The success of all students in schools, including students with learning differences, is contingent on how schools operationalize universally designed instruction, positive behavior support, and data-based decision-making for individualized and group-level interventions. When schools have fully functional multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)…

Meeting the needs of gifted students is particularly challenging for school counselors. This practitioner action research study examined the effectiveness of implementing complete universal mental health screening with early college high school students. Using a complete mental health approach, we classified students into need-based groups. The…

The state of Texas has been cited through the U.S. Department of Education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as failing to identify students under the Child Find component of the law using Response to Intervention/Multi-Tiered System of Support (RtI/MTSS). The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to identify…

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…

Multitiered systems of support (MTSS) teams use data to match student needs with an appropriate Tier 2 intervention. School counselors mobilize quickly to provide evidence-based and culturally affirming interventions. We present a compilation of best practices for delivering culturally affirming, small-group Tier 2 interventions with fidelity.…

This guide describes the use of a multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) framework, like positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), to restart classrooms and schools in a manner that all students, families, and educators are supported effectively, efficiently, and relevantly. This guide is not a primer on MTSS or PBIS. (For a basic…

Enny Elementary School (This is an actual school with a different name to protect the identity of all stakeholders. All data is real, and any names used are pseudonyms.) is in South Florida and operates under the auspices of The Palm Beach County School District. The school serves over seven hundred students with forty-three teachers and…

The purpose of this monograph is to advance thinking about transforming how schools play their role in addressing barriers to learning and teaching. In the process, the authors discuss embedding and framing the evolving literatures related to improvement and implementation sciences into a general intervention perspective. Part I of this monograph…

Evidenced-based mathematics interventions are critical for supporting students with mathematics difficulties. In research and practice, collecting implementation fidelity is important for ensuring that all the core components of the intervention are implemented as designed. Historically, implementation fidelity has been defined as multi-faceted…

Evidenced-based mathematics interventions are critical for supporting students with mathematics difficulties. In research and practice, collecting implementation fidelity is important for ensuring that all the core components of the intervention are implemented as designed. Historically, implementation fidelity has been defined as multifaceted,…

ERADICATE, implemented by Iredell-Statesville Schools, was a Project Prevent grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the Project Prevent funding was to target schools with students impacted by violent, aggressive, and disruptive behaviors. The district selected seven schools in the highest-need feeder pattern to implement…

In the fall of 2021, Redwood City School District (RCSD) placed a full-time, district-employed mental health counselor in each of its twelve schools in order to bolster district capacity to support student mental health and wellbeing. Stanford's John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (Gardner Center) conducted a Year 1…

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…

In this dissertation study, we investigated the social validity of Tier 1 practices within tiered systems, with specific foci on the Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-Tiered (Ci3T) model of prevention and the high school context. Specifically, we began by outlining the challenges associated with implementing Tier 1 practices, particularly within…