Building District Capacity for Secondary and Tertiary Support
Establishing Individualized Planning Systems for Students
Students who do not respond to Tier 1, or Primary Prevention, need additional individualized supports to be successful. The blending of MTSS for academics and behavior becomes a much more integrated task, when students are identified as needing more individualized support. Some students are failing academically because problem behaviors interfere with their ability to learn. There are also students who engage in problem behavior in order to escape from academic tasks. In either scenario, the need for academic and behavioral support is often linked, when students are in need of individualized supports.
Many schools decide to organize MTSS for behavior around two planning teams. One team is responsible for school-wide planning. Visual graphs are used to organize information to share with the entire faculty. The school-wide planning team works with faculty to design, implement, and evaluate Tier 1 interventions.
The second team that is part of the MTSS for behavior effort is commonly referred to as the student improvement team (SIT). In MTSS for behavior, the SIT team includes a group of school professionals who meet regularly and oversee the progress of all students. When the SIT team decides a full team meeting is needed, an individualized team forms around that student, often including teachers, a counselor, the school psychologist, family member, and/or other community members.
If a school does not have a SIT team, a behavior support planning team will be needed as part of MTSS for behavior effort to support students in need of individualized behavioral supports. This SIT/behavior team reviews ODR data on a regular basis and automatically refers students with a designated number of ODRs. In most cases, teams decide to automatically refer a student with two or more ODRs. If the SIT team is integrated, automatic referrals are also defined for academic supports. In some cases, behavioral interventions are implemented to improve academic achievement, while in other cases behavioral interventions are needed to increase/improve a student’s social behavior.
Several members of the SIT team are responsible for monitoring all students referred to the team, and for summarizing data on all interventions that are implemented. The summarized data for every student at Tier 2 and 3 are brought to the SIT team. Decisions are made to continue with interventions, fade out interventions, or modify and/or increase the intensity of interventions for students needing support.
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Summary of Tier 2 Intervention Planning Systems
Tier 2 interventions are created by the school team with direct feedback and involvement from the entire school faculty. These interventions are intended to support groups of students who are not responding successfully to the school’s social skill expectations with Tier 1 (Primary Prevention) interventions alone. Students needing Tier 2 support may be receiving between two to five ODRs during the year. A very common Tier 2 intervention that is already used in many schools is called the Check in/Check out system. This intervention is also referred to as the Behavior Education Program (BEP) or the “Check and Connect” system.
The Check in/Check out system can be used with multiple students, and is implemented during each class period. The student receives feedback on his or her behavior, which is documented on the student’s Check in/Check out sheet. The student gains points for following a clear list of positive social behaviors, which are closely related to the school’s behavioral expectations but individualized for the specific teacher’s classroom expectations, for example. The student checks out with an adult at the end of the day and brings the Check in/Check out sheet home for his/her parents to sign. Students are able to earn access to positive activities or items that were agreed upon at the beginning of the process. The purpose of this targeted group intervention is to provide selected students with a higher level of structure and more frequent positive feedback to ensure his/her academic and/or social success. Click here for more information about training materials used by some Kansas schools to implement the Check in/Check out system (also referred to as the Behavior Education Program).
There are a number of different types of Tier 2 interventions to choose from; these interventions can focus on either academic or behavioral improvement issues. Other examples of targeted group interventions include social skills instruction, newcomer’s clubs (intended to introduce new students to the school-wide expectations for social behavior upon entering school at any time during the year), and peer and/or adult mentoring. The essential features of targeted group interventions at Tier 2 are that:
- The student wants to be involved,
- The interventions are available throughout the day,
- All faculty members are aware and participate in the interventions,
- The referral process is rapid (e.g. within 48 hours),
- The interventions are considered low effort for teachers to implement, and
- The interventions are based on an assessment of the function that is maintaining the problem behavior.
Targeted interventions at Tier 2 are meant to provide support to students who engage in minor problem behaviors in ways that meet each student’s needs without requiring full SIT team meetings. School teams often have some of these strategies in place but have never connected them to the SIT team. In addition, data may not have been collected and systematically reviewed by the SIT team. The goal of Tier 2 is to begin connecting targeted interventions to the SIT referral process and to make sure that there are different types of interventions that will respond effectively to the different reasons why students are engaging in problem behavior. The figure below shows how teams can begin to organize different types of interventions at Tier 2.
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Function-based Supports for Students at Tiers 2 and 3
Each student referred to the SIT team is evaluated prior to identifying an intervention(s). Information is gathered about why the student is engaging in the problem behavior. Students often engage in problem behavior to achieve some social outcome. Sometimes a student engages in problem behavior to gain peer attention. Smaller children often scream or cry in order to obtain a toy or game that they want. Other students may engage in problem behavior to escape from someone or something they dislike. Once the function of a problem behavior is identified, interventions can be developed to either replace the problem behavior and/or to change the environment so that whatever is “triggering” problem behavior is removed or changed in some way. In some situations, there are internal or physiological factors contributing to problem behavior. Mental illness, physical discomfort, allergies, ear infections, and other issues can be associated with triggering problem behavior as well. The process involved in identifying why a student is engaging in problem behavior is referred to as a functional behavioral assessment (FBA).
At Tier 2, this FBA process is meant to be very simple and efficient. A student SIT team meeting is not needed in order to support a student engaging in minor problem behavior. The key for all school teams is to “work smarter, not harder”. Therefore, the SIT team may decide to immediately refer the student to a targeted intervention instead of holding a more time-intensive SIT meeting for the student. Each student’s progress on targeted group interventions is summarized and data are monitored at every SIT meeting.
In addition to school-wide ODR data, the SWIS program (www.swis.org) now has a data collection system dedicated to graphing data on the Check in/Check out system for individual students.
For a demonstration of the data collection system for Check in Check out,
click here and:
- Go to the upper right hand side of the SWIS website to the “Demo/Log in” link
- Click on the demo link,
- Enter the username and password offered on the site
(you may need to scroll down if you can’t see any password information), and
- Click on the word CICO at the very top of the page.
If a targeted intervention is not successful for a student, the SIT team will need to gather more FBA information. At Tier 2 or the Secondary Prevention level, an individualized plan for a student may include modifications to a targeted group intervention based on the function maintaining a student’s problem behavior. For example, the Check in/Check out system may need to be modified by the SIT team in order to add additional reinforcers, to change the adult supporting and coordinating the student’s Check in/Check out process, or to increase prompts for appropriate behavior.
The SIT team will make these modifications based on more detailed information that is gathered to understand why the initial targeted intervention was not successful. A SIT team member may need to observe the student, gather additional interview information for the team, and assess what activities, events, or items the student finds reinforcing. Direct observation data help provide evidence that the team has identified the function of the behavior and can help the team understand what types of modifications to the targeted intervention are likely to be successful. MTSS for behavior schools identify individuals within the SIT or school faculty who learn how to create effective measurement systems and who can assist with direct observation in classrooms and other school settings during specific times of the day.
Assessment-based intervention strategies that directly address the function maintaining a student’s problem behavior include a range of options, such as: 1) teaching the student to use new social skills as a replacement for problem behaviors, 2) rearranging the environment so that problem behaviors can be prevented and desirable behaviors can be encouraged, 3) identifying clear plans for responding to problem behavior, and 4) monitoring, evaluating, and reassessing this simple plan over time. These assessment-based interventions may be added to the targeted group intervention already in place for the student as additional interventions at Tier 2.
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Summary of Tier 3 Intervention Planning Systems
Although there are not many students who are in need of Tier 3 interventions, the amount of time and resources needed to support these students are significant. A more intensive functional behavioral assessment (FBA) process may be needed for students at Tier 3 to confirm the function maintaining problem behavior. Other human service organizations may also need to become involved in the planning process at Tier 3, including juvenile justice, mental health, child welfare, and/or developmental disability services.
Wraparound or person-centered planning is recommended for students receiving more intensive individualized behavioral plans at Tier 3. Wraparound is a philosophy of care and a team-based planning process involving the student and his/her family that results in a unique set of individualized support services and interventions aimed at achieving positive outcomes for the student. Wraparound evolved as an approach for supporting students with emotional and behavioral disorders.
Another planning process, person-centered planning, was originally designed to support individuals with developmental disabilities by identifying preferred social, work, and recreational activities and lifestyles, and to improve the individual’s quality of life. Both approaches can be used by teams to change the ways in which students receive supports, or to create new supports to better meet the unique needs of the student and his/her family. These planning approaches are not just used with students in special education. Wraparound and person-centered planning are effective processes for any student needing support at Tier 3.
A student’s team at Tier 3, the Tertiary Prevention level, includes family members, school professionals, and community members. The team meets on a regular basis to plan, implement, and monitor the student’s individualized plan of behavior support. Tier 3 behavior plans commonly include interventions across home, school, and community settings, and address student/family needs across multiple life domains. Wraparound and person-centered planning enhance the FBA process because of the rich amount of information gathered, often resulting in the identification of additional interventions that will improve academic and social outcomes for students who participate in the process. Facilitation of planning meetings that utilize both person-centered strategies and more complex FBA/intervention planning processes should be provided by a school professional with a more comprehensive knowledge of the principles of behavior.
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District Tertiary Support Teams
Some districts have behavioral specialists available to provide support to students with more challenging behavior, while other districts do not. Districts that do not have many professionals with backgrounds in behavioral expertise often struggle to build capacity for conducting FBAs and developing individualized behavioral planning.
Districts with behavioral specialists will need to assess their current behavior support systems and create a plan for connecting MTSS for behavior efforts to those support systems. Districts without behavioral specialist positions will need to seek to develop partnerships with other organizations or create new positions within the district. Each district has unique challenges in building effective training and technical assistance systems across all schools for individualized student behavioral supports planning.
The goal of the district leadership team is to identify the best way in which to build a system for supporting the SIT or behavior teams. The district self-assessment includes a list of strengths and needs related to building behavioral expertise and a list of the possible ways in which limited resources can be used to build capacity. For instance, in many districts, there are school professionals in special education, school psychology, or other fields with a background in FBA. These individuals might be able to assist the district team in moving forward; however, the way in which these individuals do their jobs may need to be reviewed to allow them more time to participate in MTSS for behavior efforts. It is also important to seek out all of the behavioral support resources in the community. The district team will use this information to create three-year action planning goals for Tier 3, Tertiary Prevention capacity building.
A number of districts have adopted a district tertiary support team model. When the SIT teams or behavior teams have already tried targeted interventions and simple-to-moderate FBA and intervention planning, the team can refer the student to a district tertiary support team for assistance. The district tertiary support team includes one or more professionals with behavioral expertise who can both facilitate individualized planning meetings that include wraparound or person-centered planning. They can also assist the district in building capacity by providing technical assistance to schools implementing behavioral interventions at the Tier 2 and 3 levels. Individuals with behavioral expertise at the district tertiary support team level should be given strong consideration for assuming district trainer roles, and may be involved in the following types of activities:
- Facilitating Tier 3 individualized planning teams for students,
- Providing district in-service trainings on function-based problem solving to school staff,
- Training SIT teams in the process of implementing MTSS for behavior, and
- Mentoring other school professionals who will provide Tier 3 supports.
District leadership teams must include Tier 3, or Tertiary Prevention, action planning goals in the three-year action plan. It is important for district planning teams to start working on tertiary capacity-building objectives in the action plan immediately, since typically it takes a few years for a professional to develop behavioral expertise.
Some districts include members from a local cooperative, consultation groups, or university professionals on the district leadership team. Other district teams are actively building collaborative planning processes with professionals who can provide support to families and community members using Medicaid funds. Kansas Medicaid funding is available for eligible children and youth, up to the age of 21, to receive individualized, intensive behavioral support from trained facilitators at home and in the community (please note that Medicaid billing reimbursement is not available during school hours).
For instance, district teams meet with professionals from mental health, developmental disabilities, and child welfare agencies in the community to make sure they are aware of the Medicaid training and reimbursement system, and create interagency teams that focus on improving service integration by linking the individualized tertiary plans in school with the behavioral supports being provided in family and home settings.
In addition, school professionals seeking intensive Tier 3 training opportunities in MTSS for behavior can audit the Medicaid behavior support training program that is available to professionals who are participating in the billing and reimbursement system in Kansas. Districts are now sending professionals who will become part of the district tertiary support team to audit this free training program. Individuals participating in this intensive year-long training will learn about Tier 3 supports by working directly with students during the training. Information about this training program and the Medicaid reimbursement system is available at www.kipbs.org.
Helpful References for Tier 2 and Tier 3
Resource Library: Tier 2 and 3
Introductory Module on the Principles of Behavior
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