Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a framework used in education to provide targeted interventions and supports to students, starting with universal strategies and progressing to more specialized interventions before considering special education referral.
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what is mtss which is short for
multi-tiered system of supports I'm
going to go over it today so you
understand this especially as a new
teacher and we're also going to go over
a practice test question that you might
see on your teacher certification exam
started so if you are trying to become a
teacher you might see things on your
teacher certification exam regarding
multi-tiered system of supports or
mtss and if you are a brand new educator
this might be completely foreign to you
now you will see Concepts around mtss
definitely on any special education exam
but you might also see them on early
Elementary education exams and other
exams that have to do with intervening
or providing interventions for students
so let's first go over what is MTS s so
again mtss stands for multi-tiered
system of supports and it has replaced
the old RTI response to intervention in
a lot of States not all states but in a
lot of states and basically it is a step
before putting kids in special
education we don't want to just say oh
he has a learning disability throw him
in special ad oh she's struggling throw
him in special aded we don't want to
overd desate students with special ed
classification number one because they
might not belong in special education
and number two it's costly it takes a
lot of time and these kids just might
need some interventions in the general
education classroom now other kids might
need to go into special education
because they have exceptionalities that
require more nuanced approaches and more
specialized approaches is but other
students might just be struggling a
little bit and we can help them in the
General Ed classroom so that's why we
use mtss first which is a system of
supports we Implement before we move
anybody into any kind of special
education designation so mtss has three
tiers and these are all just about
strategies inside the classroom the
first tier is strategies that have to do
with all students so so these are just
your good old-fashioned strategies that
every student is going to benefit from
so for example activating background
knowledge when they are about to read
something that is what we do with all
students maybe slowing down and using
explicit systematic instruction that is
something we do for all students we
might also use some scaffolding
techniques in reading or in math good
for all students so first tier everybody
gets it it's good for every every body
the second tier is going to be a little
bit more specialized for students who
struggle a little bit more so for
example you might have a group of
students who are having a really hard
time with their fluency you would might
separate them out temporarily and work
with them in a small group while the
rest of the class moves on to something
that they can do as an anchor activity
that would be considered a tier two
intervention under mtss because you're
giving it to some students not all
students so you just might have a few
students who struggle a little more
maybe with their math facts if you're a
math teacher maybe in science reading
they have trouble with some of the more
complex vocabulary and things like that
so some students get that next tier tier
two of the mtss interventions and then
tier three is very specialized
interventions now I'm going to use a
behavior example so let's say that you
have some students who are really
struggling with behavior in the
classroom you've tried tier one which
are Behavior strategies for all students
you've tried tier two which is behavior
strategies for some students now we're
going to go into tier three which is
strategies for very few students this is
the step right before re we refer
anybody to special education we want to
really hone in and focus on these
students who are having trouble and give
them the intervie interventions they
need for their specific needs and so
this could be anything from tallying how
many outbursts a student has and then
going over those outbursts with with the
student later and kind of talking about
strategies to reduce those Outburst it
might be um some sort of calm down
period where you have a student who's
getting very activated or animated and
having a hard time you know
participating quote normally in the
classroom so you might have that student
go to a calm down Center where the
student might be able to squish on a
stress ball or do some deep breathing or
things like that these are strategies
that very few students need but using
these strategies might work for these
very few students where we would not
have to put them in special education
for Behavior we can just make sure in
the general education classroom that we
use these very focused very specific
strategies for these
students now beyond that let's say that
that doesn't work the student is still
struggling now it might be time to call
in some experts in special education so
we've gone through the mtss the three
tiers the first tier for all students
second tier for some students third tier
for very few students these two three
maybe one students are still struggling
and can't kind of engage in the activity
with the general education classroom Now
we move into the pre-referral process
where we are actually saying okay
special education might be the next
viable option for this student but
notice mtss we did first and mtss is
something that we all do as general
education teachers now on the exam
you're going to be asked questions about
mtss especially if you're taking a
special education exam so let's go into
my presentation so I can show you this
in context and you can see how it works
out on your certification exam okay so
this is an item from my 5355 study guide
this is my new special education study
guide and it's a rather big item and I
want to go through it with you because
it hits on all kinds of things that you
want to be on the lookout for especially
when it comes to mtss now normally I
would tell you to work backwards and
read the answer choices first but this
is a choose all that apply and I need to
have an understanding of the question
stem at least and I can see that this
right here is relatively short so I'm
going to read the question first even
though normally I say read the answer
choices first let's have a look which of
the following happens during the
pre-referral process of an English
language learner being considered for
special education choose all that apply
all right couple of red flags here when
I'm thinking about English language
learners for special education are there
English language Learners in special
education absolutely we have students
who are struggling to learn the new language
language
and they also need services in special
ed 100% however do we sometimes over
represent English language Learners in
special education yes and this is
something we want to avoid remember
learning a new language is not a
disability now you might say of course
it's not a disability when we are in the
dayto day we might see somebody
struggling and we might automatically
think oh that person might need special
ed we're bogged down we have lots of
students there are thousands of kids in
the school sometimes English language
Learners are over represented in special
education because we mistake their
language process with a disability so on
this exam and others be on the lookout
for that we don't want to do that we
want to make sure we're using things like
like
mtss to provide strategies in the
general education classroom before
sending people to Special Ed this is
like a little Barry
to special education because not that
special education is bad it's just that
we don't want to have a lot of kids in
special ed who don't need it and that's
where mtss and RTI used to be called RTI
come into play so let's have a look at
the answer choices here remember we have
to select all that apply and here's an
important factor you have to get them
all correct to get the item correct you
cannot um get two correct and get the
get some credit there is no partial
credit you must get the entire thing
correct in order to get the points just
so you know all right let's have a look
at a teachers use RTI or mtss to support
the student in the general education
classroom and to see if differentiation
will help the student yes mtss is
multi-tiered System of supports it's
used in the general education classroom
and it's where we support students with
the tier one tier two or tier three
interventions before ever considering
special ed and remember mtss is the new
RTI the both very similar mtss is a
little more nuanced but they kind of do
the same thing response to intervention
multi-tiered systems of supports it is a
step before designating somebody to
special education B teachers and
Specialists determine if the student is
experiencing language barriers to avoid
misrepresentation yes remember this is
part of the pre-referral process for
special education we want to make sure
that the elll is not just having a hard
time learning a new language which is
difficult which there are barriers and
we want to make sure we don't just throw
everybody in special EDS so B looks good
to me as well C teachers and Specialists
gather a team to draft an individualized
education program for the student an IEP
that's moving too quickly we're in the
pre-referral process here pre-referral
means we're not drafting any IEPs IEPs
is like the kids in special ed we want
to try to avoid special education and
make sure that this student doesn't just
need some quick interventions in the
General Ed if the student does need
special ed then we go into the referral
process and then an IEP is drafted and
that will help the student further but
if the student is not special ed we
don't want to put the student there so
I'm not going to choose C I'm going to
cross that off there D teachers and
Specialists monitor the student gather
quantitative and qualitative information
and analyze the information
yes that's part of the mtss process as
well we're constantly Gathering
quantitative numbers and qualitative
observations to see how the student is
doing after we Implement some of these
tier one tier two and even tier three
interventions so D is looking good yes
we're Gathering data we don't just throw
people in special ed We Gather the data
we analyze it to see if special
education is indeed what the student
needs or if the student just needs
scaffolding and interventions in the
general education classroom so right now
I have three a b and d let's have a look
at e teachers and Specialists Place
student in special education classes
temporarily to determine if it will help
them we don't do this no special ed is
not a temporary thing special education
follows the student through their
academic career and even into college
and even into their career they can
advocate for their accommodations in
their career settings as well so this is
not temporary we do not use special
education as a temporary placement
absolutely not e is out making a b and d
the correct answers all right so that's
how you can use your knowledge of mtss
to pass your teacher certification exam
especially in the Special Education
certification exams you will see mtss
and RTI although RTI is being phased out
on your certification exams so I hope
that clears things up for you what it
actually is and also how we use it in a
scenario on the test and in the
classroom now let me show you where you
can get some of our resources that go
even more in depth for your teacher
certification exams just hop on over to
Kathleen jasper.com as you can see here
and we have tons of study guides online
courses and everything for you to pass
your exam so the study guide that I was
just looking at in this video is our
special education 5355 this is a
relatively new test you can see we have
a full study guide here we also have an
audio course that goes with the study
guide that's a really great companion
with the study guys so if you're someone
who likes to learn you know through Audi
books or podcasts and things like that
this is a great combination here we also
have it on Amazon if you prefer a
physical copy and you can see a lot of
people have found this book we just
published it to be helpful for them in
passing this exam it's packed full of
information lots of practice tests and
practice questions this is a great book
here now beyond that we have free
webinars of course I do every Saturday
give or take where where we go through
free uh webinars with free study guides
little mini study guides to help you
with all of your certification needs and
you can check that out under the free
webinars tab we have even more audio
courses here teaching reading leadership
and all of that and then of course we
have online courses we just published
the teacher interview course and the
school leadership course these will help
you with your interview if you're
looking for a new job I was an assistant
principal and I hired lots of teachers
so I know what they're looking for when
they are hiring you and also online
courses you know from everything for
elementary education on you can check
those out here all right so I hope that
helps you today with questions regarding
mtss multi-tiered system of supports if
you have any comments go ahead and throw
those below it'll be our pleasure to
have a look at those and answer those
consider subscribing to this YouTube
channel and giving this video a thumbs
up I will be back soon with more
information good luck on your teacher
certification exams and good luck in the
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