MTSS for Academics

Multi Tiered Systems of Support

Systems-level effort to prevent academic failure

What is Prevention Science?

  1. Focuses on the development of evidence-based strategies that reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors to improve the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities.

  2. Draws from a diverse range of disciplines* to understand the determinants of societal, community, and individual level problems*

    1. * Epidemiological, social, psychological, behavioral, medical, and neurobiological sciences

    2. * Trauma, poverty, maltreatment

  3. A central tenet of prevention science is the promotion of health equity and reduction of disparities by studying how social, economic, and racial inequalities and discrimination influence healthy development and wellbeing.

What can Prevention Science do?

  1. Promoting daily physical activity and good nutrition to prevent chronic diseases

  2. Disrupting pathways to substance use disorder across the lifespan

  3. Improving academic and behavioral outcomes with the expansion of high-quality childcare and early learning and development

  4. Promoting a positive and supportive school environment

  5. Enhancing community-wide capacity to attenuate detrimental conditions and increase access to supportive services

  6. Increasing resilience, social competency, and self-regulation in order to reduce impulsive, aggressive, and off-task behavior

  7. Supporting the development of healthy relationships to reduce interpersonal and domestic violence

Tiers of Instruction (Intervention) to Student Success

  1. Tier 1 = Quality Instruction/MS Curriculum Frameworks

    1. Universal screening

    2. Evidence-based core curricula

    3. E.g., Iodine in water, vaccinations, screenings in reading/math

  2. Tier 2 = Supplemental/Targeted Instruction

    1. Supplemental instruction

    2. Progress monitoring

    3. Continued exposure to Tier 1

  3. Tier 3 = Intensive Interventions designed to meet specific needs

    1. Intensive Intervention

    2. Individualized

    3. More frequent progress monitoring

    4. Continued exposure to Tier 2

Screening and Progress Monitoring for Reading at Tiers 1, 2, and 3

  1. Early and Basic Literacy

    1. Letter naming fluency

    2. Letter sound fluency

    3. Phoneme segmentation fluency

    4. Nonsense word fluency

  2. Oral reading fluency and maze fluency

    1. Oral reading fluency predicts reading comprehension

    2. Maze fluency measures comprehension

  3. AIMSWeb

    1. Screening and progress monitoring for:

      1. Early literacy, oral reading fluency, and maze fluency

        1. Includes screening and progress monitoring for Spanish

        2. Reading fluency strong indicator for future performance in reading

        3. Maze for comprehension indication

    2. Web-based data entry and management

    3. Obtain local and national norms

  4. Early Numeracy

    1. Oral counting

    2. Number Identification fluency

    3. Quantity discrimination fluency

    4. Missing Number

  5. Math computation fluency

  6. Math application fluency

Why is Fluency so Important

  1. When fluent, fewer cognitive resources are needed

  2. More difficult applications can be solved more quickly and accurately

  3. Empirically speaking, fluency predicts performance on future criterion measures

What is the Science of Reading (SOR)?

  1. The science of reading is the body of research from the fields of education, psychology, and neuroscience

  2. SOR explains how individuals learn how to read and best practices for reading instruction

Evidence-based Curricula for Reading

  1. Addresses 5 critical areas

    1. Phonemic awareness

    2. Phonics

    3. Fluency

    4. Vocabulary

    5. Comprehension

  2. Occurs in upwards of 90 minutes

  3. Is differentiated

  4. Monitored for integrity

Evidence-Based Curricula for Math

  1. Addresses 5 critical areas

    1. Tool skills

      1. Math facts, reading and writing, place value

    2. Computation

    3. Solving standard word problems

    4. Generic problem solving skills

    5. Math vocabulary, conversation, and communication

    6. Emphasizes mastery and fluency for basic facts

    7. Monitored for integrity

Approaches to Intervention

  1. Modeling, practice, immediate feedback

  2. For reading accuracy and fluency

    1. Listening passage review, repeated readings

  3. For math accuracy and fluency

    1. Drill practice

      1. Worksheets/flashcards

Intervention is not

  1. Preferential seating

  2. Shortened assignments

  3. Parent contacts

  4. Classroom observations

  5. Doing more of the same/general classroom assignments

  6. Retention