MTSS Lead Weekly Updates

• Kudos to Westhaven Principal Stroble for reminding teachers to progress monitor students as a part of the morning announcements!
• Kudos to Barret's Chapel K-8 Angel Erikson, Snowden K-8 Stephanye Jimerson & Susan McClanahan, Holmes Road Tracy Hunter, and White Station High Tara Bone for continued on-going support of new leads.
• Kudos to Downtown Elementary for encouraging use of iReady Personalized Instruction on social media during the recent inclement weather days.
• Kudos to the following schools by group for having the highest percentage of students with 30-49 minutes last week (even with only two instructional days). All of them had 70% or more of students fall into this range for Reading and Math! Keep up the great work in pushing students towards growth and proficiency through consistent personalized instruction!
• SOAR: Sea Isle, Oak Forest, Chimneyrock
• IGNITE: Delano, Whitney, Cherokee, Egypt, Lucy
• SUPE: Frayser-Corning, Bethel Grove, Lowrance K8, Sheffield Elementary, Geeter K8, LaRose, Sherwood Elementary and Sherwood Middle

Many of you are reviewing your TNPulse Tier 2 and 3 plans and have noticed that while the plan and Pearson aimswebPlus match, the Specific Area of Need may not be right which can be a source of the "out of compliance" message in PowerBi. Please ensure that you have the correct SAN selected at the top of the plan.

Basic Reading: Letter Naming Fluency, Letter Word Sound Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation, Nonsense Word Fluency

Fluency: Oral Reading Fluency

Comprehension: Silent Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension

For example,

Subject=Literacy

Specific Area of Need=Basic Reading

aimswebPlus Progress Monitoring Area=Letter Word Sound Fluency

Please ensure that you have uploaded the following to your school folder by Friday, February 28.

• Winter Characteristics of Dyslexia Decision Making (scan the templates or use an Excel sheet like fall window)
• Spring 2025 CSRS
• All data team meeting agendas and minutes to date

A few years ago I developed a professional learning related to data driven decisions using the text Data Driven Instruction 2.0. As we enter the time of year where only a few instructional weeks remain before the end of year state testing begins, we often become overwhelmed with the various data points that area available because they are literally everywhere and we are apt to push too many actions into the short amount of time hoping we can close the gaps. While we may not be able to address everything all students are missing in only a few weeks, we should definitely be thoughtful when it comes to our approach and that includes what we do during RTI2A in small group.

We have already used data to identify a specific area of need, provided assessments to determine instructional levels, and then provided instruction and progress monitoring along the way and perhaps even made a few adjustments along the way. We should not replace this identified area for support with TCAP and EOC drills, but rather stay the course moving students along through consistency. Please use face to face small group instruction and intervention in combination with iReady Personalized instruction to support students through multiple practice opportunities.

Below are Key Principles for Data Driven Instruction:

• Assessment: Creating rigorous interim assessments that provide meaningful data​

• Analysis: Examining the results to identify the causes of strengths and shortcomings​

• Action: Teaching more effectively what students need most.​

• Culture: Creating an environment in which data-driven instruction can survive and thrive.​

As you take a look at results, consider these core drivers before you action plan.

• Immediate: Aim for turnaround of assessment results​

• Simple: User friendly, succinct data reports-item level analysis, standards level analysis, bottom line results​

• Teacher-owned: Teacher analyzes student work and is supported by instructional leaders​

• Test-in-hand: Have test and student work in hand and identify the gaps​

• Deep: Look for patterns to see the gap-move beyond WHAT students got wrong and answer WHY

• What standard(s) need to be re-taught to the whole class?​

• Why didn't the students learn it?​

• What techniques will you use to address these standards?​

• What does effective re-teaching look like?​

• Individual/Small Group Considerations: Which standards need targeted small group or individual re-teaching? Name the students.​

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From Jessica Dainty and Haley Richardson-

We are moving the Community of Practice on Spelling back to the original day and time on the technical support calendar, which is March 20, 2025, from 10 - 11:30 a.m. CT.

We will use the April target office hours on April 22 to present on screening for characteristics of dyslexia and answer questions.

• Grades 9-12 only Spring Universal Screener for identified students based on Early Warning System March 18-April 4.
• Grade 3 only Pearson aimswebPlus Spring Benchmark March 31-April 4
• Grades K-8 Spring Universal Screener for all students April 28-May 16.