District Capacity Building

District Needs

• What do the district data patterns (e.g., reading, SEB, attendance) suggest might be areas to consider building capacity in related to MTSS?
• In what areas are staff expressing a need for students or for staff development? If you’re unsure, a survey or focus group might be a great place to start!

District Fit

• What other initiatives or priorities are currently being implemented across the district? How might implementation of MTSS complement this work, conflict with this work, or over-extend staff? If you’re unsure, an Initiative Inventory could be a great place to start!
• How does MTSS fit with the district’s continuous improvement plan?
• What is the district’s vision for MTSS implementation in one year? Five years?
• How does the implementation of MTSS fit with family and community values?

District Capacity

• What resources (e.g., FTE, personnel, money) can the district allocate to MTSS? 
• What administrative policies/procedures or organizational changes must be made to support the implementation of MTSS?
• Are district and school leaders knowledgeable about and in support of MTSS? 
• Do staff have the capacity to implement practices and collect data to inform improvements to the system?
• What support for MTSS implementation does the ISD offer?

The MiMTSS TA Center offers many options to fit the varying needs, capacities, and goals of districts across the state. These options can all be classified under the categories of systems, practices, and data.

Systems

To install, implement, sustain, and scale-up MTSS implementation across a district, systems are essential. District systems, which include establishing leadership involvement, ensuring organizational environments are set up for success, and developing staff competency, increase the likelihood that MTSS practices can be used effectively at the school level. Several factors must be in place for systems to be developed. These include:

• Support from district leadership
• District teaming structures
• FTE and time allocations for individuals  to participate in training and coaching activities to fulfill their roles (e.g., coordinators, coaches, team members, teaching staff)
• Access to data systems to support continuous improvement

The MiMTSS TA Center provides training opportunities for district teams that wish to develop the infrastructure necessary to support the school-level implementation of MTSS. Find our recommended training sequence and corresponding readiness activities:

Practices

In order for programs and practices to be implemented well across a district, they must meet the criteria for usability. According to the National Implementation Research Network, “It is necessary to have sufficient detail about the evidence-based practice so that you can train staff and administrators to use it competently; measure the use of the practice with fidelity or integrity; and replicate it across all of your implementing sites such as classrooms, schools, and districts (Fixsen et al., 2013; Metz, 2016). The following criteria need to be in place to ensure that your evidence-based practice is usable:

• Clear description of the program
• Clear program components that define the program
• Operational definitions of program components
• Practical fidelity assessment”

The MiMTSS TA Center provides learning opportunities to support educators' use of literacy and social-emotional behavioral evidence-based practices. Districts should assess their needs, capacity, and goals in order to determine which innovations are the best fit for their context. Additional information on the usable innovations can be found on the School Capacity Building page of the website.

Data

District teams collect and use data to assess their capacity to support the school-level implementation of MTSS practices. They also use data to engage in continuous improvement related to capacity, fidelity, and outcomes. 

• To assess district capacity, the District Capacity Assessment can be used. It is essential that the assessment is administered by a trained facilitator. Training resources can be found on EduPaths.
• Districts can use Michigan’s Continuous Improvement Process (or MICIP) to guide their continuous improvement efforts. Resources to support the integration of district MTSS efforts within the MICIP platform can be found in the MICIP drop-down on this page

The MiMTSS TA Center has developed a guidance document for districts who would like to ensure that their MTSS work is aligned with Michigan’s Continuous Improvement process.

MICIP Platform Crosswalk for District-Wide Integrated MTSS Installation

The MiMTSS TA Center has received many requests to develop a menu of options to support the development and use of staff learning plans. This Staff Learning Plans resource can be leveraged to support the general ongoing learning needs of staff, as well as the learning needs of newly hired staff. The learning plans include both live and on-demand learning opportunities. View the Staff Learning Plans to see learning plan options broken down by staff role: