From MTSS Talk to MTSS Action

Well, and I think that that makes such a big difference To know how MTSS can impact the environment of your school and students.

And so I would love to talk a little bit about before you kind of began this work, because it sounds like you've been doing this for a long time.

How long have you been in Rockland? I can't remember you told me.

Or I've been, I've lived in the Rockland for seven years, but I have been at North Rockland for four years now.

Okay.

So I think that you can probably speak to the history of things, right? So, you know, before this work began, you know, before you started implementing at the different elementaries, what did it look like to support struggling students? And what part of that kind of told you that like things needed to change? And not just maybe paperwork or the tools, but like just how you went about the work.

So there's an amazing team that existed even before I joined North Rockland.

And so, you know, it was guided by a lot of consultants and guided by a lot of research.

But I feel like as we progressed and now it's probably year five or six of implementation, like that's the part that was missing.

It's kind of getting off that hamster wheel.

We're having all these conversations, but where does the actual implementation and work happen? And so I feel like that's in the past two years, the pivot that has happened with me and my new role about going into classrooms.

I do walkthroughs with the administrators.

We take a deep dive.

And I feel like the biggest shift for us as a district has been this narrative previously, and this is the growth that has led us to where we are today, that the language that was used before was tier one interventions, tier one interventions, and tier two interventions.

As we grew our pedagogy, I feel like we had a deeper understanding that tier one is what all of our kids are getting.

And so it's not necessarily the intervention, but it's our core differentiated instruction.

And so how are we making sure that we're not lowering the bar for any students, but just lowering the barrier and ensuring that while we want to meet students where they are, they still have equitable access to grade level materials.

And so that geared a lot of the work that myself and the team.

So there's a district team.

We created a MTSS handbook with the support of the branching minds team.

And that kind of serves as our Bible to guide us throughout the work.

And then there are building teams.

There are grade level teams.

And then there are student teams.

So I feel like each of the, you know, stakeholders in each of those groups understands very well what their role is.

Well, and I think that that makes such a big difference To know how MTSS can impact the environment of your school and students.

And so I would love to talk a little bit about before you kind of began this work, because it sounds like you've been doing this for a long time.

How long have you been in Rockland? I can't remember you told me.

Or I've been, I've lived in the Rockland for seven years, but I have been at North Rockland for four years now.

Okay.

So I think that you can probably speak to the history of things, right? So, you know, before this work began, you know, before you started implementing at the different elementaries, what did it look like to support struggling students? And what part of that kind of told you that like things needed to change? And not just maybe paperwork or the tools, but like just how you went about the work.

So there's an amazing team that existed even before I joined North Rockland.

And so, you know, it was guided by a lot of consultants and guided by a lot of research.

But I feel like as we progressed and now it's probably year five or six of implementation, like that's the part that was missing.

It's kind of getting off that hamster wheel.

We're having all these conversations, but where does the actual implementation and work happen? And so I feel like that's in the past two years, the pivot that has happened with me and my new role about going into classrooms.

I do walkthroughs with the administrators.

We take a deep dive.

And I feel like the biggest shift for us as a district has been this narrative previously, and this is the growth that has led us to where we are today, that the language that was used before was tier one interventions, tier one interventions, and tier two interventions.

As we grew our pedagogy, I feel like we had a deeper understanding that tier one is what all of our kids are getting.

And so it's not necessarily the intervention, but it's our core differentiated instruction.

And so how are we making sure that we're not lowering the bar for any students, but just lowering the barrier and ensuring that while we want to meet students where they are, they still have equitable access to grade level materials.

And so that geared a lot of the work that myself and the team.

So there's a district team.

We created a MTSS handbook with the support of the branching minds team.

And that kind of serves as our Bible to guide us throughout the work.

And then there are building teams.

There are grade level teams.

And then there are student teams.

So I feel like each of the, you know, stakeholders in each of those groups understands very well what their role is.