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Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is an example of education-speak. One can read about it and listen to an explanation and still be short of understanding it.
Superintendent Grant Storey acknowledges the challenge, calling it a “complex and nuanced systems strategy for student support.”
Yes, but what is it really?
Here’s how Storey describes it.
In brief, the Multi-tiered system of Support (MTSS) is a framework for enhancing the implementation of evidence-based practices to achieve important outcomes for every student. It builds on public health principles that have been shown to better organize the efforts of adults within large systems to be more effective and includes Team driven Shared leadership, data based decision making, family/student/community engagement, a continuum of supports, and aligned evidence best best practices.
MVSD Superintendent Grant Storey
How this fits into the overall plan is to take the many aspects of MTSS that already exist in our daily practices and better align and define these practices and supports across our buildings. We are constantly trying to be better for every student and this is a proven way to do that. You can learn more from OSPI: https://ospi.k12.wa.us/student-success/support-programs/multi-tiered-system-supports-mtss
If this sounds complex, it is. I sat down with Storey and asked him direct questions about MTSS. Unfortunately, the recording for that interview only captured my side, not Storey’s side. Storey was kind enough to re-respond by email to the questions below.
1. Is MTSS a direction happening nationally in the education space?
Yes, Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is established best practice across the education space. There has been much research that shows that as school systems work to align academic, social emotional, behavioral, and response to interventions you see enhanced student success outcomes that are more equitable for all students.
2. What would MTSS look like in the MVSD? What would change or is changing? What would MVSD look like in 2028 when all districts in Washington will need to implement MTSS?
Great Question. MVSD already implements a number of best practices that are part of the MTSS continuum. We are doing really good work, and our goals and biggest change is to have more intentional systemic alignment of how all of these different practices fit together through measures like, but not limited to, setting common language and student data review protocols across the district, connecting teachers with meaningful tier 1 instruction (day to day teaching strategies) supports and easing access to these supports, and shared documentation for student support teams looking at students responses to interventions (academic, social emotional, and behavioral).
3. It seems that MTSS wants to be all things within the school system- academic, social support, behavioral intervention and family intervention. Does a child have a right to privacy? If so, where does that privacy begin?
MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) is sometimes misunderstood as expanding a school’s reach into students’ personal lives. That is not what MTSS does, and it does not change student or family privacy rights in any way.
To be clear:
MTSS does not authorize schools to collect more personal information than they already are legally allowed to collect. All existing privacy protections—such as FERPA—remain fully in effect. Schools continue to use only information that is directly relevant to a student’s education, just as they always have.
MTSS is not about knowing more—it is about using what schools already know more effectively.
At its core, MTSS is an internal framework that helps schools:
- Align supports across Tier 1 (universal), Tier 2 (targeted), and Tier 3 (intensive)
- Determine whether academic or behavioral supports are working
- Adjust interventions when they are not effective
- Avoid duplication, inconsistency, or guesswork in how support is provided
The “data” in MTSS is not new or invasive. It is primarily made up of:
- Academic performance (e.g., coursework, assessments)
- Attendance
- Observable school-based behaviors
This is the same type of information schools have always used to make educational decisions.
MTSS does not require, expect, or justify access to private family matters or personal details unrelated to school. There is a clear boundary: if information is not relevant to supporting a student’s learning in school, it is outside the scope of MTSS.
Students absolutely retain their right to privacy. That right begins wherever information is not educationally necessary, and that boundary is unchanged by MTSS.
Where MTSS does represent a shift is in clarity and partnership, not intrusion. It ensures that:
- Families are informed about what supports are being provided
- Schools are transparent about what is working and what is not
- Decisions are made collaboratively when additional support is needed
Participation from families is not about disclosure of private matters—it is about shared understanding of a student’s experience in school.
So to answer your question directly:
No—MTSS is not about schools being involved in every detail of a child’s life. It is a framework for improving how schools deliver support within their existing educational role, while fully respecting and maintaining student and family privacy.
4. Why are you focusing on special ed?
I want to be clear that MTSS practices are not specific to special education. The MTSS alignment and improvements we are working on serves all students and improves educational outcomes for everyone. The enhanced student data review protocols, common documentation and language used by our student support teams, enhanced tier 1 teaching strategies will allow us to monitor each individual student’s need and response to intervention (academic, social emotional, behavioral) and better connect them to the right special education services if needed.
5. So, are you trying to improve the quality of education in the classroom?
Yes.
6. How has the teacher’s union responded to this?
Positively. Our teachers are experts in the field of education and they understand how improvements in MTSS is best for students and makes their work more impactful, more collaborative, and more supported.
7. Do you expect enrollment for special ed to increase, decrease, or stay the same?
We expect that improved MTSS will allow us to better identify what interventions students might need and how they respond to interventions. This means we should be better at identifying which students and what type of special education services a student needs. I can not really say if we will see an increase, decrease, or no change in the number of students receiving special education services, but I can say our numbers will be more accurate.
8. Given that special education students cost more per pupil, is this going to cost more for the district?
The district will need to make strategic investments to support a more robust MTSS model. This could be in the form of professional development for educators, increasing time for collaboration and data review, supporting teacher leaders and/or MTSS coordinator positions to support district alignment, tier 1 instructional supports, increases in intervention specialists at the primary and secondary level. However, it is unclear if these investments will cost more. The MTSS model makes our entire system more efficient so the investments the district makes with our state, federal, and local funding will better serve students and be more impactful.
9. How do you tailor MTSS to 744 students in MVSD.
MTSS is a framework for enhancing implementation of evidence-based practices to achieve outcomes for every student. It is similar to approaches used in public health to help focus and organize the efforts of practitioners within the system to be more effective. Our hope is that it will create more equitable access to instruction and support for each and every student. It also aligns to the district’s mission that “Every Student Shines” by supporting a vast array of metrics for success.
10. Does “outcome” include warm clothes and food? Does MTSS encompass that model?
In some cases. MTSS again aligns supports across our system which can mean physical, nutritional, academic, social, and behavioral.
11. There are some that would say schools are overreaching their mandate by entering the social work space. How would you respond to that?
Whether it has been explicitly named in the past, schools have always functioned in the social work space. Our job is to work closely with students and families so that they can equitably access the services that they need to grow and thrive. Sometimes that means linking students to supports offered by the district or sometimes connecting them with other community organizations.
12. Are parents involved in the MTSS model and if so, how are they involved?
Yes, Family engagement is a central tenet of the MTSS model. Part of our work in MTSS will be to improve our systems so that family engagement occurs at the district, school, and classroom level so we can establish positive relationships and two-way communication with families so that we can work together in meaningful decision making.
13. Are parents being informed of the changes happening?
We are trying. Building Principals have been sharing our MTSS work in their weekly newsletters home. The district has been communicating about the work through the website and at board meetings. We will continue to work to inform parents and the community about our practices and how they fit into the larger MTSS model.
14. Is MTSS about improving the quality of teaching or is this how to solve behavioral problems or emotional needs or are they both?
Both.
15. So teachers are getting additional training?
Yes, our approach to improving MTSS is continuous. We are working to establish a multi-year implementation plan which incorporates our other professional development work connecting these skills with the larger MTSS model. We are also creating specific collaboration time to review student data through shared protocols and to implement “instructional rounds”, which is a strategy that allows teachers to observe colleagues teaching and work together to identify best tier 1 teaching strategies.
16. Will this MTSS program require an additional staff member or is this all going to be in-house?
We want to develop the leadership capacity to coordinate and implement this work from within. However this work will require strategic investments like those described in my answer to question 8.
17. What is the status of the Handle with Care program?
Editor’s note: Handle with Care is a program passed by the school board in June that allows police to inform school officials about police calls involving students. The school district can approach students to discuss the nature of the call without any requirement for parental consent or knowledge.
Last Spring, the board authorized development of a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in collaboration with the Winthrop Marshal’s Office and the district’s Student Health Advisory Committee. The draft outlines roles, responsibilities, and strict limitations, including confidentiality requirements aligned with FERPA.
The program has not been implemented. We remain in preliminary discussions, including identifying points of contact amid staffing transitions and assessing capacity.
There are no signed agreements, no active pilot, and no expanded partnerships at this time.
The district remains interested in the model and intends to continue working toward a future pilot as conditions allow. There is no additional action to report at this time.
