Melissa Long, MTSS Teacher Trainer
Janet Stephenson, MTSS Teacher Trainer
What do we want you to Know?

The essential components to an effective MTSS system
What do we want you to Understand?

Structures that need to be in place to assist in the success
What do we want you to be Able to do?
Share your knowledge at your school
 Create an action plan
 Problem Solve using the IPST forms

Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Welcome and Introductions
Where are you now?
Problem Solving -Developing your School’s
Infrastructure
Meetings – Data Teams & IPST
Data Based Decision Making
Building your knowledge
 How
can you help strengthen the
infrastructure for MTSS at your school?
 Take
a minute to self-assess the
MTSS process in your building.
Condition 1
Underachievement in:
Oral expression
Listening comprehension
Written expression
Basic reading skills
Reading fluency skills
Reading comprehension
Mathematics Calculation
Mathematics
problem-solving
Condition 2
+
RTI:
Resource intensive or
insufficient response to
scientific, research-based
intervention
Condition 3
+
Conditions 1 and 2 not primarily
the result of:
Visual, hearing or motor disability
Intellectual disability
Emotional/Behavioral disability
Cultural factors
Irregular attendance
Environmental or economic
disadvantage
Classroom behavior
Limited English proficiency
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1.
Tiers of Intervention: Students who do not respond to high-quality classroom instruction (Tier 1)
and intervention (Tier 2) receive more intensive, individualized research-based interventions
(Tier 3). Tiers are the level of intensity of the intervention.
2.
Progress Monitoring: Data-based documentation of repeated assessments reflecting student
progress.
3.
Data Based Decision Making: Students who don’t respond to these interventions or require a
highly individualized program to progress are evaluated in a more comprehensive manner.
ACADEMIC and BEHAVIOR
SYSTEMS
Tier 3: Intensive, Individualized
Interventions & Supports.
Tier 2: Targeted, Supplemental
Interventions & Supports.
Tier 1: Core, Universal
Instruction & Supports.
Tiered System of
Intervention
RtI
Systematic
Problem
Solving
Data
Monitoring
and Analysis
Turn and Talk
◦ Talk to a partner about which of the three
cornerstones you feel is going well at your school
◦ Capacity to Problem-Solve
◦ Capacity to Collect Data, and Make Sense of It
◦ Capacity to Deliver Instruction at Different
Intensities (Tiered-levels of services)
◦ Capacity to Display Data Over Time
13
Student Response Data
 Teacher Experience
 Grade Level Team Input
 Specialist Expertise
 Assessment Decision Tree

A process that uses the skills of professionals
from different disciplines to develop and
evaluate intervention plans that improve
significantly the school performance of
individual and/of groups of students.
From:
To:
need to
“What’s wrong with this child?”
“What supports does this child
be successful?”
Instruction
Curriculum
Environment
Learner
School Leadership Team
Teacher Data Team
Individual Problem Solving
Team

Defining the meetings within the building

Identifying roles and responsibilities

Determining the right data

Tier One Focus
 Assess strengths of Tier One core instruction by reviewing benchmark data.
 How can we improve differentiated instruction in the 90 min reading block.

Tier Two Focus (Find ‘em, watch ‘em):
 Grouping kids in need of similar interventions/enrichment based on data.
 Determine focus of interventions, set goals, determine how to progress
monitor. Decide specifics of intervention: who, where, how long, etc.
 Decide on how interventions will be documented.
 INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS who are not responding.
21
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
When: Planning Time – Two times a month
Who Attends (can be determined by purpose):
◦ Must:
Grade Level Teachers
Guidance Counselor
Administration
◦ Could:
ESE Teacher,
Speech Teacher,
Reading Coach,
◦ Other experts as needed (e.g. school psych, behavior analyst)
22
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

During a data chat is when you can begin to identify issues
within Tier 1 or Tier 2.
Types of data team meetings
*Tier 1 – looking at the whole class data
such as BELAA
*Tier 2 – looking at intervention data on
OPM sheets
Defining Meetings
Teacher Data Team Meeting Student Documentations:
 Individual student meeting notices
 Record keeping
 Grade Level Profile Sheets

How will you document Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3?

What do they look like now?

How do you guide?

How would you change them?

How will you encourage teacher to bring data?
Define the Problem
What Do We Want Students to KNOW and Be Able to DO?
Forms 1 - 6
Evaluate
Did It WORK?
(Response to Intervention –RtI)
Form 8
Problem Analysis
Why Can’t They DO It?
Implement Plan
What Are WE Going To DO About It?
Form 7
Use repeatedly until
you finds what
works!
Problem Analysis
Why is the Problem Occurring?
 First step in Problem
Solving is to gather and
review information about
the “L” in ICEL. If the
teacher has a concern
about the “Learner”,
historical information
must be documented.
Problem Analysis
Why is the Problem Occurring?
 Parents play an integral part in
informing and helping school
personnel know how to support
the student more effectively.
 Seeking staff consultations
helps the classroom teacher
address the student’s area of
difficulty.
Problem Analysis
Why is the Problem Occurring?
 Gathering additional information in
the general classroom setting
addressing ICEL which focuses on
the Instruction, Curriculum,
Environment, and the Learner.
 This information helps the team to
determine what factors enable the
student to learn.
Problem Analysis
Why is the Problem Occurring?
 Successful problem analysis
requires the team to look at
multiple sources of data.
 ICEL factors are documented as
well as the relationship between
the student’s classroom behavior
and academic performance.
Problem Analysis and Identification
Why is the Problem Occurring?
 Reviewing student performance
data and comparing to peer groups
will determine the magnitude of
the academic concern.
 This specific data assists the team
to identify or eliminate concerns in
Instruction and Curriculum (ICEL).
Problem Identification/Analysis
Why is the Problem Occurring?
 The intent of the ICEL table on this
form is to review of all the ICEL
factors. It’s almost a check and
balance system to ensure the focus is
on the ICEL factors and not just the
learner.
 Keep in mind, when creating a
hypothesis, it is important to
determine if it is a skill deficit or
motivation deficit?
 Determining the point at which the
target student will come in range of
the expected rate of progress.
Problem Identification/Analysis
Why is the Problem Occurring?
 Same format at IPST Form 6
Academics but focuses on the
Behavior component.
 The intent of this form is to guide
the IPST to design effective
interventions.
Implementation Plan
What are We Going to do About It?
 Spending time designing a quality
intervention plan will be most
beneficial to the student.
 The alignment between the area of
concern to the goal statement,
intervention plan and ongoing
progress monitoring tool is crucial.
EVALUATE
Did it WORK?
 The IPST will utilize the rate of
progress data and post
intervention analysis to make
informed decisions regarding the
educational needs of the student.
Data-Based Decision Making Process
What do we expect all students to know and do?
State Standards
Progress Monitoring Benchmarks
How do we know if students are meeting the expectations?
Screening
Progress Monitoring
Outcome Assessment
Data
What do we do if students are not meeting expectations?
Data Compilation
& Analysis
Diagnostic Assessments
Fidelity Checks
Decision Rules about
Problem Solving /
Response to Intervention

Triangulation of Data
From the GPS (English Language Arts Pacing Guide)







Daily consistency – no cancellations
Teaching the same skill for the entire intervention cycle.
Same teacher is teaching the group for the entire intervention
cycle.
Progress monitoring regularly
Instruction is direct
Instruction is scaffolded (I Do, We Do, You Do)
Progress monitoring tool matches the intervention
Intensity of
Intervention
Intensive
Intervention
Supplementary
Intervention
General Instruction
Decision rules
Decision rules


Is rate of progress acceptable?
If not, why and what should we do about it?
◦
◦
◦
◦

Frequency and amount of intervention
Instructional strategy
Opportunity for practice and application
Other factors?
Choices- try another intervention, modify
existing intervention, other?
Response to Intervention
Positive
Performance
Questionable
Expected
Trajectory
Poor
Observed
Time
 Positive

Continue intervention with current goal

Continue intervention with goal
increased

Fade intervention to determine if
student(s) have acquired functional
independence.
 Questionable
 Was intervention implemented as intended?

If no - employ strategies to increase implementation
integrity

If yes 
Increase intensity of current intervention for a
short period of time and assess impact. If
rate improves, continue. If rate does not
improve, return to problem solving.
 Poor
 Was intervention implemented as intended?

If no - employ strategies in increase implementation
integrity

If yes 
Is intervention aligned with the verified
hypothesis? (Intervention Design)

Are there other hypotheses to consider?
(Problem Analysis)

Was the problem identified correctly?
Identification)
(Problem
Student
Peers
Student
Peers
1.
2.
1.
Is the student’s rate of progress (trend line) less than the expected
rate of progress (aim line)?
Will the student’s rate of progress (trend line) allow the student to
meet identified standard within the specified goal timeline or within
a reasonable amount of time?
Is the plan able to be maintained in the general education setting?

If no, can student maintain rate of progress when interventions are modified or
faded?


What is the biggest barrier you face in your school
when it comes to data collection?
What might be an action that you could put into
place?





Students referred when there is a poor response to Tier 2
services
After at least two different interventions documented
Looking for academic gap
Slower learning rate over time
Team decides… additional academic or behavioral
intervention, placement, etc.
Individual Problem Solving Team (IPST) Quick Reference
Members
Administrator (s)
Guidance Counselor (recommended facilitator)
School Psychologist
Classroom Teacher(s)
Parents
ESE contact/teacher
Interventionalist/Title 1 Teacher
Additional Members as needed:
Speech/Language Pathologist
Staffing Specialist
Instructional Staff (coaches)
Gifted Teacher
Behavioral Analyst
Occupational Therapist
Physical Therapist
Social Worker
Activity or Specials teachers
Function
•Problem solve on an individual student level
after multiple interventions have been
conducted.
•Examine intervention and progress monitoring
data to make decisions.
•Look for Academic Gap, Peer comparison,
Learning Rate over Time
•Data based decisions

Common Language

Gen Ed TAP

Learning Disability TAP

GTIPS

Definitions of types of meetings

Flow of paperwork – what, who, when?

Working with your School Psych

Etc.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Refer back to self-assessment
Determine your next action steps
Share at your table what barriers you might have to
overcome in order to implement your actions steps
Choose a reporter to share
 How
can you help strengthen the
infrastructure for MTSS at your school?