Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) / Response to Intervention (RTI)

Response to Intervention (RTI) integrates assessment and intervention within a multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and to reduce behavior problems. With RTI, schools identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence-based interventions and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s responsiveness, and identify students with learning disabilities or other disabilities.

Beginning in 2020, AIR shifted its terminology from RTI to MTSS, to align with evolving language and policies in the field.

For information about our client services in this topic area, visit the Center on Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.

Latest Work

11 Jan 2021
Spotlight

Spotlight on AIR's Community Schools Work

Community schools serve as service hubs in their neighborhoods and communities, uniting families, educators, and community partners to accelerate equitable student outcomes in health, education, and employment. AIR’s community school experts work with education agencies, schools and districts, universities, and other stakeholders to promote student growth and development by removing barriers to learning and providing access to new, integrated learning opportunities to support whole child development.
Project

Full-Service Community Schools Grant Evaluation for Chicago Public Schools

Through Full-Service Community Schools , students, their families, and the local community can receive academic, social, and health services, which can contribute to better educational outcomes for students. Starting in 2021, AIR will conduct an evaluation of the implementation of the FSCS initiative focusing on understanding implementation of the initiative and an impact analysis of how students benefit from attending a full-service community school.
Project

Chicago Public Schools Sustainable Community Schools Evaluation

The Sustainable Community Schools (SCS) strategy administered by Chicago Public Schools is unique in its focus on enhancing school-day instruction and supports. AIR will work in partnership with the diverse stakeholders associated with the SCS initiative to determine the degree to which the SCS model is aligned with these essential elements, whether the model is being implemented with fidelity, and the impact that the SCS model is having on students, their families, school staff, and the broader school community.
8 Oct 2020
Q & A

In Conversation: What Do Rising Rates of Anxiety and Depression Mean for Families, Schools, and Communities?

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented American families with extraordinary challenges. Alarming rates of anxiety and depression symptoms are among the most troubling. In this Q&A, Frank Rider and Kelly Wells discuss the implications for families, schools, and communities.
Project

Florida Community Partnership Schools Initiative Evaluation

Funded by the Florida state Legislature, the Community Partnership Schools (CPS) model aims to provide students and their families with access to a wide variety of learning opportunities and health and wellness supports. In partnership with the Center for Community Schools at the University of Central Florida, AIR is evaluating implementation of the CPS model and how it affects students.
Project

PROGRESS Center (Promoting Rigorous Outcomes & Growth by Redesigning Educational Services for Students with Disabilities)

The PROGRESS Center provides information, resources, and support for local educators and leaders responsible for the development and implementation of high-quality educational programs that ensure students with disabilities have access to free appropriate public education (FAPE) and that enables them to make progress and meet challenging goals
9 Aug 2019
Presentation

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Professional Development Materials - South Carolina

Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) staff presented an Overview of the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), including evidence-based MTSS practices and resources, to South Carolina school districts and schools and assisted with planning for implementation of MTSS.
27 Jun 2018
ESSA

ESSA │Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (formerly RTI)

Across the country, local school districts, particularly those challenged by often long-standing achievement gaps and higher mandated standards for student performance, are increasingly turning to tiered system of support frameworks such as multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) and response to intervention (RTI). Though federal funding for the National Center on RTI has ended, AIR staff continue the work of building state and local capacity in RTI implementation.
Project

Pittsburgh Public Schools Community Schools Evaluation

The Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) Community Schools initiative aims to support students, their families, and the broader school community by creating partnerships among district schools and community-based organizations and providers. AIR conducted an evaluation of the implementation of the Community Schools initiative in PPS with all five schools adopting the community schools initiative during the 2018–19 school year
10 Steps to Make RTI Work in Schools - Cover
17 Apr 2017
Brief

Ten Steps to Make RTI Work in Schools

After test scores on a state language arts assessment at P.S. 52 Sheepshead Bay School in Brooklyn were unsatisfactory, the school's principal searched for a way to improve academic outcomes for his students. Partnering with AIR, the school used response to intervention, a research-based framework that uses data-based decision-making and three levels of instruction to address a wide range of student needs. Here's what they learned.
Dia Jackson works in a classroom
3 Apr 2017
Video

Supporting Students Through Response to Intervention

Response to intervention (RTI) is a multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and reduce behavioral problems. Dia Jackson describes the importance of implementing RTI with fidelity and how she provides coaching and professional development to schools so that they see gains in student achievement.
30 Jun 2016 | 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Event

RTI Reaches Adolescence: Will It Make It to Adulthood? A Case for Cautious Optimism

As response to intervention (RTI) grows into its adolescence, questions about efficacy and challenges with implementation have emerged. The Center on RTI hosted a webinar, during which panelists addressed findings from the recent Institute of Education Sciences' evaluation of RTI, as well as lessons learned from state and local evaluations of implementation. Experts discussed how use of increasingly available high-quality resources, combined with intensive, comprehensive implementation, provide reasons for optimism that RTI can indeed progress from a tumultuous adolescence to successful adulthood.
8 May 2013
Guide

Using a Response to Intervention (RTI) Framework to Improve Student Learning

This pocket guide from AIR helps policymakers and practitioners adapt federal program funds to improve teaching and learning for all students. It is the third in a series on implementing ESEA flexibility plans.

Project

Chicago Public Schools Community Schools Initiative

A key component of the Chicago Public Schools' Community Schools Initiative is ensuring that the needs of the school community are identified, and that high-quality programming and services are provided that address these needs, particularly the academic, social, and emotional needs of students enrolled in Initiative schools. In 2011, CPS contracted with AIR and its partner Diehl Consulting Group to conduct a comprehensive, mixed-methods evaluation of the CPS CSI.
27 Sep 2011 | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Event

AIR’s Darren Woodruff to Participate in Panel Discussion at NAACP Conference

Darren Woodruff, a senior research analyst at AIR, is an invited panelist at a convening hosted by the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. and African-American Male Achievement Group, Inc. from September 29 to October 1, 2011.

1 Sep 2011
Report

Wisconsin Culturally Responsive Education for All (CREATE) Initiative - Training and Enhancement Initiative

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction contracted with AIR to provide a comprehensive evaluation of its Culturally Responsive Education for All: Training and Enhancement (CREATE) initiative during its first three years of implementation. AIR employed a qualitative case study design to assess program implementation and to determine the effect participation in the CREATE initiative had on districts’ capacities to provide culturally responsive education and to implement policies and practices designed to close achievement gaps and reduce disproportionality in special education.

1 Aug 2007
Report

Meeting the Needs of Significantly Struggling Learners in High School: A Look at Approaches to Tiered Intervention

This report, authored by Helen Duffy of the National High School Center, provides an in-depth look at the implementation and structural issues, as well as the needed support required to successfully institute Response to Intervention (RTI) at the secondary school level.