MTSS

In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA], Pub. L. No. 114-95 was signed into law.  This law and subsequent amendments to the NYS ESSA plan highlight a “whole school, whole community, whole child” model.  To meet the growing needs and to promote equity of our students, the Iroquois Central School District [ICSD] has created a Multi-Tiered System of Supports [MTSS] model.  This will provide a “comprehensive continuum of evidenced-based, systemic practices to support a rapid response to students’ needs, with regular observation to factual data-based instructional decision-making”.  Pub. L. No. 114-95, Sec. 8002[33] 

MTSS is a multi-tiered process designed to help the “whole child” by providing high-quality interventions in the areas of academics, behavior, and social/emotional learning.  Historically, the RtI and Student Support procedures have been used to support students deemed to be “at risk”.  The goal of MTSS is to include all students [“whole school”] to improve the quality of education students’ experience.

Similar to RtI, MTSS is based on a fluid continuum of multi-tiered supports.  Several researchers liken the practice to an inverted triangle to represent the levels of support in the three areas. [See figure 1]