[Music] right now i am enjoying the best chocolate cake and the thing about this chocolate cake that makes it so wonderful is the multi-layers of chocolatey goodness so let me tell you how this cake is very similar to a multi-tiered system of support when we talk about creating a continuum of supports for learners i want to make one thing really clear okay if i had a cake right now i would frost it to say supplement not supplant because if i'm ordering a layer cake i don't just want the second layer or the third layer there's no point in ordering a layer cake if i can't have all of the layers and in our classrooms today we need to make sure that every single student has access to best first instruction in tier one grade level classrooms that is the bottom that is the foundation for the cake and some students we recognize will need more than that to be successful and that is a beautiful part of variability and so we want to layer on services that students need so all of our students are general education students first and some students benefit from special education services or behavioral support or support socially and emotionally and we have to make sure that we create a system that supports these layers and ensures that students get more and not instead of too often we think about tiers as locations we use language like tier 2 students or special education students as though they belong somewhere different if we are to create inclusive and equitable classrooms everyone needs that bottom layer of support and when they need it we have to build systems that ensure that every single learner gets what they need academically behaviorally and socially and emotionally now to do this we have to zoom out and recognize the importance of building teacher competency of making sure that we have robust implementation drivers like curriculum and scheduling and technology and also this requires incredible instructional leadership and family and community engagement but with all those ingredients we can make a beautiful layer cake that truly honors all of our students and you know what i want you to think about that the next time you have a piece of cake