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Multi-Tiered System of Supports MTSS

MTSS Diagram

The Margate City School District is committed to providing high-quality instruction and support to promote the highest overall achievement for all students.  The Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a framework used to maximize the success of all students.  The MTSS framework allows for the implementation of continuous improvement processes at all levels of the system (academic, behavioral, social and emotional domains). A clearly defined MTSS framework details how our district and school sites go about providing various supports for each child to be successful, and it outlines the processes and tools teachers use to make decisions. It is the practice of providing scientific, research-based instruction and interventions to students, based on need.

WHAT IS A MULTI-TIERED SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS?

  • A Multi-Tiered System of Supports is NOT a separate program, class or intervention. It is a plan to organize instruction and intervention to help all students.
  • The goal of a multi-tiered framework is to provide high-quality instruction and support based on student needs in a coordinated manner that allows acquisition of missing skills while still instructing grade level content.
  • The multi-tiered framework also helps teachers by providing data to identify students who require additional support (academic and behavioral). Overtime, the framework can also help us identify students who may need special education.

WHAT ARE THE KEY COMPONENTS OF A MULTI-TIERED SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS?

  • Effective district and school leadership
  • Family and community engagement
  • Positive school culture and climate
  • High-quality learning environments, curricula and instructional practices
  • Universal Screening practices to identify students needing supplemental support
  • Data-based decision making
  • Multiple tiers of academic and behavioral support that become progressively more intensive
  • Evidence-based interventions matched to student need
  • Ongoing progress monitoring
  • Response to Intervention school-based collaborative problem-solving teams
  • Staff Professional Development

WHAT ARE MULTI-TIERED SUPPORTS?

A Multi-Tiered System of Supports organizes instruction and interventions into tiers, or levels of support.

  • TIER 1 (ALL STUDENTS) - All students receive high-quality differentiated instruction in academics.  All students receive responsive support for behavior and SEL growth.
  • TIER 2 (SOME STUDENTS) - In addition to Tier I, any students identified through data analysis as needing more support also receive expanded, differentiated intervention like additional, targeted small group instruction, and additional conferencing with teachers.  The difference between Tier I and Tier 2 is increased time, and a more narrow, targeted focus for instruction.
  • TIER 3 (A FEW STUDENTS) - In addition to Tier 1 and Tier 2, any students identified as "more than 2 years below grade level” and not responding to Tier I and Tier 2 also receive Tier 3 the most intensive support based on individual need. A member of the Intervention & Referral Services Team will act as case manager for students in Tier 3.

MULTI-TIERED SUPPORTS EXAMPLES:

ACADEMIC

To ensure high-quality academic access and support, all tiers of the MTSS framework must work in coordination.  Students who require academic assistance should also be accessing grade level content. If this does not happen students may fall further behind due to over remediation without opportunity for application to grade level work.  Academic accommodations can include:

  • Options in the ways information is presented, different approaches for students to express learning and demonstrate knowledge and skills, and varied ways to encourage engagement often impacted by student interests;
  • Appropriate accommodations, supports, strategies, and scaffolds that reduce barriers to learning while promoting learner independence;
  • Personalization in terms of targeted strategies, self-reflection, and technology to enhance instruction.

For English Language Arts and Mathematics, there are critical skills (listed below) that all students should master for success.  Our diagnostic and classroom assessments help us monitor student progress and mastery of these very important foundational skill categories.

English Language Arts

  • Phonemic Awareness
  • Phonics
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary
  • Comprehension
  • Word Study, Spelling

Mathematics

  • Number Sense
  • Representation (counting, adding, subtracting)
  • Spatial Sense (shapes)
  • Measurement
  • Estimating
  • Patterns

 

BEHAVIOR

Behavior Support Services are provided throughout the Margate City School District in order to assist students in managing behaviors that may interfere with academic performance. All teachers have training and are provided ongoing support in the creation of an organized learning environment. Prevention, assessment, intervention, and ongoing support are critical in allowing the Margate City School District to aid struggling students in achieving potential and develop greater harmony in each school and our community as a whole.

  • Clear behavioral expectations and support for students to meet those expectations are available in every classroom. Training for teachers and administrative support are provided to ensure that each classroom has the components of a healthy and functional learning environment.
  • If additional behavioral assistance is needed, a referral for support is made to the school I&RS (intervention referral services) Team. Here, teachers and parents collaborate along with school personnel (LDTC, school psychologist, social worker) school administration, and sometimes outside agencies to implement a variety of interventions that focus on the strength of identified students in order to improve behavior and develop connections for that student in the classroom.
  • In some cases, a more formal evaluation of student need is necessary—this is when our school based I&RS teams partner with families and Child Study teams to consider evaluation options and supports.

BASIC NEEDS, MENTAL HEALTH, AND WRAPAROUND SERVICES

School-based supports are essential to offering wraparound services that address basic needs for students and families. These services may include school-based support via our district’s child psychologist and social worker, the provision of parent education and a variety of programs and community partnerships to ensure that students and families have access to services, food, mental health services and parent support beyond the walls of the school.

For more information on the specific supports available at your child's school, please contact your child's teacher or school principal.