Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

Paul Sarsfield

City University -EGC 508

Fall 2018
 Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

Every day, there are a multitude of decisions that are made within schools: What

determines a passing grade? What population, demographic or skillset needs more support?

What kind of support is needed and how will it be delivered? A framework of multi-tier

system of supports (MTSS) are made by these teams—building leadership teams, student

support teams, or grade-level teams to name a few. MTSS decisions are made using a team-

based process.

MTSS decisions at the Tier 1 building level are focused on balancing the needs of the

entire student population and the resources available to the building. Critical areas for teams

to examine include identification of student needs and the effectiveness of the core

instruction or the instruction that all students receive every day. A few benefits at this level

include providing information to a large group of students at the same time, taking questions

that many are quietly wondering about and establishing a vision for the school year. Schools

can make flyers and/or newsletters to send home, post banners and newsletters around the

school, make announcements over the speaker or using the audio/video department,

pushing information onto school laptops and at assemblies. These can easily be tailored

from the situations, issues or concerns from the data pulled and translated for the

populations at the school and the community. Assemblies can re-enforce the above and

incorporate school vision, mission statements, and esprit de corps to bring students

together. Challenges that affect this level include students not paying attention, not wanting

to ask questions in fear of being singled out or teased and can simply not be read.
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At the tier 2 building level, it is now focused on smaller group populations affected by

an aspect within the previous tier. It is now focusing on a distant population that would

work well together by learning from each other, sharing with each other and supporting

each other, from a similar concern, issue or situation. Benefits coming from this tier could

include bonding within the students, normalizing feelings and being able to target behaviors

and seeing growth over time. Using classroom presentations can hit larger amounts of

people, but still be small enough to elicit questions and group activities. Small groups can be

focused more on growth and more specific tier 2 scenarios. Challenges can be finding

students that would work well together, getting people to open up and finding time within

the school year to meet without missing vital classes.

At the most invasive tier, 3, the instruction or intervention is provided to students

who show a need for individualized help stemming from the two previous tiers. A plethora of

benefits at this level includes individualized attention to assist with the situation, watching

the student overcome the situation over time and building trust levels up. The challenges

are just as many, with students giving up, parents not supporting, and taking a lot of time

away from other counseling responsibilities.

For parents and families, providing an overview in important, so they can (hopefully)

support the work at home. How is their student being successful? How do they know?

What can they do to participate in the problem-solving areas and how interventions are

working? The more people on board, the more successful the student will be. Show the

parents that the school is open for their support. Progress reports and teacher and
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counselor conferences can be direct links. Celebrate when a progress is made, asking

questions when there is little to no progress.

For a counselor, the MTSS ties well into the ASCA way of life. We are uniquely

positioned to play a critical role in the implementation of these programs, using data

analysis, program development, and direct service deliveries. Themes of social justice,

advocacy and systemic change embedded in topics can remove barriers to students' success

and help students reach their potential. We collaborate with others and pull data to find out

what is going on in our schools. This process is cyclical as school years and their issues

fluctuate, so finding the pulse earlier and getting team development and planning is critical.

At a high school, where multiple requirements for advanced placement (AP) classes, a

limited number of classes, programs such as running start, alternative classes and the mirage

of other responsibilities a counselor faces every day, can really hinder the effectiveness of a

successful MTSS. That’s why we have teams.

To successfully implement a multifaceted process, I feel that collecting and

interpreting data and then using it to make tiered instructional material that establishes

support for the school. For example, the steps in the processes above should be coordinated

through an MTSS building leadership team (one which my high school does not have). The

MTSS building leadership team should be responsible for coordinating and communicating

all MTSS implementation efforts for the building. The MTSS building leadership team uses a

problem-solving process at both the system and student levels. For example, at the system

level, the team could ask ‘is the core instruction effective?’ At the student level, the team
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would ask which students need additional support? Teams look at both system-and student-

level problems by asking 1) What is the problem? 2) Why is the problem occurring? 3) What

should we do about the problem? and 4) Did our solution work? This all ties back into the

team development and planning, then proper progress monitoring.

In order to best support our students, we must have strong leadership, work as

advocates, and use the models within ASCA. Doing so will improve the process of

collaboration/buy-in from other educators, the students, and their parents and will

strengthen the efforts to best support the success of all our students.