1. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Now we would like to spend a little time talking about how we view what MTSS means in our state by taking you through the evolution of MTSS in Colorado.
MTSS: Evolutions

2. One Perspective on History
CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
One Perspective on History
Our education system has grown up through a process of “Disjointed Incrementalism”
Gifted
Special Ed
K-12 Education
General Ed
The Education System’s Programmatic Evolution
Migrant
Title 1
This graphic from Reynolds represents historically what education looked like and what he referred to as “disjointed incrementalism.” As you can see, each special program/population has its own self contained circle overlapping with general education. This represents the idea that if a student was identified in one of these areas, they would typically leave the general classroom and go to another place to receive specific services for a specific amount of time and then return to their general education classroom and pick up where they left off.
ELA
At Risk
Reynolds, 1988

3. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Unintended Effects
Conflicting programs
Conflicting funding streams
Redundancy
Lack of coordination across programs
Nonsensical rules about program availability for students
Extreme complexity in administration and implementation of the programs
Confusion for students, families, and stakeholders
Some unintended effects of this model could include some of these points listed here. Typically there was little focus on strategically planning and coordinating efforts to benefit students by increasing efficiency and effectiveness due to staff and programs acting in a self contained manner.

4. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Old System Thinking
Title
Gifted
General Education
Special Education
Sea of Ineligibility
Migrant
Then there was also the notion that if a student didn’t meet the criteria of a program and didn’t fit into a specific category or group, they could be caught in the “sea of ineligibility” and not get their needs addressed appropriately.
Notes: Graphic clarification – consider varied audiences and their perceptions of proportionality (sizes of circles); people may wonder about representation (#s of students in circles as “ratios”)
At Risk
ELA
Adapted from RtI Innovations Conference Presentations

5. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Bridging the Gap
EVERY ED
Intensive Supports
Targeted Supports
Then Response to Intervention (RtI) from the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or Idea IN It provided a way to bridge the gap and provide appropriate supports for students. This idea changed ‘systems thinking’ from waiting for students to fail and then pursuing a special education evaluation to a prevention lens that focused on appropriately addressing the needs of struggling students before they failed.
Universal Supports
Adapted from RtI Innovations Conference Presentations

6. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Bridging the Gap
“EVERY ED” = Every Kid!
Intensive Supports
Targeted Supports
RtI was a preventative way to provide struggling students with systematic, targeted supports administered with fidelity to attempt to resolve learning difficulties. There was an emphasis on data, specifically measuring ongoing student progress to drive decision making about next steps.
So if students could be provided with targeted supports with fidelity and data was used to monitor their progress and drive decision making about next steps, this could improve student outcomes and possibly reduce special education referrals and evaluations. Instead of focusing on a discrepancy formula to determine eligibility for a learning disability, now schools could establish an RtI multi-tiered approach for early identification and support of students who were struggling. The goal was to catch students early and attempt to resolve learning difficulties utilizing systematic, targeted supports before data indicated a need to pursue a special education referral and evaluation. Also, this data could be used as body of evidence in determining eligibility for a student with a learning disability.
Then the idea of supporting every student at the level they needed to be successful to accomplish the goal of working to improve student outcomes for every student became the foundation for creating an intentional, preventative focused, overall system to support all (every) students otherwise known as a multi-tiered system of supports. (MTSS).
Universal Supports
Adapted from RtI Innovations Conference Presentations

7. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
So taking the notion of different levels of support to a next step or evolution in our thinking, here you see the traditional RtI triangle on its side delineating not only tiered instruction, but layered, tiered instruction that can increase with intensity.
Specifically, Universal (Tier 1) instruction and supports, if designed and delivered well, should meet the needs of most students. The goal of the Universal tier is to promote positive skill development, prevent problems from emerging, allow for student growth, and reduce the need for supports at subsequent tiers.
Even with effective Universal instruction and supports, some students will need Targeted (Tier 2) interventions and supports. The goal of the Targeted tier is to supplement the Universal tier and improve outcomes for this small percentage of students. Example: Small group, more time or more explicit focus on key concepts (BX/Academic).
When Universal and Targeted supports are designed and delivered well, there will still be a few students who will need Intensive (Tier 3) interventions and supports. The goal of the Intensive tier is to enhance existing supports to improve individual academic and/or behavioral outcomes. Example: Could be greater frequency, duration and intensity of instruction and progress monitoring for bx or academic growth to occur.
Sidenote:
In our APR Indicator 5 data – we annually report FAPE in the LRE for SWD. For the 2012 school year, 72.3% (n= 55,300) of school-aged SWD are in the regular class at least 80% of the time. What implications does this have for classroom instruction within your setting?

8. Colorado Special Education Data
CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Colorado Special Education Data
Note that (in CO) 80% of SWD are in the LRE for at least 72% of the instructional day.
Potential prompt:
What might the this imply in relation to how we ensure layered supports for every student within our system?
Source: Part B FFY Annual Performance Report for Special Education

9. Considerations for Looking at your Data
CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Considerations for Looking at your Data
Consider looking at Cohorts of students over several years.
Look at achievement data for Special Populations by school and by classroom if necessary.
Contrast high-performing schools with lowest performers
Identify those with high impact needs (FRL, ELL, etc.)
When high turnover of staff occurs- use climate survey as a gauge for staff morale.
Get more information by including ODR’s, truancy, S/E
For at-risk populations use attendance, behavior and achievement/grades regularly.
Here are some possible questions that you might think about.

10. Explicit connections (UIP/RDA)
CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Explicit connections (UIP/RDA)
Continuous Improvement Processes
Unified Improvement Planning (UIP)
Systems Implementation (“every ed”)
Results Driven Accountability (RDA)
Collaborative and specialized services (“special ed”)
Here are a couple of acronyms and links.

11. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Special Education within a MTSS
This fact sheet explores the benefits of a well-integrated MTSS for Students with Disabilities. Colorado has identified 6 essential components of a Multi-Tiered system of Supports. This fact sheet explores the connection of special education to each of these components.

12. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Resource Providers collect tool & distribute to tablemates.
Text Activity
Consult: Special Ed. & MTSS Fact Sheet
Steps for Text Rendering:
Individually: Quietly review this text.
Note: How is this fact sheet organized?
Highlight 1-2 phrases that you want to remember from this document.
Think about: Why is this document important or beneficial?
When facilitator gives you the signal, find someone from another table.
Introduce yourselves, and take turns sharing your notes.
Partner Talk
Timekeeper: You have 5 mins. for steps 1-4.
You have 5 mins. for step 5-6.
This is a protocol slide.

13. Busting Myths #1: National View
CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
Busting Myths #1: National View
1990s: Pre Referral policies
2000s: RtI gets to the tipping point
2010s: RtI morphs into MTSS
-RtI Action Network
So, how is Colorado
different?
Now, to give some context regarding RtI and MTSS let’s look first at the National evolution-
These bullets from RtI Action Network provide us with the national view’s “historical evolution” of RtI > MTSS.
We acknowledge some of the progression, and we value what we’ve learned from our national partners. We, however, have emphasized that in Colorado, we take a different stance.
Click for animation, and say:
In Colorado, we’d like to bust that myth…
(click to next slide)

14. Context for the Conversation
So please note, RtI will not go away; it is a process under the umbrella of MTSS. We like how the RtI Action Network has been able to say that RtI is a “process,” and MTSS is a “framework”. We can agree with that, but…
We also want to be able to recognize that we had viewed RtI a certain way in CO. MTSS is an organizational framework to address the needs of every student; whereas, RtI was (exclusively) the process for supporting struggling students or identifying students with learning disabilities.
Inconsistent implementation of RtI (nationally and in CO).
Colorado always defined RtI as a broad systems change, but it wasn’t always “played out” that way.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) has been active in Colorado over 12 years. Successful implementation efforts regarding these two efforts were separate at the state level—we wanted to leverage the strengths of PBIS implementation into an integrated effort of MTSS at the state level.
Emphasis on whole system versus interventions
What we know through evidence gathered through implementation across the country is that heavy emphasis was put on “interventions” and less on universal instruction. It became apparent that there was a need to look more comprehensively at the whole system.

15. CDE MTSS Overview Slides
Fall 2014
The Evolution of RtI in Colorado
This Fact Sheet provides information about the evolution, history, and implementation of two sustainable systems change frameworks, Response to Intervention (RtI) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). This document describes the transition from the separate and distinct RtI and PBIS implementation efforts of the past to the development of the integrated CO MTSS framework.
NOTE: This is like our other Fact Sheet. You can see that there are parallel visual displays and language embedded. All of our fact sheets are on our website.