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Home Teaching & Learning Curriculum and Instruction Resources Multi-Tiered System of Supports
Multi-Tiered System of Supports
A framework that aligns Response to Instruction and Intervention with the California State standards and the systems necessary to ensure academic, behavior, and social success.
What is a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)?
California’s MTSS focuses on aligning initiatives and resources within an educational organization to address the needs of all students. It is an integrated, comprehensive framework for local educational agencies (LEA) that aligns academic, behavioral, and social-emotional learning in a fully integrated system of support for the benefit of all students. MTSS offers the potential to create systematic change through intentional integration of services and supports to quickly identify and meet the needs of all students.
California’s vast and complex Prekindergarten through grade twelve (Prek–12) educational system requires a multifaceted approach that is scalable and sustainable. The California Department of Education’s (CDE) vision of “one coherent system of education” offers an opportunity to build the foundation for educational excellence. Through the use of Implementation Science, Universal Design for Learning, and the Whole Child approach, among other evidence-based interventions, MTSS affords a full range of academic, behavioral, and social support for all students to achieve.
View a quick primer video on MTSS External link opens in new window or tab. (Video; 3:27), created by the Orange County Department of Education (OCDE), for an overview of MTSS.
RTI², PBIS, and MTSS Statewide Initiative Training and Resources Policy Briefs
RTI², PBIS, and MTSS
MTSS, Response to Instruction and Intervention (RtI²), and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are often spoken of synonymously, and for those new to MTSS, it can be difficult to determine what people mean when these terms are used interchangeably. It is important to keep in mind, though, that MTSS is a framework for aligning resources and initiatives; it is a method of organization. As such, MTSS encompasses both RtI² and PBIS, and systematically addresses support for all students.
Multi-Tiered System of Support and how it relates to Response to Instruction and Intervention and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports as described in the paragraph above.
Since MTSS is a framework that brings together both RtI² and PBIS and aligns their supports to serve the whole child, it also relies on data gathering through universal screening, data-driven decision making, and problem solving teams, and focuses on content standards. MTSS aligns the entire system of initiatives, supports, and resources, and implements continuous improvement processes throughout the system.
In particular, MTSS assists LEAs in:
Promoting LEA participation in the focus to align the entire system of initiatives, supports, and resources
Relying on a problem-solving systems process and method to identify problems, develop interventions, and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in a multi-tiered system of service delivery
Transforming the way LEAs provide support and setting higher expectations for all students through intentional integration of instruction and intervention services and supports so that systemic changes are sustainable and based on standards-aligned classroom instruction
Endorsing Universal Design for Learning External link opens in new window or tab. instructional strategies so that all students have opportunities for learning through differentiated content (i.e., teachers reacting responsively to a learner’s needs), processes, and products
Challenging all school staff to change the way in which they have traditionally worked both in and out of the classroom
Using schoolwide and classroom research-based positive behavioral supports External link opens in new window or tab. for achieving important social and learning outcomes
Supporting high-quality standards and research-based, culturally and linguistically relevant instruction External link opens in new window or tab. with the belief that every student can learn and excel, including students of poverty, those who are gifted and high achievers, students with disabilities, English learners, and students from all ethnicities evident in the school and LEA cultures
Integrating a data collection and assessment system External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF), including universal screening, diagnostics, and progress monitoring, to inform decisions appropriate for all students
Implementing a collaborative approach to analyze student data and work together in the intervention process
RtI² is an approach that focuses on individual students who are struggling academically and pulls together resources from the LEA, school, and community to promote students’ success before they fall behind. It is systematic and data-driven with tiered levels of intervention to benefit every student.
PBIS External link opens in new window or tab. is an approach that focuses on the emotional and behavioral learning of students, which leads to an increase in engagement and a decrease in problematic behavior over time. It assists the LEA in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral interventions that improve social and emotional behavior outcomes for all students.
So, while RtI² focuses on academics and PBIS focuses on social and emotional learning, MTSS encompasses them all. It acts as a way of organizing supports within an LEA so that both the academic side and the social-emotional-learning side are aligned to serve the whole child.
Questions: Julia Agostinelli | JAgostinelli@cde.ca.gov | 916-322-9503
Last Reviewed: Thursday, April 23, 2020
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