Leadership: Leadership is key to successful implementation of any large-scale innovation. The building principal, assistant principal(s), and school leadership team are critical to implementing MTSS at the school level. Leaders engage staff in ongoing professional development for implementing MTSS, plan strategically for MTSS implementation, and model a problem-solving process for school improvement. The school principal also supports the implementation of MTSS by communicating a vision and mission to school staff, providing resources for planning and implementing instruction and intervention, and ensuring that staff have the data, time, and structures needed for data-based problem-solving.  

We demonstrate this through: Exhibiting self-discipline and self-motivation; Setting personal and collective goals; Using planning and organizational skills; Showing the courage to take initiative; Demonstrating personal and collective agency. We believe that transformational leadership takes place through cohesive teams with a unified vision. As we operate within our defined theory of action and uphold the core values of the district, we envision leadership as a critical mechanism to disrupt the legacy of inequality and institutionalized racism left by colonialism and redress the unequal power relations it produced and continues to perpetuate. As leaders in the field of education, we hold ourselves accountable to recognizing how systemic racial inequities have impacted our educational outcomes by examining the contours of racism in the United States, North Carolina and Guilford County and the continued implications of racism on the system of education.

Communication & Collaboration: Communication and collaboration are essential for successful implementation of MTSS. Many innovations fail due to a lack of consensus, lack of feedback to implementers to support continuous improvement, and not involving stakeholders in planning. In addition to including stakeholders in planning and providing continuous feedback, it is also important to build the infrastructure to communicate and work with families and other community partners. These practices increase the likelihood that innovative practices will be implemented and sustained. 

We demonstrate this through: Replacing the tradition of siloed work with our district teaming structures, protocol for workflow and decision-making, and strategically planning for communication. Communication and collaboration depend upon our collective and individual capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, collaboratively problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities, and seek or offer help when needed. Our commitment to communication and collaboration is informed by Tara Yosso’s theory of Community Cultural Wealth, which compels us to approach our colleagues, students, families, and community partners through an asset based approach. We acknowledge the importance of identifying personal, cultural, and linguistic assets of ourselves and others to facilitate authentic communication and collaboration. We adhere to the principles of nonviolent communication (Rosenberg, 2015), recognizing that the words and way we think matters. 

Building Capacity and Implementation Infrastructure: School-wide capacity and infrastructure are required in order to implement and sustain MTSS. This capacity and infrastructure usually include ongoing professional development and coaching with an emphasis on data-based problem-solving and multi-tiered instruction and intervention, scheduling that allows staff to plan and implement instruction and intervention, and processes and procedures for engaging in data-based problem-solving.  

We demonstrate this through: Building our own capacity to understand and practice the six critical components of NC MTSS. Intentionally planning for and establishing infrastructure (e.g., teaming structures, schedules, and strategic plans) at both the school and district level to support our work. We commit to strategically planned opportunities for professional development and coaching to build our own professional capacity, as well as the capacity of school teams and individual teachers to optimize impact on student outcomes. Our commitment to professional development and coaching extends across all areas of support (i.e., academics, SEL, behavior, attendance/engagement, and mental health), all tiers, and each of the six critical components. 

Multiple Tiers of Instruction: In a typical MTSS, Core (Tier 1) includes the support that all students receive; Supplemental (Tier 2) includes additional instruction or intervention provided to students not meeting benchmarks; and Intensive (Tier 3) includes intense, small group or individual interventions for students showing significant barriers to learning the skills required for school success. It is important to consider academic, social-emotional, behavioral, attendance/engagement, and mental health instruction and interventions when examining this critical component.

We demonstrate this through: Defining and refining evidence-based tiers of support across all domains to continuously increase the number of students who are successful in response to core. We focus on integration across areas so that no domain is defined or supported without consideration of all other domains.

Problem Solving: The use of data-based problem-solving to make sound decisions is a critical element of MTSS implementation. This includes the use of data-based problem-solving for student outcomes across content areas, grade levels, and tiers, as well as the use of problem-solving to address barriers to school wide implementation of MTSS. While several models for data-based problem-solving exist, the four step problem-solving approach includes: 1) defining the goals and objectives to be attained, 2) identify possible reasons why the desired goals are not being attained, 3) developing a plan for implementing evidence-based strategies to attain goals, 4) evaluating the effectiveness of the plan.

We demonstrate this through: Collaborating across departments to establish a common approach to problem solving that situates academic data in the context of the whole educational experience. We approach problem solving through the lens of equity, holding ourselves accountable to challenge problem solving practices that perpetuate disparities across race, gender, cultural, or any other marginalized identity. To that end, we emphasize problem solving areas of instruction, curriculum, and environment, knowing that when each of these domains are effectively integrated and designed to be culturally responsive, the majority of students will be successful regardless of minoritized status.We regularly engage in problem solving and analyze data with the goal of uncovering the root cause before prescribing a solution.  As an essential aspect of problem solving, we promote examination of biases, as well as structures that create the problem being examined. We ask critical (and sometimes uncomfortable) questions to determine the effectiveness of practices and unexamined or unintended biases such as adultification bias and stereotype threat. Furthermore, we adopt data analysis protocols that do not contribute to the erasure of student groups (i.e., “There are only three Indigenous students in our building, therefore we do not count their performance in our data collection and following action steps.”). Finally, we commit to a problem solving framework that positions students and families as assets, seeks partnerships with families and communities to define problems and devise solutions. 

Data Evaluation: Given the importance of data-based problem-solving within an MTSS model, the need for data evaluation is clear. In order to do data-based problem-solving, school staff need to understand and have access to data sources that address the purposes of assessment. Procedures and protocols for administering assessments and data use allow school staff to use student data to make educational decisions. In addition to student data, data on the fidelity of MTSS implementation allow school leadership to examine the current practices and make changes for improving MTSS implementation.

We demonstrate this through: Intentionally evaluating whether all of the assessment tools within our comprehensive assessment system are valid and reliable across student groups and do not lead to harmful decisions across student populations.