1. Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Current Project Status and Future Directions
Steve Goodman
March 12, 2013

2. Key Points for Today Where are we now with the project?
What have we learned?
Where are we going and what are future opportunities?

3. Where are we now?

4. Emphasis of MiBLSi Work Over Time
Focus on providing direct PD and TA to Implementers (Team Training, Focus Training)
Focus on providing direct PD and TA to Implementers (Team Training, Focus Training)
MiBLSi develop capacity for project implementation
Focus on providing direct PD and TA to Implementers (Team Training, Focus Training)
MiBLSi develop regional capacity for MiBLSi regional implementation
Focus on providing direct PD and TA to Implementers and cascading levels of support
MiBLSi develop local capacity for LEA/ISD implementation
Focus on providing direct PD and TA to cascading levels of support
LEA/ISD develop local capacity for LEA/ISD implementation
We went from discussing
Is this the right thing to do? To
Can we do it in the right way?

5. MiBLSi Statewide Structure of Support
Provides guidance, visibility, funding, political support for MiBLSi
Students
Building Staff
Building Leadership Team
LEA District Cabinet and Implementation Team
Across State
Multiple ISD/LEA Teams
All staff
All students
Multiple schools w/in local district
Provides guidance, visibility, funding, political support, and implementation supports
Provides coaching and TA for LEA and/or ISD Teams
Provides guidance and manages implementation
Provides effective practices to support students
Improved behavior and reading
ISD Cabinet and Implementation Team
Regional Technical Assistance
Michigan
Department of Education/MiBLSi Leadership
Multiple LEAs w/in intermediate district
Who is supported?
How is support provided?
MiBLSi Statewide Structure of Support

6. What are we trying to do?
Scale-up a statewide structure to create local capacity to implement an integrated Behavior and Reading Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) with fidelity, that endures over time and utilizes data-based decision making at all levels of implementation support

7. Why we need to do something different…
Schools do not always get to criteria for fidelity of implementation.
Schools do not always maintain implementation efforts
Supporting a school based participation model cannot be scaled through MiBLSi

8. Important Concept!
We are working to do more than just provide MTSS practices to a few interested educators…
We are developing a model that can go to scale and endure over time with succesfull results

9. What have we learned?

10. Reframing the Work It is not “How do we get educators to do MiBLSi”
It is “How do we get better educational outcomes that will endure through changes”
MTSS is a framework to produce better outcomes for students
MiBLSi is a support system to help districts implement MTSS framework with fidelity

11. Moving from model demonstration to scale-up
Through each iteration, we become more clear in our implementation efforts

12. Summary: Prevention and Intervention
Educators are
Students are doing the best they can given their skills/abilities and the quality of their environment
Teach
Prevent
Encourage
adapted from Durand 1990

13. Lessons Learned:
Invest in demonstration sites with an integrated model
Start small
Consider educational practices AND supports for those practices
Remember that to get the outcomes we want, we need to have educators implement effective practices with fidelity
Focus on schools as unit of change and district as unit of support

14. Lessons Learned:
Make it easy for educators to do the work by embedding in current initiatives and priorities
Use data at all levels for continuous improvement (student outcomes, implementation fidelity, system quality)
Implementation is a mission-oriented process involving multiple decisions, actions, and corrections (stages of implementation)

15. Feedback Loops Schools effectively implementating MTSS Practices
Develop Organizational Structures
Successful Student Outcomes
Inputs
Outcomes
Outcomes
Develop Staff Competencies
Feedback Loops

16. An analogy of implementation stages
When you read the album cover, it appears that all track are equal in duration. When you actually look at the record you see that the tracks vary in duration. Additionally, even went moving through the tracks (stages) a scratch may cause you to be stuck in one location for awhile and a bump may send you to an earlier track.

17. Stages of Implementation
Focus
Stage
Description
Exploration/Adoption
Decision regarding commitment to adopting the program/practices and supporting successful implementation.
Installation
Set up infrastructure so that successful implementation can take place and be supported. Establish team and data systems, conduct audit, develop plan.
Initial Implementation
Try out the practices, work out details, learn and improve before expanding to other contexts.
Elaboration
Expand the program/practices to other locations, individuals, times- adjust from learning in initial implementation.
Continuous Improvement/Regeneration
Make it easier, more efficient. Embed within current practices.
Should we do it!
Work to do it right!
Implementation is not an event
A mission-oriented process involving multiple decisions, actions, and corrections
Work to do it better!

18. Where are we going and what are future opportunities?

19. Project Vision
47-ISDs and 320 LEAs will have capacity to support MTSS implementation with fidelity that is durable
MTSS Coordinator
Implementation Team
Cabinet level (executive leadership) support
Training Capacity
Coaching Capacity
Evaluation Capacity
1600 schools with potential to be supported through district implementation of MTSS

20. Reaching Schools School-based Cohort 1 – 7 (2004 – 2013)
District Cohort 1 – 2
(2011 – 2013)

21. Implementation Support Capacity
Developing Local
Implementation Support Capacity

22. Opportunities: Emerging Directions in Multi-Tiered System of Supports
Schools are being held accountable to successful outcomes for all students in both behavior AND academics
ESEA flexibility waiver
Focus on closing gap with racial subgroups and exclusionary discipline practices
Improving safety in schools (bully prevention/violence)
Math is a content area that provides an opportunity for the MTSS approach

24. Schools that implement MiBLSi with fidelity show reduction in Major Discipline Referrals compared to schools that are not implementing with fidelity
Sample of 7 schools
Focus Schools consist of the ten percent of schools on the Top-to-Bottom list with the largest achievement gaps between its top 30 percent of students and its bottom 30 percent, based on average scale score

25. Elementary schools have demonstrated increase number of students at benchmark and a reduction in the number of students requiring intensive interventions over a three year period.
Number of students reduced in intensive supports = approximately 238
n=17
Focus Schools consist of the ten percent of schools on the Top-to-Bottom list with the largest achievement gaps between its top 30 percent of students and its bottom 30 percent, based on average scale score

26. Middle schools have demonstrated increase number of students at benchmark and a reduction in the number of students requiring intensive interventions over a three year period
(n=6)
Focus Schools consist of the ten percent of schools on the Top-to-Bottom list with the largest achievement gaps between its top 30 percent of students and its bottom 30 percent, based on average scale score

27. Elementary schools that implement MiBLSi with fidelity have demonstrated a decrease in major discipline referrals per 100 student per day
Priority Schools (formerly known as Persistently Lowest Achieving Schools) are Michigan public schools identified in the bottom 5% of the statewide Top to Bottom ranking.

28. Elementary schools have demonstrated increase number of students at benchmark over a three year period
Priority Schools (formerly known as Persistently Lowest Achieving Schools) are Michigan public schools identified in the bottom 5% of the statewide Top to Bottom ranking.

29. Opportunities: Emerging Directions in Multi-Tiered System of Supports
We need to learn how to make it work in diverse settings (urban, rural, large districts, small districts)
Implementation functions are similar but the form differs based on contextual fit and resource availability.
Muti-Tiered Systems of Supports applied more broadly to include community and agencies to support children/youth

30. For MTSS to be implemented at scale…
It must be defined with adaptions to allow fit with local contexts
Precise definition of core features of MTSS
Self assessment to identify the smallest changes to achieve largest effect
Iterative measurement of core outcomes to facilitate continuous alignment
Horner & Sugai (2006)

31. We need to help educators better understand how to use data for continuous improvement

32. Opportunities: Emerging Directions in Multi-Tiered System of Supports
We need to expose our students to effective practices to produce successful outcomes
Scale-up
Durability
Continuous improvement- creating self- modifying systems

33. “Scaling up is defined as having enough of something so that it is useful. Scaling up is the process of moving from “exemplars” to the “typical.” The process of scaling involves the development of organizational capacity to move from exemplars sustained by extra-ordinary supports, to typical application with typical supports”.
“Scaling up is defined as having enough of something so that it is useful. Scaling up is the process of moving from “exemplars” to the “typical.” The process of scaling involves the development of organizational capacity to move from exemplars sustained by extra-ordinary supports, to typical application with typical supports. While there is no firm agreement about the level at which “scaling” is achieved, we hypothesize that an organization (district) has reached the “tipping point” for functional scaling when approximately 40% of the units in the organization are implementing a practice with fidelity. At that point, the education system would have changed to provide typical supports for evidence-based practices across the (district).” Fixsen et al 2008
Fixsen et al 2008

34. Question
Is there a problem with educators not knowing how to implement MTSS correctly?
Is there a problem with educators not adequately implementing what they do know about MTSS?

35. Implementation Science
Longitudinal Studies of a Variety of Comprehensive School Reforms
Effective Interventions
Actual Supports
Years 1-3
Outcomes
Years 4-5
Every Teacher Trained
Fewer than 50% of the teachers received some training
Fewer than 10% of the schools used the CSR as intended
Every Teacher Continually Supported
Fewer than 25% of those teachers received support
Vast majority of students did not benefit
Aladjem, D. K., & Borman, K. M. (2006, April). Summary of Findings from the National Longitudinal
Evaluation of Comprehensive School Reform. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
Vernez, G., Karam, R., Mariano, L. T., & DeMartini, C. (2006). Evaluating comprehensive school reform models at scale:
Focus on implementation. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
Aladjem & Borman, 2006; Vernez, Karam, Mariano, & DeMartini, 2006

36. We need to support people
When staff are overwhelmed with the work, they are less likely to use and evidence-based practice if suggested by agency, supervisor or state.
Aarons et al. 2012

37. Formula for Success
Effective Interventions
well-operationalized
Effective Implementation Methods (implementation Team/Cabinet Team)
Enabling Contexts (Host Environments)
Socially Significant Outcomes

38. Inspirational Pep Talk

39. A wonderful evidence-based program that is poorly implemented is not necessarily better that a well implemented poor program.
We need to take what we know as effective interventions and implement these with fidelity

40. Morning General Session (Keynote) Clock Hours Code
Am312kN
ADVISORY: It is the responsibility of the participant to be sure to document his/her own attendance.
It is a criminal offense to use or attempt to use State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECHs)
that is fraudulently obtained.