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MTSS-I Virtual Learning Summit 2023

Tiered for Success: An Unwavering Focus on Student Growth

August 9-10, 2023

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Sponsors:

mtssi logo University at Albany logo Educational Partnership logo Cornell University logo

Event Schedule

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Day 1

Time Session
8:30 - 9:55 AM Welcome
10:00 - 10:50 AM Ensuring Equity-Centered MTSS-I
11:00 - 11:50 AM District Implementation Team Planning: Using the District Capacity Assessment
12:00 - 12:30 PM Lunch Break
12:40 - 1:30 PM Overview of Middle School Evidence-Based Literacy Intervention Practices
1:40 - 2:30 PM The MTSS-I Playbook: Building a Winning Plan
2:40 - 3:30 PM Panel Discussion - Exemplar District

Day 2

Time Session
8:30 - 9:55 AM Welcome
10:00 - 10:50 AM Initiatives Inventory: Alignment and Management of Programming to Support Student Growth
11:00 - 11:50 AM Introduction to Reading-Tiered Fidelity Inventory
12:00 - 12:30 PM Lunch Break
12:40 - 1:30 PM Trauma-Informed MTSS-I
1:40 - 2:30 PM Data – We Have it... Now What?
2:40 - 3:30 PM Planting Joy: Integrating Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and Mental Health (MH) Supports Into Our Tiered Supports Framework

Keynote Speakers

Download the program to read full speaker bios

  • headshot of stacy

    Dr. Stacy Williams

    Director of NYSED’s MTSS-I Center located at the University at Albany
  • headshot of chris

    Christopher Suriano

    Assistant Commissioner of NYSED's Office of Special Education
  • headshot of jose

    Dr. Jose Castillo

    Associate Professor of School Psychology at the University of South Florida
  • headshot of kevin

    Dr. Kevin Quinn, Ed.D.

    Associate Professor of Special Education in the School of Education at the University at Albany
  • headshot of nikole

    Dr. Nikole Y Hollins-Sims, Ed.D.

    Senior Educational Consultant & Strategist for Hollins-Sims Consultation

Session Descriptions

Ensuring Equity-Centered MTSS-I

Systems Capacity

MTSS aims to ensure that all students have the opportunities and support needed to address their unique academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs. However, MTSS doesn’t inherently disrupt educational contexts that can disadvantage students with marginalized identities. If these contexts are not intentionally addressed, MTSS can lead to ongoing or even worsening inequities and disproportionate outcomes. This session will explore the importance of and strategies for critically reflecting on systems and mindsets that perpetuate inequities in order to improve the implementation of MTSS.

Presenter: Trynia Kaufman

District Implementation Team Planning: Using the District Capacity Assessment

Systems Capacity

We will introduce National Implementation Research Network’s (NIRN's) Active Implementation Framework (AIF) and the District Capacity Assessment (DCA) as a tool used by district’s to build capacity to implement and sustain MTSS. The presentation will connect district wide goal setting for implementation using the DCA.

Presenter: Rodrigo Campos, PsyD

Overview of Middle School Evidence Based Literacy Intervention Practices

Instruction & Intervention

This presentation will highlight reading intervention practices for older students that are research-based and which were recently endorsed by the Institute of Education Sciences. We will share key points participants may use when advocating for explicit reading instruction at later grades. We will briefly review reading interventions and activities aligned with reading science, such as decoding multisyllabic words, providing fluency building activities and structuring comprehension building practices within the secondary program.

Presenters: Gina Kupfer, Eileen Tobin, Arlene Crandall

The MTSS Playbook: Building A Winning Plan

Capacity and Fidelity

One of the core features of successful implementation is a clearly communicated plan. Join us as we walk through the critical elements of an effective plan for putting together a playbook. We will offer participants a template for communicating the crucial information that your teams need to be successful in implementing MTSS-I in your districts.

Presenters: Meredith Rivet & Steve Rappleyea, PsyD

Initiatives Inventory: Alignment and Management of Programming to Support Student Growth

Capacity and Fidelity

Have you struggled with managing all the initiatives within your district? In this session we will define what an initiative inventory is, and how to use it to build bridges between programs. Using this tool can assist in identifying duplicative initiatives and determine whether resources are being allocated equitably.

Presenter: Renee Beaulieu

Introduction to R-TFI 2.1: Implementation Considerations, and an “Unwavering” Focus on Student Growth in Elementary School and Beyond

Instruction & Intervention

Elementary schools that faithfully implement evidence-based instructional practices have the best chance of achieving the goal of successfully teaching all their students to read in the primary grades. But what about our students who leave elementary school with unresolved reading deficits? With its October 2022 release of the RTFI 2.1, Michigan’s MTSS Technical Assistance Center (MiMTSS) provides an invaluable road map to schools with students in grades 4 and higher. Participants in this session will be introduced to this latest addition of the R-TFI through the lens of Implementation Science, with particular attention to the specific challenges of implementing tiered supports beyond the elementary years.

Presenter: Daniel Carroll

Trauma-Informed MTSS-I

Systems Capacity

In this session, Kevin will review the biological, cognitive, emotional and behavioral effects of trauma (including the COVID-19 pandemic) on child and youth development and the ways they in turn affect a student’s academic and behavioral functioning in the classroom. He will also share a defendable theory of action that serves as a sound foundation for delivering trauma sensitive support to all students. Finally, he will discuss practices educators may use to support students who are overwhelmed by the toxic stress response that they developed as a result of experiencing traumatic adverse childhood experiences.

Presenter: Dr. Kevin Quinn, Ed.D.

Data – We Have it... Now What?

Assessment and Decision-Making

Research supports the value of good data for moving school initiatives in support of our students. Join Meredith in this session to discuss the necessary data to move initiatives and best practices to collect, analyze, determine goals, and create action plans for success. She will provide participants with simple-to-use templates to take to your teams in order to be truly successful in data-driven practices.

Presenter: Meredith Rivet

Planting Joy: Integrating SEL and MH Supports Into Our Tiered Supports Framework

Instruction & Intervention

SEL? MH? PBIS? MTSS-I? How do all of these fit together in a unified and simple system supporting students? We will provide a clear framework for integrating social emotional learning and skills with mental health support systems within the MTSS-I framework.

Presenter: Steve Rappleyea, PsyD & Natasha J. Hogg