If your school has recently (within the last 2 years) completed the SAMI, and your leadership team has changed minimally, the recommendation is that you only complete your priority conceptual areas of the SAMI this year (2024-2025), rather than redoing the entire SAMI.
The SAMI is a needs assessment tool that helps building leadership teams understand the status of MTSS implementation at the school level. The tool supports teams to engage in active discussions to identify strengths and challenges in current MTSS implementation. It is designed to help the local system identify current practices, areas of strength, and areas for growth and refinement, and enable faculty and staff to prioritize and focus resources on those areas in need of the most attention or support. It is important to actively implement SAMI within the building leadership team in order to:
Measure school-level implementation of MTSS;
Identify and prioritize system needs;
Guide action planning; and
Assess impact over time of action plan implementation across the system, as well as for groups of students and individual students.
ESSA requires states to support a school-level needs assessment within their accountability system. To address this requirement, all schools identified in need of Comprehensive or Targeted Support and Improvement are required to use the SAMI during the first year of designation. Results of the SAMI will provide designated schools with a Priority Conceptual Area(s).
It is important to note the following before accessing the SAMI, or online module:
Building Leadership Teams are required to complete and submit the SAMI:
Including the following members as part of the team: Principal, School Leaders, Teachers, Parents and others such as community partners, school counselors, AEA representatives, students, district office representation, and board members (bold are required).
Due within CASA;
Designated schools may elect to complete the SAMI:
On their own via the online module; or
With support via the IDOE or AEA.
Below are links to supports for the Self-Assessment of MTSS Implementation (SAMI)
SAMI Rubric and Implementation Guide This is what is referred to as the SAMI; it contains an overview, directions, the SAMI Rubric, hand-scoring methods (score summary, percent score table), practice scenarios, information on SAMI development, as well as information on consensus and definitions. Scores are to be entered into CASA, as well as Priority Summary Statements for each conceptual area. The Notecatcher helps teams work through the SAMI itself, and provides a space to capture those priority statements. It is highly recommended that an outside facilitator (your local AEA) provide support to complete the SAMI as they have been trained on how to effectively use the SAMI, notecatcher and CASA.
SAMI Coaching Guide: For optimal results, it is important to use this document to ensure fidelity of implementation as well as support the facilitator in their role.
Online module: All designated schools are required to either access and complete this module, or attend a SAMI Regional Training session in the first year of designation. This self-paced online module is available for local team use at Iowa Learning Online Professional Development (https://ilopd.iowa.gov/). To create an account:
Access https://ilopd.iowa.gov/, and select Create New Account
Enter your email
Create a password
Look for an email from ilopd to confirm your new account
Once confirmed, you may enroll in ESSA courses.
For the SAMI, search for ESSA: Self-Assessment of MTSS Implementation
The SAMI must be submitted in the Consolidated Application for Support and Accountability (CASA), which is a secure application under the Iowa Education Portal. Instructions for CASA access can be found on the CASA web page. Please note that a team member with building level access to CASA will be required submit.
The District SAMI is a needs assessment tool that helps district leadership teams understand the status of MTSS implementation across the district. The tool supports teams to engage in active discussions to identify strengths and challenges in current MTSS implementation. It is designed to help the district identify current practices, areas of strength, and areas for growth and refinement, and enable faculty and staff to prioritize and focus resources on those areas in need of the most attention or support. All the work and district-wide implementation efforts from statewide to local are tied to one overarching theme: increasing learning outcomes for all students.