MTSS for EACH Student

 Amy McCart - Dawn Miller LEADING EQUITY-BASED MTSS for All Students.

I completed my teaching degree in 1999. The opportunities I have experienced as a teacher, instructional coach, and school leader have been incredible. I will continue to contribute my love of teaching students how to read AND supporting teachers with the knowledge and skills to be reading teachers with my earliest experiences. We created equitable student-focused systems, attended target professional development, and created outcome agreements so each student would grow, thrive, and excel as a reader. Looking back, we were at the earliest stages of creating an MTSS or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support System. 

ChatGPT quickly summarized the book this way. 

“Leading Equity-Based MTSS for All Students" by McCart and Miller provides a comprehensive guide for educational leaders to implement a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) focusing on equity. The book emphasizes the importance of addressing and eliminating systemic barriers to learning and achievement while promoting inclusive practices for all students. It offers practical strategies and tools for leaders to develop a culture of equity, create a collaborative MTSS team, implement evidence-based interventions, and monitor progress through data-driven decision-making. With a strong emphasis on equity, the book equips leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure that all students, regardless of their background or abilities, have equitable access to high-quality education and opportunities for success.”

So whether you are new to your position, are new to a school community, or need new thinking to guide you and your school team to create equitable outcomes for each of your students, Leading Equity-Bases MTSS gives you a guide for your transformation. The authors share, “Together with them, we devised and honed the practices that ultimately defined our Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT) Education Center’s approach to equity-based MTSS” (p. Xi). The best part is that the resources and more referenced in the book are available online at the SWIFT Education Center. 

The authors also remind school leaders of the importance of the language we can use to project their mindset and belief about teaching and learning. When structuring your tiered instructional systems for decision-making, McCart and Mill suggest rather than using the terms ‘Title I instructional supports’ or ‘special education instructional supports,' make categories for skill areas students have not yet acquired. “Teams select instruction and support to meet identified skill needs, not based on other student characteristics” (p. 68). 

In addition, getting to the heart of equity, a school leader has an incredible responsibility to continually use data during your school’s transformation. The authors provide data routines “to be used across the entire system” for school-wide, grade-level, and classroom student-focused decisions (p. 93). While organizing, processing, and acting on your data for universal, additional, or intensified support, utilize essential questions to plan and “continuously strengthen first instruction in academic, behavioral, and social-emotional domains” (p. 96). 

These are just of few examples of the deep implementation practices found in the research in Leading Equity-Based MTSS. McCart and Miller also provide insights through ‘field trip” vignettes from practitioners currently engaged in the work. The book closes with Dawn’s why.

Dawn’s Why MTTS

“We benefit from those who have put 

evidence-based practices in our hands. 

It is up to us to never doubt

that we can figure out 

how to make it work in our system

—we have to dig deep, lean on each other,

and maintain focus on what matters.

We got this.”