this focus on all students may be a missing element in MTSS. “I feel like a lot of times we forget about the outreach side of MTSS and we focus a lot on the scaffolding and intervention side,” he added.
Every student deserves to grow
The MTSS diamond approach is designed to be more strengths-based than traditional MTSS frameworks.
“Every student, regardless of their initial level of achievement, deserves to grow, and I think sometimes that can get lost because we dedicate so many of our resources to our students who need support and those intensive interventions,” Ironside said. . “But we also have to remember that other side and how we can ensure that those students are challenged, that they are learning at the level that they deserve to learn as well.”
Support teachers
“No framework, no matter how well thought out, can be successful without teacher involvement. Getting teachers to successfully implement a framework requires providing support and mentoring,” Ironside said. “First we need to make sure that the teachers we hire and the teachers who are new to our profession feel supported and feel like they have someone on their side.”
It is important not to limit yourself to providing resources and wishing the best to new teachers. “We are providing mentors for our new teachers, and even for new teachers in a district,” Ironside said. “Even if you’ve been teaching 15 to 20 years and you move to a new district, we still need to provide mentoring and we still need to provide that partnership.”
Use data effectively
Implementing an effective MTSS diamond framework also involves using data effectively.
“Sometimes we are data rich, but we are information poor,” Ironside said. “We have all this data, right? But sometimes we don’t know what to do with it all, and that’s usually because our framework isn’t solid.”
Kendell Hunter, director of product marketing at oto, said the trick for school leaders is to use data to make their jobs less complex. “We have a lot of data and right now we should be able to work smarter, not harder,” she said.
