General Key Practices

School-wide Positive Expectations and Behaviors are Defined and Taught

Rather than establishing specifically what not to do, schools define and teach the behaviors and expectations they want to see. Schools should identify 3-5 positively stated, easy to remember expectations. These should align with creating the kind of positive school climate the school wants to create. Anyone should be able to walk into the school at any time and ask 10 random students to name the school-wide expectations. At least 80% of the time those students should be able to say what they are and give examples of what they look like in action.

For students to know the expectations, they must be taught. The team should decide how students will learn expected academic and social behaviors across various school settings.

Procedures for Establishing Classroom Expectations and Routines Consistent

with School-Wide Expectations

Students spend the majority of their day within classroom settings. It’s critical the expectations in the classroom align with the broader school-wide systems. This consistency supports better behavioral outcomes for all students. Teachers explain what the school-wide expectations look like in their classrooms during specific classroom-level routines.

Continuum of Procedures for Encouraging Expected Behavior

A school’s team determines how to acknowledge students positively for doing appropriate behaviors. Schools adopt a token system in addition to offering specific praise when students do what’s expected. No matter the system, it should be:

• Linked to school-wide expectations

• Used across settings and within classrooms

• Used by 90% or more of all school personnel

• Available to all students within the school

Continuum of Procedures for Discouraging Problem Behavior

All discipline policies should include definitions for behaviors interfering with academic and social success. They offer clear policies and procedures for addressing office-managed versus classroom-managed problems. Defining both the behaviors and the procedures promote consistent application of tiered support across all students and school personnel.

Procedures for Encouraging School-Family Partnerships

Teams should solicit stakeholders, including families, for input on tiered foundations. Opportunities to provide ongoing feedback and direction should happen at least once a year, if not more regularly. This input ensures MTSS is culturally responsive and reflects the values of the local community.

Tier 2 Key Practices

Increased Instruction and Practice with Self-Regulation and Social Skills

Regardless of the intervention, Tier 2 supports include additional instruction for key social, emotional, and/or behavioral skills. An important outcome of Tier 2 interventions is when students can regulate on their own, when, where and under what conditions particular skills are needed and can successfully engage in those skills. Once data indicate a positive response to the intervention, students learn how to monitor and manage their own behavior.

Increased Adult Supervision

Tier 2 supports include intensified, active supervision in a positive and proactive manner. For example, adults may be asked to move, scan, and interact more frequently with some students, according to their needs. This can be accomplished with simple rearrangements across school environments.

Increased Opportunity for Positive Reinforcement

Tier 2 supports target expected behavior by providing positive reinforcement for often. For example, students who participate in a Tier 2 Check-in Check-out intervention engage in feedback sessions with their classroom teacher and other adults in the school as many as 5-7 times per day. Many students view this positive adult attention as reinforcing and as a result may be more likely to continue engaging in expected behaviors.

Increased Pre-Corrections

At this level, another key practice to prevent problem behaviors is to anticipate when a student is likely to act out and do something to get ahead of it. For example, specifically reminding students of classroom expectations. These pre-corrections might be gestures or verbal statements delivered to an entire class, a small group of students, or with an individual student. Pre-corrections set students up for success by reminding them, prior to any problem, what to do.

Increased Focus on Possible Function of Problem Behavior

It is important to consider why students engage in certain behaviors, in order to align Tier 2 interventions best suited to their needs. When they know what motivates students to behave a certain way, teachers can help them find alternatives to their unwanted behavior.

Increased access to academic supports

Some students receiving Tier 2 behavior support may need additional academic support, too. Often challenging behavior serves the purpose of allowing students to avoid or even escape academic tasks that are beyond their skill level. Academic intervention along with behavioral supports may be needed to improve student success.

Tier 3 Key Practices

Function-based assessments

Functional behavior assessment (FBA) is the formal process for ensuring a student’s plan centers on why a student behaves the way they do. FBA allows teams to identify which interventions are most likely to be useful for an individual student. Plans resulting from a formal FBA process will include strategies for:

• Preventing unwanted behavior

• Teaching appropriate behavior

• Positively reinforcing appropriate behavior

• Reducing rewards for unwanted behavior

• Ensuring student safety

Wraparound supports

Wraparound supports involve working with students and the adults invested in their success to identify how a student’s natural support systems, strengths, and needs can work together to improve their outcomes. The Wraparound plan typically includes both formal, research-based services and informal support provided by friends, family, and other people drawn from the student's social networks. For more information, check out the National Wraparound Initiative’s introduction to key concepts.

Cultural and Contextual Fit

With every practice, the student's and the school's culture and context must be considered. Each of these element influences and adds value to a school’s Tier 3 practices:

• Local environments such as neighborhoods and cities

• Personal characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and nationality

• Learning histories such as family, social routines, customs, and experiences

• Language such as dialect and vocabulary