1. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Why MTSS?
Here are some initial considerations.

2. …And MTSS “connects the dots”
OLS Connections
The Office of Learning Supports interfaces with many other offices in our department. Our collaboration helps ensure that we are (all) aligned in our thinking. We understand that schools and districts may feel like there are many varied expectations. Our work is to help clarify that we are connected. Implementation of a multi-tiered system of supports does not deter a local education agency (or LEA) from focusing on Educator Effectiveness or the READ Act. Rather, we can be thinking about how all the dots are connected. At the Department, we are working to support legislation and implementation of expectations within school systems. To do that, we see how the framework of a multi-tiered system of supports enables implementation of our strategic priorities and of laws that are intended to facilitate positive student outcomes.

3. MTSS Makes it Possible UIP CAS READ ICAP
Thinking of connecting the dots…
It’s not that MTSS is another thing “on the plate”…maybe, instead, it is the plate. It is the “work” – if a well-articulated, well-designed MTSS is in place, you will have a system that is efficient, effective, durable, and sustainable. You will have the capacity to implement legislative priorities and additional initiatives.
It truly is a ‘framework’ that holds all those elements in as the “big picture.” Another analogy to consider is to think of MTSS as “a frame” (holding in all the legislative priorities and efforts we need to include).
ICAP

4. Example (p. 4 of the document)
CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Example (p. 4 of the document)
As you can see in the layout, this document is written in a 3-column matrix format. Columns are as follows:
CO legislation
Summary of the legislation
How CDE OLS interfaces with efforts to implement the legislation
We are showing (here) a document that we have posted on the MTSS Resources web page.
Visually, we have one row of the document included here.
This is the Parent engagement legislation as an example. The document layout is described on this slide.
Note: The third column is speaking about the work of the Department; however, we think it’s important to understand how MTSS provides a framework and how to address implementation of these laws within individual schools, districts, and BOCES.

5. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Colorado MTSS is a Key Organizational Framework for Educational Legislation Priorities.
This document is on the website on the CDE MTSS Resources page.
*This document can be accessed at:

6. MTSS is a Value-Add to CO Key Legislative Priorities
CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Prompt (TTYN = turn to your neighbor):
What is/are the primary legislative priority/priorities for your site/situation?
Fall 2014
MTSS is a Value-Add to CO Key Legislative Priorities
This is a brief list of just some of the legislative initiatives schools and districts are trying to make sense of right now. We have found that MTSS can provide an effective framework for organizing an approach to all of these in a systematic way.
Map local priorities = How could/does MTSS add value to your system and implementation of legislative priorities?
Colorado Departement of Education

7. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Systems Thinking
Our goal here is to provide the “discipline literacy” of “Systems Thinking”.
(Note: Connection – in Colorado, Standards provide opportunities for rigor, relevance, and discipline literacy. “thinking like a writer, historian, etc.” With MTSS implementation, systems thinking is an emphasis.)

8. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Systems Thinking
Systems thinking is an approach to organizational improvement based on awareness of the whole, the part, and the interactions between the two.
Image: MS ClipArt
We start with Systems thinking.
Systems thinking is not about one element; we are thinking about the symbiotic relationships. We’re thinking about how individual elements contribute to the whole and compose that larger entity. We’re also thinking about how that whole system supports each of its disparate parts. For the organization to improve, the focus cannot be either one or the other. How might that concept translate or compare to other systems you have seen (small or large) that are successful or that have faltered?
Analogy: The human body is one system with many “systems” within it (skeletal, circulatory, etc.); so, too, MTSS focuses on the “one system” with multiple systems – and Essential Components – that lead to its effective functioning.
Adaption and expansion of ideas expressed in Asayesh, G (1993, Fall). Using systems thinking to change systems. Journal of Staff Development, 14(4) 8-12.

9. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Systems Thinking
This quotation leads to some of the “how”. We always like to say that this work is not “person-specific”; MTSS implementation demands certain elements, but it should be more than a solo project or a siloed activity. It is not “about the individual” –it’s not even about the individual STUDENT…it’s about every student. It IS about the processes and the drivers that ensure your system functions effectively to reach desired outcomes.
Adaption and expansion of ideas expressed in Asayesh, G (1993, Fall). Using systems thinking to change systems. Journal of Staff Development, 14(4) 8-12.

10. What are Examples of “Systems” in Schools?
CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
What are Examples of “Systems” in Schools?
School-wide Systems
Non-Classroom Systems
Classroom Systems
Individual Student Systems
Family/Community Systems
Administrative support
Professional development to ensure fluency
Team-based action planning
Resource allocation for effectiveness & efficiency
Regular, relevant acknowledgement for adult behavior
Integrated initiatives
Continuous evaluation and regeneration
Note the circle diagram on the right. This slide helps to illuminate some systems that might be in place.
There are ‘systems’ behind systems. (Click to have the blue box disappear to reveal more.)
Consider here examples of systems.

11. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
See: Resource Handout
Personal Reflection:
What “habits” do you model well?
What would you like to improve?
Be mindful of your processing today. When are you using your “habits” effectively?
This handout comes from the Waters Foundation website. (
Although the materials on that website target students (as is visible with some images in the handout), these habits could be attributes that adults adopt to inform more “systemic change.” Shifting the mindset. Becoming a systems thinker through application of these habits.
Consider the prompts on the slide.