MTSS & Branching Minds – Comprehensive Training Notes

MTSS = district-wide, tiered framework for providing academic, behavioral, and enrichment supports.
Terminology shift
- A child is not “a Tier 1 kid.”
- Every child receives Tier 1 practices; tiers describe supports, not students.
Tier definitions (visualized as a pyramid/graphic)
- Tier 1 – Core Instruction
- “Quality Tier 1 instruction” delivered by every teacher to all students.
- Tier 2 – Targeted/Skill-Specific Intervention
- Small-group, short-term, skill-focused help.
- Analogy: coaching only the left-handed lay-up rather than reteaching every dribbling skill.
- In class: reteach slope lessons without remediating every math fact.
- Tier 3 – Intensive, Individualized Intervention
- When Tier 1 + Tier 2 + revisions still don’t work OR there are major academic/behavioral concerns.
- Referral handled by the MTSS Campus Team (often overlaps with ILT).
Fluidity of tiers
- Students can be in different tiers for different subjects (e.g., blue tier in reading yet red tier in math).
- Goal: every child makes ≥ 1 year’s growth regardless of starting point.

“There’s no magic bullet.” Educational platforms (IXL, i-Ready, etc.) are tools—not solutions.
Paraphrased Haim Ginott quote: “The teacher is the most decisive element in the classroom; you bring the weather.”
Coaches = decisive element on the court/field; same principle applies academically.
Ethical takeaway: never allow anyone to diminish the teacher’s central role in student growth.

PLC (Professional Learning Community) work ≙ Tier 1 & Tier 2 MTSS work.
- Weekly curriculum planning, data review, DDI (Data-Driven Instruction) all feed Tier 1/Tier 2.
Campus PLC leader (Mr. Gibson, in example) coordinates the system.
MTSS Campus Team
- Handles Tier 3 referrals.
- Receives teacher nominations + supporting evidence.

Quote: “Goals are for people who want to win once; systems are for people who want to win repeatedly.”
Analogies
- Football program: systematic practice plans, film study, metrics.
- Band halftime show: precise routines built through repeatable systems.
Translation to academics: Liberty must use a tight, repeatable MTSS system to replicate student success.

Column	Purpose	Color Flags
A	Attendance	Green default → warns at $93\%$ , critical at $90\%$ or 3 consecutive absences
B	Behavior (office-managed incidents)	Medium- & high-risk flags
C	Content (course failures)	Tallies total courses failed; updates each marking period

Pulled from EOY MAP data (updates each window; math cut points changing due to new norms).
- Red = below $30\text{th}$ percentile (Tier 3).
- Yellow = $30\text{th}$ – $41\text{st}$ percentile (Tier 2).
- Green = on grade level.
- Blue = ≥ $82\text{nd}$ percentile (high-achieving; not necessarily GT).
Proactive use
- Identify red/yellow students for tutoring before day 1.
- Address blue students’ enrichment needs to prevent boredom/behavior issues.

Tabs include: Graduation Risk, Flags (IEP, 504, ELL, language proficiency), Assessment History (MAP, TELPAS, DIBELS/M-Class), Intervention History.
Graduation Risk combines
- Attendance percentage.
- Out-of-school suspensions.
- Cumulative ELAR/Math failures.
Tier History dropdown shows span of time in each tier (long red bars = prolonged Tier 3 status).
“Current School Year” toggle → switch to “All School Years” to see K-12 intervention record: small-group sessions, phone calls, meetings.

Found under Reports icon.
Mirrors MAP class profile but aggregates all sections into a single growth-vs-achievement scatterplot.
Fast way for grade-level or campus teams to spot universal trends.

Teachers can click:
- “Add Family Communication”
- “Add Meeting”
Advantages
- Shared, longitudinal record visible to future campuses (e.g., Berkner HS).
- Prevents restart of interventions each year.

Automatic tiers pushed after each MAP window (BOY, MOY, EOY) ≈ $1\text{ week}$ post-window.
Teachers/PLC may override a tier only at these 3 checkpoints after data review.
- Must document rationale (CIAs, classroom performance, STAAR, etc.).

Submit concerns via campus Google Form (varies by site).
Provide data on:
- Academic learning issues (possible learning disability vs content gap).
- Behavioral concerns (safety, respect, responsibility).
- SEL / emotional struggles.
Include prior supports implemented + family contact.
Suggest next-step interventions—teachers are the experts.

Log:
- Positive academic/behavior celebrations.
- Invitations/reminders for tutoring, small group, Saturday school.
- Classroom performance updates (zeros, missing work).
- Major behavior incidents (facts only).
Exclude: routine campus events (Donuts with Grown-Ups, PBIS Fun Friday, Curriculum Night, etc.).
Best practices
- Use facts, not opinions.
- Avoid typing while angry; everything in Branching Minds is subject to open-records requests.
- Summarize offensive language rather than quoting explicit slurs.
- Remember: future educators & parents may read your notes years later.

Presenter’s own children:
- Cowboy Calculus class → individual growth despite counting on fingers; college graduation proves success of tailored support.
- Fifth-grade binder incident & 8 zeros in Algebra discovered only because teachers called home.
- Tenth-grade writing change flagged emotional trauma; parent could seek counseling because teacher noticed & communicated.
Moral: consistent, caring communication bridges school–home gap and changes life trajectories.

Come to MTSS/PLC meetings prepared with data & proposed actions; ensure equitable airtime for all teachers.
Intentional, data-driven conversations maximize limited meeting time and honor everyone’s expertise.

Teachers/coaches = “silver bullet.” No program can replace human impact.
Systems (MTSS + Branching Minds + PLC) make that impact repeatable.
Knowing, documenting, and communicating each child’s story ensures supports travel with them year-to-year.