In this episode, Tiffany Bergen, MTSS Coordinator at North Rockland Central School District in New York, shares how her district moved from talking about MTSS to putting it into practice in classrooms, in the year it outpaced both the state and its county in ELA and math growth. Larissa and Tiffany discuss what building a district MTSS handbook exposed, why the district rethought what Tier 1 means, and the meeting norm that changed how teams talk about students. Discover what it takes to build trust, momentum, and a real MTSS culture in the first years of implementation.

Resources:

How to Build an MTSS Handbook for Your School or District

MTSS Month-by-Month Checklists

A Guide to Self-Assessment of MTSS Implementation

The MTSS Meetings Guide and Toolkit

Request a consultation

Takeaways:

• Tier 1 is core differentiated instruction, not an intervention.
• Lower the barrier, not the bar, so every student can reach grade-level work.
• The process is messy, but the product is clean.
• Make your handbook a living draft and ask staff to find the blind spots.
• Get really good at three to five interventions before adding more.
• Start every student meeting by sharing something amazing about the student.
• Table the meeting if the prep checklist isn’t done.
• Lead from the buildings, not from a desk. Visit classrooms as a guest, not an evaluator.

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