Leading Equity-Based MTSS for All Students

Ensure that Every Child Achieves Academic and Social Success  An equity-based multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) helps school teams engage all students across the full range of learning needs. MTSS ensures that the vision of equity for every student is achieved, with high expectations and quality instruction, while not straining a school’s budget or personnel.  Amy McCart and Dawn Miller seek to transform education so that it benefits educators, students, their families, and ultimately the communities in which they live. The authors do this by providing tools and methods to implement equity-based MTSS to improve academic, behavior and social outcomes for all students. This strategy-filled book teaches you how to • Engage all students in learning through an equity-based approach  • Analyze and utilize your resources • Apply strengths- and evidence-based principles for implementation • Incorporate effective tools to systematize MTSS Authentic examples across multiple grade levels and subjects contextualize the proven method presented in this book. The authors draw on their experience as SWIFT Education Center professional developers to guide you into creating an MTSS tailored to be effective for your student body. 

Table of Contents:
Foreword Wayne Sailor Preface Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction: Equipping You for the Journey to Effective MTSS What Do We Mean by Equity-Based MTSS? Constructing Your MTSS What is Your Analogy for Equity-Based MTSS? Why Do You (Yes, You) Want to “Do” MTSS? How to “Do” MTSS in Your School 1. Foundations of MTSS A Foundational Framework for Teaching and Learning Foundational Transformation in Action Practices Your Local Resources Are Foundational Too What Is Resource Mapping and Why Do It? How to Do Resource Mapping 2. Structuring Your MTSS What Is a Tiered Instruction Matrix and Why Do It? How to Create a Tiered Instruction Matrix Matrix Part 1: Universal Support Matrix Part 2: Universal Screening Matrix Part 3: Instruction and Support Matrix Part 4: Progress Monitoring 3. Engineering Your MTSS Revisit What and Why How to Do a MTSS Master Schedule 4. Making It Your Own MTSS Resource Matching Data Routines Organizing Your Data Processing Your Data Acting on Your Data Continuously Improving Your MTSS Conclusion: Equity-Based MTSS—A Reality! Appendix References Index

About the Author :
Amy McCart, Ph.D. is an Associate Research Professor with Life Span Institute with Adjunct Faculty status in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas.  She is the Co-Principal Investigator for the Equity Leadership in High Need Schools research grant, funded through the U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.  The focus of this work is to bring about equity in student outcomes by developing high quality, effective instructional leaders.  Dr. McCart is Co-Director of SWIFT Education Center, established in 2012 at the University of Kansas.  SWIFT is a national pre-K-12 research and technical assistance center designed to improve outcomes for all students, with emphasis on students of color and those with the most extensive need for support.  Dr. McCart leads an amazing team of technical assistance professionals in urban, rural and high need schools across the United States.  Dr. McCart learned much from her co-educators in her work on the ground in a number of urban school districts, including the Recovery School District in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, and the District of Columbia Public Schools.  Dr. McCart traveled to Ghana, Africa to support the Ministry of Education and continues their work in supporting all children.  Dawn Miller, Ph.D. is Associate Director of Technical Assistance of SWIFT Education Center at the University of Kansas.  Her early career focused on creating local educational support processes that address student needs and support educators and families. This experience evolved into a role in statewide implementation of a problem-solving process and, ultimately, to her home state’s Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) program.  As part of these efforts, Dr. Miller was on a committee that led state regulatory changes regarding Child Find and eligibility of children in the community for special education services, and helped to translate these changes into district procedures linked to MTSS.  She also had the opportunity to serve as a district team member leading the planning, staff development, implementation, and evaluation of MTSS.  Further, Dr. Miller is part of a national network of like-minded individuals and state agencies who share a vision for and systems approach to supporting student success.  She is most appreciative of the extraordinary educators with whom she has had the privilege to work in schools, districts, states, and nationally.  Together with them, she strives daily to support the notion of “all students – all systems.”

Review :
"Amy McCart and Dawn Miller lay out a multi-system of schoolwide support that will transform our educational systems. Their vision, backed with  research, provides a new mindset and framework so that we can reach our goal of fully educating each and every student within our resources." "Leading Equity-Based MTSS for All Students does an excellent job of presenting guidance that is not only relevant, but also very focused and practical.  Written in a user-friendly manner, it encourages and promotes teams to engage in educating and helping all students, providing a clear model of how to initiate a dialogue about equity and incorporate MTSS into schools." "The implementation of MTSS seems daunting to many, but this book is a valuable resource that will demystify and empower staff to engage in the development process. By using clear examples of districts and schools that implemented MTSS in a cost-effective manner, the authors provide a great service to the reader and the educational community." "The authors provide clear steps that a school may take to implement MTSS with an equity focus, along with with tools that can be used to keep students in a classroom with a general education curriculum. The result is a guide that is both practical and useful." "This book provides tools to ease a burden that plagues many schools with large numbers of students needing services while having limited resources. This is especially beneficial to guide schools through the inventory and planning process of implementing MTSS, which can seem like an insurmountable task when numbers are large." " Leading Equity-Based MTSS for All Students provides clear guidance to school leaders for the creation of a solid Multi-Tiered System of Support that meets the needs of all students. The conversational tone makes it easy to read, and it contains immediately actionable steps for schools to take. Whether a team needs to refine their existing system or create one from the ground up, this book has it covered." "Leading Equity-Based MTSS for All Students provides practical, realistic guidance to school districts that do not already have an MTSS plan in place. It provides critical tools that can be used to engineer the MTSS process system in any school." "Leading Equity-Based MTSS for All Students provides a missing gap in the MTSS field. By exploring the ′how′ and ′who′ of implementation, the authors provide useful guidance for administration and teachers/leaders seeking to implement and strengthen MTSS in their schools." "While other books and thinking in the field are based more on a medical model of labeling students and working with them separately from the rest of the students, Amy McCart and Dawn Miller′s book is strength-based, equity-based, and includes all students. It uses practical assessments and tools to guide the development and implementation of MTSS."