A Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) is a data-driven framework designed to help K-12 schools provide targeted academic, behavioral, and social-emotional support to all students. MTSS plays a critical role in promoting a strong learning environment, but to effectively implement this framework, educators and administrators need quick access to student and school reports to guide data-driven decision-making.
Edulastic’s Data Studio is specially designed to support an MTSS framework by providing districts with targeted reports that can facilitate proactive progress monitoring to make timely decisions to support students when they need it. Used at a district and school level, these reports can increase a district’s fidelity to MTSS and equip leaders with the data they need to make informed decisions.
Understanding Edulastic’s Data Studio Reports and Workflows for MTSS
Edulastic’s Data Studio is structured to support districts’ MTSS (or RTI) practices by providing various reports that enable district administrators to analyze student performance, identify trends, and make proactive decisions. Let’s explore the different reports available in Data Studio and how they can be utilized within your MTSS framework.
Data Studio Dashboard: This report offers a high-level overview of district performance, including assessment scores, overall population risks, and attendance.
Use Case: Districts can use this report to monitor how key MTSS health metrics are tending over time, based on each district’s defined performance/risk bands. Districts use this report to drill down to specific schools or student subgroups that are at risk or showing negative growth.
Performance Trends: This report tracks student academic performance over time, identifying trends and patterns in achievement. Data is available for non-Edulastic assessments, as well as data from Edulastic-administered assessments.
Use Case: Districts can use this report to filter down to a specific grade to compare how the distribution of common assessment scores aligns to NWEA Map scores.
Whole Learner: This comprehensive report provides a complete overview of each student’s learning journey, including academic data, attendance, and other set markers – allowing for proactive support for students who demonstrate need.
Use Case: Schools use this report to monitor intervention plans and proactively support struggling learners.
Attendance: This report presents attendance and tardy data of selected students, allowing district administrators to identify patterns and trends related to attendance and tardiness. Districts can configure this report to show data aligned to their definition of attendance bands (such as Regular, At-Risk, Moderate Chronic, and Extreme Chronic).
Use Case: Districts can use the attendance report to monitor the distribution of attendance data across bands and to track changes over time.
Efficacy Pre vs. Post Reports: This report measures the effectiveness of interventions by comparing student performance before and after receiving support.
Use Case: Districts can use this report to evaluate the impact of a specific intervention, such as a new literacy program, on student achievement.
Setting Goals and Interventions: This feature allows districts to apply district academic and non-academic goals within Data Studio and track progress related to those goals.
Use Case: A specific example could be districts setting a goal for improving math performance for a specific intervention group and monitoring the effectiveness of the implemented interventions, such as one-on-one tutoring.
Early Warning: This report identifies students at risk of falling behind in academics or attendance, allowing district administrators to address these issues proactively.
Use Case: For instance, districts might use this report to set academic or attendance risk levels for specific grades
Use Case: Supporting MTSS Practice with Edulastic’s Data Studio Reports
While we’ve provided an example of a use case for each report above, let’s dive deeper into how these reports can be leveraged by a district leader to support her district’s MTSS framework.
In this scenario, our district leader, Ms. Thompson, is the Director of Student Support Services for her district. Her district has 30,000 students spread across 59 different schools, and they have recently implemented MTSS at each school. Ms. Thompson is in charge of monitoring the health of their MTSS practice.
Ms. Thompson needs to use data to determine how students are performing across the district and which segment of students may need additional support. However, collecting this data and aggregating it all by herself is a monumental task.
Instead, Ms. Thompson uses Edulastic’s Data Studio to pull the reports she needs so she can make proactive decisions throughout the year, ensuring resources are being allocated appropriately to maximize impact on student success.
Let’s look at how Ms. Thompson is using each report to support the various MTSS tier levels:
Tier 1: Admin Dashboard, Performance Trends, Attendance Reports
Admin Dashboard: Ms. Thompson reviews the Admin Dashboard to get a high-level overview of her district’s performance, including assessment scores, growth metrics, and attendance. She identifies that there has been a decline in reading proficiency among 4th-grade students across the district. As a result, she decides to allocate additional resources for professional development, targeting teachers in this grade level to enhance reading instruction and ensure core instruction is aligned to evidence-based best practices.
Performance Trends: Ms. Thompson analyzes the Performance Trends report to track the progress of all students in the district. The data shows overall growth, but she notices some students are not making adequate progress at a certain school. This information helps her determine this school may require additional intervention resources and support staff, to ensure students are adequately supported.
Attendance: Ms. Thompson uses the Attendance report to monitor district-wide attendance rates. She identifies trends and patterns, such as specific schools or grade levels with lower attendance, and develops targeted strategies to improve overall attendance.
Tier 2: Performance Trends, Efficacy Pre and Post Reports, Early Warning
Performance Trends: Ms. Thompson analyzes the Performance Trends report to track the progress of 1:1 tutoring as an intervention for a group of 4th-grade students in need of math support. The data shows the students’ math scores have improved during their set goal period, indicating the effectiveness of the intervention.
Early Warning: The Early Warning report allows Ms. Thompson to identify students at risk of falling behind academically. Based on her district’s preset guidelines, she finds a group of students requires targeted Tier 2 interventions and they are currently not in an intervention group. She works with the school’s intervention team to develop appropriate support strategies, such as small-group instruction or tutoring.
Efficacy Pre vs. Post: To measure the effectiveness of Tier 2 math interventions across her district, Ms. Thompson compares student performance before and after the implementation of specific math interventions using the Efficacy Pre vs. Post report. The data shows a significant improvement in the students’ academic performance, indicating the success of the targeted math interventions.
Tier 3: Whole Learner and Early Warning
Whole Learner: By examining the Whole Learner report, Ms. Thompson identifies a group of students who struggle academically requiring intensive Tier 3 interventions. She works with school-based administrators and interventionists to implement a comprehensive support plan that addresses student needs, such as specialized instruction, one-on-one counseling, and additional support services.
Early Warning: The Early Warning report allows Ms. Thompson to monitor the progress of a specific group of students receiving Tier 3 interventions. Ms. Thompson uses the report to determine if students in this group are showing progress within their targeted intervention group. When she determines that some students are not showing progress, Ms. Thompson works the school’s intervention team to develop updated individualized intervention plans for these students and suggests using diagnostic assessment data to get to the root of what may be the issue.
Additionally, Ms. Thompson utilizes the Data Studio to ensure schools are setting up clear goals for students and are continuously monitoring data. Using the Goal Setting and Intervention option in the Data Studio, she can help schools monitor and track the implementation of interventions and student progress toward goals.
By using the different Data Studio reports, Ms. Thompson effectively supports her MTSS practice in her district. She can proactively identify trends, implement targeted interventions, and continuously monitor the effectiveness of her district’s MTSS framework, ensuring the success of all students.
Filtering Reports for Customized Analysis
One of the key features of Edulastic’s Data Studio is the ability for users to filter reports and customize their analysis according to their specific needs.
Here’s how districts can filter reports in the Data Studio:
Select the data of interest: Choose the data you want to analyze to tailor the report to your specific needs and objectives.
Apply filters for customized analysis: Users can filter report data in several ways, including…
a. Assessment grades, subjects, or test types
b. Specific classes or student groups, such as intervention groups
c. Specific demographics
d. Time periods
e. Risk bands or attendance/academic bands
By customizing their analysis, districts can ensure their data-driven decisions are targeted, precise, and directly address the specific needs of their students and the overall MTSS framework.
Improving MTSS with Accessible and Easy-to-Use Data
MTSS is significantly enhanced when district administrators have access to easy-to-use, comprehensive data that enables proactive decision-making. Edulastic’s Data Studio offers a suite of reports designed to support the various tiers of MTSS, providing insights into student performance, trends, and intervention effectiveness. By using Data Studio to analyze and filter data, district leaders can make informed decisions to better support all students.