The Mustang
Parkview Weekly Staff Bulletin, December 13, 2021
Holiday Spirit Dress Up Days
Field Trip Check List
Considerations for Holiday Activities
Holiday "Party"
Minimum Day
Some thoughts on MTSS- adapted from Jeremy Resnick
AN MTSS MOMENT
A common refrain in the world of MTSS is that “you cannot intervene your way out of a Tier 1 issue.” Essentially, this refers to the reality that we all have limited resources of time, energy, people, and materials that can be made available for Tier 2 support. Remember that, typically, one would expect to see about 10-15% of students receiving Tier 2 support in any given academic, behavioral, or social-emotional domain. When we see numbers much higher than that 15% threshold, the answer generally is not more intervention but a re-examination of what is happening in Tier 1 to ensure that it is designed to meet the needs of all students. One powerful way of increasing the impact of Tier 1 instruction is Universal Design for Learning which helps us to design learning experiences that are accessible and meaningful for all students, rather than the mythical “average” student. Of course, the study and implementation of UDL take quite a bit of time, patience, and trial and error.
Another strategy that may help to refine your Tier 1 efforts and increase their effectiveness is to conduct a “time assessment” in which you compare the time you expect to spend on particular activities and the actual time spent on those activities. In conducting this type of informal and personal assessment, you may get a sense that there are areas of your daily routine that can be made more efficient or effective. Many of the resources in CHAMPS can help us to create routines that maximize our time. Additionally, you may want to consider to what extent students are engaged and actively participating in the learning activities you have planned. If it is much lower than 70%, the UDL Framework (especially the principle of engagement) may give you some suggestions to increase students' active participation. Finally, think about the level of feedback you provide to students on a regular basis. Namely, do 100% of incorrect student responses receive accurate and timely corrective feedback?
Frankly, Tier 1 can be the hardest tier to address and improve upon. However, if we put the time and effort into making Tier 1 instruction our very best, first instruction, we often find that we need to spend less time on intervention.