What is MTSS?

A multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) framework provides a structure and process for schools as they work to prevent, identify, and address students’ academic, behavioral, mental health, and other needs. Schools and districts analyze district-level, school-level, and/or student-level data and develop plans to improve instruction and provide additional support to identified students by engaging in a process of continuous improvement. This includes setting goals for improvement, collecting additional data to monitor progress toward those goals, and modifying the plan as needed to reach the goals. MTSS should not be just “another thing” for schools to implement. Done well, MTSS serves as the overarching framework organizing all of the work schools do to prepare students for college, careers, and successful lives. While the structure and general processes involved in implementing MTSS are relatively consistent across settings, each school may implement MTSS in slightly different ways depending on their context and resources. Context-specific approaches may include different areas of focus, methods for collecting data, types of supports, and staff involved. Schools may also start with a specific focus (for example, improving behavior) and use a process of continuous improvement to expand and refine MTSS implementation.

History of SERVE’s Work with MTSS 

As the Region 6 Comprehensive Center (RC6), SERVE provided high quality, intensive capacity-building services to state departments of education, school districts, and schools across Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina from 2019 to 2024. Several of the RC6’s projects involved providing support for MTSS implementation. The RC6 regularly convened state MTSS leaders from the region to collaborate to improve MTSS supports to schools and developed written stories describing 14 schools’ MTSS implementation journeys. The RC6 also examined and reported on the application of MTSS to early literacy and the identification of students with characteristics of dyslexia in in Georgia and developed resources describing challenges in implementing MTSS at the high school level. Over the course of these projects, the RC6 recognized a desire among the three states it supported to connect and collaborate with each other on their MTSS structures and supports. A need for more insight into how MTSS can be successfully implemented in different contexts, particularly in secondary schools, also emerged. This website is one result of the RC6’s work to address that need. A 2025 brief produced by SERVE describes strategies and resources for MTSS implementation in secondary schools, including many examples of implementation drawn from middle and high schools. An earlier analysis of MTSS implementation in six high schools describes similarities and differences between their approaches. To assist those working to inform and improve MTSS implementation in their schools, this site also features key MTSS resources from The MTSS Center at AIR, IES, and other nationally-recognized entities that have published tools and resources for implementers.