TRT Podcast #145: What is MTSS?
I explain how to use MTSS as a framework for implementing the science of reading. We look at four different types of assessment and describe what happens in Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 instruction.
Listen to the episode here
Full episode transcript
YOU’LL LOVE THIS PRACTICAL BOOK!
Looking for an easy-to-read guide to help you reach all readers? If you teach kindergarten through third grade, this is the book for you. Get practical ideas and lesson plan templates that you can implement tomorrow!
Looking for structured literacy resources?
Our membership has fluency pyramids, poems, and more – not to mention hundreds of resources for teaching letter sounds, phonics concepts, and more!
Love Freebies?
Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.
Holly
I love this post! As a Reading Specialist, I have seen so many teachers struggle with differentiating instruction. A well designed MTSS will help those teachers know who needs the support, when to give the support and how to monitor the progress. If a child goes through all of the tiers and is still not making adequate progress, then he or she should be referred to the Child Study Team (CST) for an evaluation. This system holds teachers accountable for trying to help student who need a little more, and it helps parents understand their child’s needs. Many schools do not implement it correctly, which is precisely why this post is so important. It is not the schools responsibility to remediate or try to fix learning disabilities such as dyslexia or ADHD, but they do have to show that a student is making adequate progress or evaluate that student for other disabilities recognized by the federal government to qualify for an IEP. Unfortunately, the Reading Specialist does not fall under the child study team, so once a child is classified and the parents choose to develop an IEP under Special Education, that child will no longer work with the reading specialist. Instead they will now work with the Special Education teacher. This is why many schools are putting children with dyslexia on 504s instead so they can continue to receive support from a literacy specialist.
Anna Geiger
Thank you for laying this out so clearly, Holly!
Teresa
I’m really disappointed that she would post this. MTSS has been detrimental to so, so many students over the years. While this explanation of MTSS is data-driven and evidence-based, I do not know ANY schools (in my area, nor in the several states/grades in which I have lived/taught) where this is implemented. Rather than get to the root of a student’s learning challenges — dyslexia, slow processing, comprehension issues — some schools offer MTSS as a means to sidestep the IEP evaluation process and truly understand how/why students struggle. MTSS is the reason why I pulled my first son, and then my second son out of public school to homeschool them with evidence-based reading instruction. Typically, when students have print-based reading challenges, they need specific, targeted instruction to meet those deficits; they do not need more of the instruction that did not work in the first place. Know better; do better. And yes, I’m a former classroom teacher who, once my own sons were diagnosed with dyslexia, became Orton Gillingham certified to help them because no one else in the school system would.
Anna Geiger
Thank you for your comment, Teresa! MTSS has indeed been implemented poorly in many schools- but when done correctly, it has a very high effect size. When done well, MTSS does exactly what you promote – the set of assessments help teachers pin down exactly what challenges students have so they can give “specific, targeted instruction to meet those deficits.” I’m hopeful that this series will help administrators and teachers understand how to implement MTSS properly. I would be interested to know if there’s something specific in this episode or the other upcoming ones that you disagree with.
Krista
The goal of MTSS is to provide evidence based curriculum and strategies within the tiered systems of support.
Anna Geiger
Well put, Krista!