When and Where to Provide Tier 3 Interventions

We have learned another critical lesson across the decades: developing a plan— even implementing a plan—is not enough. The plan must result in improved student outcomes. Evidence is paramount to MTSS, as data drive decisions.

Take a moment to think about a student who challenges you the most (behaviorally, academically, social-emotionally, or some of all of these) and what the future holds for that student if the educators and leaders at your school don’t collectively and systematically provide supports that result in positive outcomes. As challenging as that student might be, what options remain open if his or her behaviors result in consequential responses only from the adults? If any of the current supports you and your team provide in school are removed, such as those identified in Tiers 2 and 3 of the MTSS model, how will that student make any gains in those areas where currently deficient?

It becomes readily predictable to see that the absence of the supports currently in place would result in further gaps in learning, which often results in further disruptive behavior, ultimately leading to a parting of the ways and either an alternative school setting offered or the student dropping out. Many readers are familiar with the United States’s pipeline-to-prison scenario. The information in figure I.1 provides a bleak outlook about the likely outcomes for dropouts. Canada’s dropout rate varies greatly by province and socioeconomics, with an average rate between 5 percent and 14 percent (though the rate is as high as 50 percent in low-income areas; Pathways to Education, 2019). The disparities between those who do not finish high school and those who do are similar to those experienced in the United States.

United States

Total number of high school dropouts annually

Number of high school students who drop out each day

Percent of Americans with a high school diploma

Percent of all dropouts that happen in the ninth grade 1,200,000

7,000

85 .3%

36%

Percent of students who repeat ninth grade that go on to graduate 15%

Percent of students in largest fifty U .S . cities that graduate from high school 59%

Percent of U .S . crimes committed by a high school dropout 75%

Difference in lifetime income between high school graduate and dropout $260,000

Percent of U .S . jobs for which a high school dropout is ineligible 90%

Source: DoSomething.org, n.d.

Figure I.1: High school dropout statistics.

These realities highlight the moral imperative to ensure that all students achieve at least a high school diploma. In the effort to significantly improve these numbers, MTSS is shown to move schools toward increased graduation rates (BrownChidsey & Bickford, 2016; Hall & Mahoney, 2013; Hattie, 2012; Maier et al., 2016).

How to Gear Up for MTSS: Components and Practices

Using MTSS to meet compliance audits, to raise a school’s test scores by taking struggling students out of the mainstream, or to rationalize a view that students are less able or more challenging completely undermines the value of the work and reduces it to just another fad.

To implement with fidelity, it is important to know MTSS’s critical components.

• High-quality instruction and learning opportunities for all students (Tier 1) • Early identification of students struggling to meet grade-level expectations • Attention to the learning rates and performance levels of all students • Increased intensity and targeted instruction and intervention based on identified student needs

• Data-informed decision making using team skills to solve problems

The process of MTSS involves (1) screening for students at risk, (2) monitoring the responsiveness of students to instruction and intervention, and (3) problem solving to determine the appropriate course of action. The latter two steps of the process are repeated as needed until students are positively responding, gaps and needs are consistently met, and success is achieved and sustained. Table I.1 provides a quick review of the three tiers of intervention.

Targeted intervention supplements—it does not replace—Tier 1 instruction. Student response to supports and interventions is used to determine further course of action. If students respond to the intervention, supports are continued until gaps are eliminated. If students do not respond in a timely manner, students are provided with a different set of supports. Their progress is again monitored and further actions determined.