Hi, I am Dr. Katie Novak and I am here to
talk about the importance of every school and district building a
Multi-Tiered System of Support. Now, let's zoom back a little bit to 2012 to try to
answer the question "Why is it so important for us to build a multi-tiered
system of support?" and to do that we need to start with the Race to the Top. The
Race to the Top initiative in 2012 brought three key education changes that
we're all probably very familiar with today. The first was the Common Core
standards which really focused on getting all students college and career
ready. The second was that all districts needed to move away from Response to
Intervention or an RTI system which was very reactive and focus more on
building a Multi-Tiered System of Support or MTSS which is far more
proactive in addressing the barriers that may affect all students from being
able to learn. And, the third which was a real overhaul of educator evaluation
which focused on four key domains: curriculum and instruction and
building lessons for all students; the second domain was actually teaching all
students which really got us to look at the importance of inclusion; and, then, of
course, collaborating with families and communities; and, our professional
responsibilities which was a renewed sense of professional development. So,
starting in 2012, we have this real focus on how do we design standards-based
lessons to allow all students to really be college and career ready, or future
ready, while eliminating the barriers in a system that prevent all students from
being really successful. To do that we really need to transform the way that
we're designing teaching and learning which required a definite
investment in professional development. As we were moving away from a
"one-size-fits-all" model of teaching and learning to one that was based more on
the principles of Universal Design for Learning. So, in 2012 the State of
Massachusetts had their first MTSS Blueprint which started looking at all
the systematic factors that are absolutely necessary to ensure that all
students can learn. So, let's really unpack MTSS and how it's different
from RTI because it builds on this concept of how do we provide
intervention when students are not learning. Now, RTI or Response to
Intervention actually started as an alternative evaluation procedure for
special education and it was very focused on students had disabilities or
students had learning disabilities and we want to move away from that and
realize that schools and districts actually have disabilities which may
prevent all students from learning. Now, of course, we recognize that students
sometimes face barriers that make learning difficult. These barriers may be
academic, they may be behavioral, or they may be social emotional but the reality
is there's significant research and evidence that says that when systems are
designed to meet the needs of all learners, student achievement is very
alterable. All student can grow despite barriers and all students can be college
and career-ready if we create a system that allows for their success and
prevents failure. And, to do this, we really need to work on eliminating the
barriers that prevent some schools and districts from building these robust
systems. So, in RTI, the idea was that all students receive really rich Tier 1
inclusive instruction in the least restrictive environment available to
them. This concept that all students were Tier 1 students first in some ways got a little cloudy because even though the federal legislation said
that all students must receive Tier 1 and then be supplemented with targeted
or intensive support, if necessary, the reality is is that some districts
actually supplanted Tier 1 instruction. Meaning that students became Tier 2
students or Tier 3 students and they receive that small group instruction
instead of Tier 1. Now ,the original RTI actually showed us
that it was "all" "some" and "few" and MTSS still stands on that belief that all
students are Tier 1 students first. Again, going back to Race to the Top, all
students deserve access to grade-level standards which will allow them to be
college and career-ready either through really rich standards-based
instruction or through those access and entry points. The next [step] is that you
need a culture of data whereas some students are going to suggest through
universal screening measures or diagnostic assessments that those
students need more and they absolutely deserve more. That's one of the
underlying principles of equity but to do that a system has to be ready to give
students more. And, if you ask educators why can't your students get
Tier 1 and Tier 2 support you start hearing barriers like: "well, we don't have
a schedule for that"; "we don't have the staffing" or the resources or the
curriculum to support students in that way". Maybe teachers don't have the
professional development in order to meet the needs of all students and
inclusive classrooms or there is no environment of data or there's no shared
responsibility or decision-making among a school of stakeholders. And so, those
are the barriers that are eliminated through a multi-tiered system. And so,
what you'll learn about through this video series is that actually our
systems can be disabling to students. When we think about implementation
science or what drivers and resources we have to have in place so that all
students can receive really rich Tier 1 instruction in the least restrictive
environment available to them and then Tier 2 and Tier 3 support if
necessary, academically, behaviorally and social emotionally, we need to look
towards a multi-tiered system of support. So, why is this so critical? All students
deserve to be as successful as they can possibly be and they deserve to do that
with diverse peers. We believe in equity and inclusion. We believe in dismantling
the systems that prevented students from learning together because environments
were restrictive and, we believe that we can intervene in addition to having a
really first best instruction to allow all students to make the most growth
possible. We do that here in Massachusetts, as well as
throughout the nation, through building a Multi-Tiered System of Support which
is very evidence-based. Now, one last note about why evidence-based is such a
powerful statement is previous to the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA,
which was adopted in December of 2015, we focused on No Child Left Behind, which
was focused on research-based. Now, how is "research-based" different from
"evidence-based"? So, for example, Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, has 30 years
of research behind it. There are peer-reviewed studies dating back for
three decades on neuroscience and how UDL really allows more students to
access and engage with rigorous curriculum. Now, I could take that
research-base and create a product and sell it to you and say this is a great
product it's research-based it's going to meet the needs of all of your
students. The reality is, is I have no evidence that my research-based program
is actually effective. To do that, I have to make sure that I have peer-reviewed
research studies that are gold standard and have a treatment group and a control
group and actually show a strong evidence-base for the practice. And so,
this allows you to know that it works. And, what we know about districts and
schools who build multi-tiered systems it works. And, when these systems are
built using programs and staffing procedures and professional development
that is also evidence-based, we know that we can eliminate and alter some of the
barriers that prevent all students from learning. And so, take this journey, share
in the responsibility for creating a system that allows all educators and
students to be effective, academically behaviorally, and social emotionally by
building the system from the outside in and we will truly be nation's best
across the board.