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Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MtSS)

Multi-Tiered System of Support (MtSS). In order to provide the most effective education for ALL children, we believe we must start by providing effective instruction for EACH child. To meet this goal, the District adopted a three-tier approach to instruction. This process, known as Multi-Tiered System of Support (MtSS), started when federal law established these practices as a way to identify and provide early intervention to students in need of additional support. Each tier provides additional instruction beyond the core curriculum. Students needing additional support academically and/or behaviorally will be monitored frequently to ensure students meet grade-level expectations.

  • Tier I: The classroom teacher differentiates instructional strategies and/or materials to help each child become successful, and monitors progress continually through formative assessment. This might include differentiated work assignments, special seating, conferring, etc.
  • Tier II: Is additional instruction delivered to students surrounding a targeted skill. Students are monitored towards targeted goals.
  • Tier III: Is a problem solving, team approach through which students with significant needs are identified, measurable targeted goals are collaboratively planned, intensive interventions are developed, and student progress is continually monitored.

Multi-Tiered System of Support (MtSS) is a process that provides immediate intervention to struggling students at the first indication of failure to learn. Through systematic screening of all students in the early grades, classroom teachers identify those who are not mastering the critical reading skills and provide differentiated intervention to small groups of students. 

Continuous progress monitoring of students’ responses to those interventions allows teachers to identify students in need of additional intervention and to adjust instruction accordingly.

Purpose of MtSS

Bensenville School District 2 believes in providing the highest quality of education for every student. In order to provide the most effective education for all children, we believe we must start by providing effective instruction for each child. MtSS is a three-tier approach to instruction that allows us to meet that goal.

MtSS has two overarching goals. The first is to deliver evidence-based interventions, and the second is to use students’ responses to those interventions to determine instructional needs and intensity.

Is the goal of MtSS to identify students for the special education program? 

Special education decisions can be a product of these efforts, but not the primary goal. Using MtSS as the database for making that decision, special education services are determined by the student’s rate of response to intervention and the size of the gap that exists between the student and the benchmark. As a result, identification is not about the student’s label, but rather about determining what interventions are most helpful in closing the gap in a timely manner.

Who is responsible for deciding that a student may need support and initiating the MtSS process?

The central principle of the MtSS approach is that it is not one particular person’s responsibility, but everyone’s responsibility. A student’s need for support may be identified from informal observations or a universal screening measure.

Three-Tier Approach

This process, known as Multi-Tiered System of Support (MtSS), started when federal law established these practices as a way to identify and provide early intervention to struggling students. Each tier provides additional support beyond the core curriculum. Students needing additional support academically and/or behaviorally will be monitored frequently to ensure students meet grade level expectations.

The tiers are as follows:

  • Tier I - The classroom teacher uses different or additional strategies or materials to help each child become successful and reviews progress for 6-8 weeks. This might include differentiated work assignments, special seating, and additional scaffolded supports.
  • Tier II - The classroom teacher reviews individual academic data and reviews student progress to identify those students in need of specialized support within a specific skill area. The teacher works with the student on a specific learning goal and monitors their progress towards that goal for 8 weeks..
  • Tier III - More frequent and additional help, which may include altering your child’s schedule for 9-12 weeks, 30 minutes per day, as they work directly with the reading or math interventionist.