< Back to Priority Initiatives

Develop a cohesive and holistic multi-year implementation plan for a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) that integrates academic, behavior and social-emotional learning supports. The outcome of this initiative is the development of a shared vision, common definitions, guiding principles, best practices, and aligned resources for all tiers. 

2023-24 Winter Progress Update 

After producing the vision and definitions of tiers as a steering committee, we surveyed our principals to gain information around what was unclear within the vision and definitions, and identify anything that should be added. We gained a wealth of feedback from the buildings that led us to adapting the language. The feedback was then brought back into the steering committee, so that final changes could be made. 

In thinking about our definitions of tiers, we really drilled down into what we mean when we say that 80% of students will respond to tier one. As a team, we determined that we want our definition to show the behavioral and academic strategies are accessible to 100% of the population. Looking at the populations of several of our schools, we need to rethink what a tier 1 structure looks like. If a school has 56% of its population in need of multilingual education (MLE) services, we need to be sure that all of the structure, instruction, and support target the learning needs of students receiving services. If we are not making instruction a contextual fit to meet the needs of the population, 80% of the students will not be able to respond to the instruction. 

By the end of the school year, we envision a plan that clearly defines MTSS and the resources supporting MTSS. MTSS should be embedded into every job description, every training, and the work continues to have executive leadership support through the MTSS steering committee. Our Executive Directors of Learning Improvement (EDLIs) have also been partners in this work, ensuring that buildings are already having MTSS meetings and regularly reinforcing key MTSS processes. 

Over the past few months, Student Services and Teaching & Learning teams have partnered to lead this initiative. At this point in the process, our MTSS Steering Committee who serves as our Action Planning Team, has met to define our vision and tiers of support within the MTSS framework. These definitions are currently going through a round of principal feedback prior to finalizing.

As we look to an integrated framework, it is important to consider academic, behavior, and social emotional supports, and how these supports impact students receiving multilingual, inclusive, and/or highly capable services. Our MTSS Steering Committee has representation from Teaching & Learning, Student Services, Inclusive Education, Multilingual Education, Advanced Learning, principals at all levels, teachers, and school psychologists.

OSPI has connected MTSS to many of the initiatives, bills, guidance and policies over the past few years. MTSS is the system OSPI is utilizing to show coherence across many initiatives. One of the major changes is the identification of students' with disabilities. By 2028, school districts will go away from using a discrepancy model to the MTSS model.

Additional resources related to this work include:

School Climate | Inclusionary Practices | Dyslexia Legislation | Discipline Reform | Early Childhood Supports | Identification of Learning Disabilities | Social-Emotional Learning | Behavioral Health | Attendance | Washington Integrated Student Supports Protocols (WISSP) | School Improvement | Learning Assistance Program | Comprehensive School Counseling Programs ( CSCP)

Centering Stakeholder Voice

We are working through our MTSS steering committee to develop the outcomes this goal. The vision and definitions of tiers heavily emphasize the importance of community, family, and student involvement. The current audience for the implementation plan is our schools, to ensure there is a common understanding across our district.

As we look to inform our community of MTSS, we want to work with our graphic design department to create visual representations of the information. Once the visual representations are created, we will provide opportunities for student and parent voice.