School’s out for summer! 🎉

I remember blasting that song in my car on the final day of school each year (or for the younger generation, perhaps it’s “What Time Is It?” from High School Musical 2). To be honest, I blasted “School’s Out for Summer” in my classroom while waiting for that final bell to ring. Is there a better feeling than that first day of summer break? I have yet to find one.

When I was a teacher, I would sometimes compare teaching to hosting a dinner party.  And as the host, I always want to cook the easiest meal so that when my guests are at my home, I can engage with them. 

What Does Tutoring Have To Do With MTSS?

There are many important components to a successful implementation of an MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) framework. All of the components rely on and inform one another (to see a visual of how MTSS is a framework, check out this MTSS flowchart).

It’s no surprise to see more states and school districts adopting a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) as their framework for supporting students across academics, social-emotional learning, and behavior for all students. MTSS is a collaborative, evidence-based approach to differentiating and personalizing instruction and intervention for all students. 

In my first year of teaching, I had a 2nd-grade student named Colton¹ who under-performed on both the beginning and middle of the year universal screener assessments. He was deemed at risk of falling behind his grade-level peers. 

In our previous blog, we asked the question, “Is Special Education and MTSS the same thing?”

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights estimates that six percent of public school students are enrolled in gifted and talented programs (source). 

“Around 15 percent of the world’s population, or estimated 1 billion people, live with disabilities. They are the world’s largest minority.”

- United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs 

When developing strategies to improve academics and social-emotional learning, it’s easy to get stuck focusing on only the curriculum, lessons, and approaches we use with individuals or groups of students. Sometimes, it can be beneficial to take a step back and think about the context and environment in which students are learning and how those can be improved.

A couple of weeks back, I was facilitating an MTSS support team session when one of the participants shared with the group that there were exactly 43 days of school left. She had the remaining time left in the school year down to the hour and minute! While some schools may have longer, we’re all in that phase of the “final countdown.”