Understanding Different Approaches to Help Struggling Students
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On February 24, Region II of the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD), in partnership with Havre Public Schools, will offer free training to schools that are not only new to the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) process but to Montana Behavioral Initiative (MBI) schools who are making the transition to MTSS. Interested participants should register by February 20.
Retired school psychologist, Carla Heintz and retired special educator, Sandy Elmore will present Making the Transition: MBI to MTSS at the Best Western Plus Havre Inn & Suites, located at 1425 Highway 2 Northwest beginning at 8:00 a.m. This training is for school teams. Each team, which can be comprised of two or more participants, will need at least one laptop. Teams will leave with an MTSS handbook.
MTSS is a schoolwide prevention framework shown to increase academic outcomes, reduce behavior problems, and improve services for students with disabilities. At the heart of the four-part framework, schools 1) use screenings to identify at-risk students, 2) provide a tiered system of increasingly intense interventions and supports, 3) conduct progress monitoring to assess students’ response to those supports and interventions, and 4) engage in collaborative teaming to make data-informed decisions about student learning.
Until recently, the Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) supported implementation of two distinct tiered models: 1) an academic model, referred to as response to intervention (RTI), and 2) a behavior model, known as MBI.
RTI is a framework with three levels of intervention that many schools use to help students who are struggling with academics. Most students can make progress in the first level, which stresses high-quality instruction
to support achievement. Students who need more intensive help can access it in the second and third levels of RTI.
MBI, on the other hand, is a proactive approach in creating positive behavioral interventions to support a social culture that establishes social, emotional, and academic success for all students.
Efforts to align these models under a single MTSS system have been hampered by perceived competing priorities. These perceptions include competitions with Common Core State Standards, RTI/MBI grant projects, and incompatibility with current intervention models.
The MTSS is more comprehensive. Although it may include the three levels of RTI, it goes beyond just academics. It also covers social and emotional supports. That means it can include behavior intervention plans.
MTSS encompasses the adults at school, too, by offering professional development for teachers. MTSS further focuses on creating ways for adults to form teams that assist struggling kids.
According to Heinz and Elmore, moving to a braided model approach with MTSS Behavior and Academics can be done successfully, as many Montana schools have already proven. This training will explore the aspects of the system that have proven effective in MTSS and will guide MBI teams into next steps to braid behavior and academic systems.
Heinz and Elmore will lead teams through activities that are designed to help them refine and strengthen the systems and practices currently in place at the universal (benchmark) level for behavior and academics. They have five objectives for this training. The participants will
• Review essential components of MTSS
• Assess the level of MTSS implementation in your school
• Understand systems that are available to support MTSS implementation
• Devise Action plan next steps for implementation
• Leave with their school’s current MTSS systems and practices documented in their own MTSS handbooks
Registrations for this workshop will be taken through February 20 or until the course, which is limited to 20 participants, is full.
The workshop will begin at 8:00 a.m. with sign in and will be followed by the presentation’s content. Teams will take a lunch break from 11:30-12:30, and the workshop will conclude at 3:30 p.m.
Those interested in attending should register online by visiting http://www.blueponyk12.com where they will click on the CSPD icon and then on the hyperlink that reads: “Register Here For Upcoming CSPD Training Events!” This training offers six Office of Public Instruction (OPI) renewal units to teachers.
Questions about this training can be directed to Region II CSPD Coordinator, Aileen Couch by calling (406) 395-8550, ext. 6714, or emailing cspd@blueponyk12.com. As a professional courtesy, Couch asks that anyone needing to cancel a registration to please contact her office.
Region II CSPD coordinates personnel development to meet the diverse needs of all children and youth in the counties of Cascade, Teton, Pondera, Toole, Glacier, Liberty, Hill, Blaine, and Chouteau. Although preference will be given to people living in these areas, participation by individuals from outside of Region II is also welcome.
