High-quality Tier 1 instruction is frequently conceptualized as the "foundation" for other tiers of intervention within multitiered systems of support (MTSS) models. However, the vast majority of Tier 2 intervention studies do not account for Tier 1 variables when examining intervention effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to…

Recent legislation through the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) has implications for school systems across the nation in creating and implementing a multi-tiered system of support. Pennsylvania has its own state legislation that also provides the language for schools to implement an MTSS framework that includes tiered support in academics through…

The relationships between response to intervention (RTI) data, cognitive ability, academic achievement, identification methods, and specific learning disability (SLD) identification have been studied extensively in recent years; however, an empirically supported method of identifying a learning disability has yet to be agreed upon. Without a…

In 2022-23, Round Rock Independent School District in Texas rebranded the Response to Intervention (RTI) as Multi-tiered Support System (MTSS). The purpose of this report is to assess the effect of MTSS on staff data literacy, MTSS implementation, and elementary school student achievement. We used a mixed-method approach, including analysis of…

The practice of serving students with emotional and behavioral challenges in the United States has been fraught with anxiety, fear, and stress. Fortunately, researchers in the field of emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have identified a range of empirically supported interventions to improve outcomes for students with EBD. This study sought…

Young students at risk for reading difficulties are likely to have long-term reading difficulties if they are not provided with evidence-based, supplemental instruction. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility of a Tier 2 reading intervention ("Reading RULES! Kindergarten;" RRK) and its promise to improve outcomes for kindergarten…

With a renewed commitment to systematic efforts as school leaders use multi-tiered systems of supports to meet students' multiple needs as educators navigate through the pandemic era, it is helpful to learn from implementers who screened successfully prior to the pandemic. This model demonstration paper features the experiences of four middle and…

This problem of practice explores disproportionality and its relationships with K-12 student social emotional learning experiences, out-of-school suspensions, and academic outcomes at Choice Public Schools (a pseudonym) a Charter Management Organization (CMO). It examines properly implemented culturally responsive multi-tiered systems of support…

The identification of students with specific learning disabilities has evolved since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) in 2004. This reauthorization gave state agencies parameters that disallowed using the severe discrepancy model for identification as a stand-alone method. In response to…

Behavior and academic outcomes in school are interrelated; students who struggle with academics are likelier to exhibit troublesome behavior and students who struggle with behavior tend to fall behind academically. Multitiered systems of support (MTSS) offer frameworks for providing increasingly intensive support for students with academic and…

Identifying a special education teacher's primary role has been complicated by competing legislative demands emphasizing every student's academic achievement in the general education curriculum versus some students' needs for individualized instruction that addresses their noteworthy academic achievement deficits. One result is that school…

School counselors are charged with creating comprehensive school counseling programs that recognize and affirm the wholeness and humanness of students, families, and their communities (Holcomb-McCoy, C., Mayes, R. D., Cheatham, C., Sharp, S., and Savitz-Romer, M. (2020). Antiracist school counseling: A call to action [webinar]. Center for…

In this autoethnographic article, I describe the ways in which I have used and adapted Descriptive Inquiry and the descriptive processes to further understand and support the needs of marginalized populations across three settings: a bilingual special education classroom in an urban school district, a research study with Spanish-dominant mothers,…

The purpose of this Action Research study was to examine and improve professional dialogue and collaboration on student literacy among teachers at a Pre-Kindergarten-Grade 4 elementary school serving 460 students in a small rural college town. The project focused on teachers' collaborative processes in their efforts to address the literacy needs…

For over 10 years, and prior to the release of the 2020 NASP standards, school psychology faculty at California State University, Long Beach have sought to broaden the training and preservice experiences of our students in consultation and systems change. The coauthors sought and obtained federal funding to provide scholarships for our students to…