“We thought that we had all the answers. 

It was the questions we had wrong.”

~ U2

Remember the courtroom scene in the musical production of Chicago? Attorney Billy Flynn, played by Richard Gere, is defending Roxie Hart who is accused of murdering her husband. He artfully pontificates and razzle dazzles the jurors to the point where they can no longer discern fact from fiction. That same clever showmanship is often employed in the name of improving conditions for students in today’s schools. Dizzying amounts of information can be mind-numbing as vendors with sophisticated algorithms, software programs and slick presentations proudly proclaim promises of increased student scores using the same seductive conviction as Billy Flynn in Chicago.

In the wake of the pandemic and existing federal relief funds, the promise of time-saving efficiencies for identifying students via targeted or strategic assessments and interventions are even more enticing. Some vendors describe RtI and MTSS as the same thing or, at best, interchangeable concepts. Don’t be fooled by the show. They are not the same and while they may be contributors to the comprehensive system, accepting this unfounded razzle dazzle will not help our students.

RtI, IDEA, MTSS, ESSA! Oh My!

Response to Intervention emerged from the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The intent was to shift from the strict use of a discrepancy model for determining a learning disability to a more intervention-based approach. (1) The concept of a Multi-tiered System of Support emerged out of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (2) in its attempt to ameliorate persistent low-performing achievement across the nation. Furthermore, it addressed the behavioral dimension of learning that negatively impacted student outcomes. As George Sugai, the preeminent authority on school-wide positive behavior support, cautioned schools, "Label the interventions, not the students.” (3) Sugai further advocated that schools needed to get clear on what quality teaching and learning was and arrange appropriate support for students in order for them to access productive paths to learning.

While RtI and MTSS are both worthy endeavors, the results of these systems have led to confusion and misinterpretation of intent, as well as misapplication of practices, instructional strategies, supports, and evidence of the “intended” impacts. Instead, a false narrative, based on external mechanisms and passive accountability via expensive programs with questionable fidelity, have set the improvement process up for failure.

But here’s the truth—the real magic. It’s what happens inside the classroom that has the most impact. Effective teachers matter. Effective principals matter too. In fact, effective principals contribute to student achievement on average nearly as much as effective teachers. (4)

Same Thinking Will Get You the Same Results

Districts and schools operating under the same tiered system that was in place before the pandemic would be wise to reflect on the urban legend definition of insanity, namely, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Said a different way, if what we had in place before wasn’t working, what would lead us to believe it will be different this time? If improvement is the goal, then grading, schedules, RtI, MTSS, and teacher practices must change. Now is the time for Radical Excellence. Our first step must be clearly understanding and defining what’s indispensable for educating students in the wake of the pandemic.

Loss of All Kinds

The effects from the pandemic have been widely reported but there continues to be a lack of strategic direction to help district and school leaders think through the challenges of obsolete mind frames. Globally, it is estimated that eight million children, eighteen and younger, lost a parent or caregiver during the pandemic and more than 250,000 of those students live in the United States. (5) The social dimension of learning recognizes that more than one in 360 students lost a family member or caregiver. We need to align our systems of support to help ameliorate the exponentially high rates of anxiety and depression these students are experiencing. (6) Why does this matter? Students who have experienced extreme loss and trauma often exhibit similar behaviors as students with disabilities, i.e., distractedness, short attention span, difficulty understanding and/or expressing thoughts (verbally and/or written), verbal and/or physical outbursts, avoidance, and many others. In fact, more than 80% of public-school districts have reported that the pandemic has had a negative impact on behavior, discipline, and the social development of children and youth. (7)

We’ve also seen scores that show several months of learning loss in reading and even more in mathematics according to NAEP. (8) The results are even more bleak for students with complex needs, including English learners, economically disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities.

So, if students present differently as a result of the pandemic, shouldn’t education systems respond differently?

When We Get the Questions Right, Everyone Wins 

Here’s a Radical Excellence question: If there were nothing holding you back from designing a comprehensive system that works in conjunction with the improvement process, what would it be?

A triangle displayed with a point facing up or with a point facing down is still insufficient for describing how schools can improve outcomes for students because it is based on the concept of linear directionality.

Instead of a triangle, consider the Double Helix System of Support ©. Each strand serves as the complementary  backbone of the other, creating a complete structure. The elements are non-directional, and yet absolutely dependent upon the whole, creating a cohesive system. In other words, when we get the conditions right—everyone in the system wins. Students along the full continuum of learning, for example, get to engage with ambitious content, supported by real-time differentiated instruction, and teachers have the right data to take actionable next steps. 

The elements of a comprehensive Double Helix System of Support that are designed to achieve this comprehensive approach include:

1. A Clear Definition:  A nimble and responsive System of Support (SoS) which encompasses the academic and social dimensions of learning serves as the overarching frame. It provides the foundation for the broader school improvement process by supporting all learners and ensures equitable access to high-quality education.

2. Shared Accountability: Implementation is the collective responsibility of all educators, staff, families, and communities. The adult skills needed for meeting the wide continuum of learners is provided by, supported, and monitored by district and school leadership teams. That means a productive collaborative team structure whereby all educators are comprehensively situated for the maximum benefit of all students.

3. Design: High expectations of the adults working with our students is nonnegotiable. A nimble design enables educators to make data-informed decisions that meet the needs of students from different backgrounds, levels of language proficiency, learning complexities, and levels of attainment. Strategies that address needs must be identified. Academic and behavioral instruction and support should be implemented with stretch inside the classroom. The tiers formerly used to label students need to be banned.

There are high expectations of the educational, financial, and human resources that are intentionally allocated and coordinated across and within the system in every classroom. A strength-based approach that meets the needs of students, including those with complex needs and disabilities, must be designed, implemented, and monitored for effectiveness.

It’s time to ban outdated, linear systems that perpetuate limiting mind frames and practices. It’s time to rethink what it means to support the academic and social dimensions of learning so all students can grow and achieve. It’s time to ask the Radical Excellence question: If there was nothing holding you back from designing a comprehensive system that works in conjunction with the improvement process, what would it be?

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Footnotes

1 Perry A. Zirkel, Ph.D., J.D., “Implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).”

2 “Every Student Succeeds Act.”

3 NCLD’s RTI Leadership Forum - George Sugai, PH.D.

4 Grissom, Jason A., Anna J. Egalite, and Constance A. Lindsay. 2021. “How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research.” New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available at http://www.wallacefoundation.org/principalsynthesis., “How Principals Effect Students and Schools A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research.”

5 “Orphanhood and Caregiver Loss Among Children Based on New Global Excess COVID-19 Death Estimates.”

6 Center for Reinventing Public Education, “The State of the American Student: Fall 2022.”

7 The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES); The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), “More than 80 Percent of U.S. Public Schools Report Pandemic Has Negatively Impacted Student Behavior and Socio-Emotional Development.”

8 “The Nation’s Report Card | NAEP.”