SCHOOL SUPPORT SYSTEMS: SUPPORTING STUDENTS & MEETING STUDENTS’ NEEDS

An elementary school is a community. A community of professionals working collectively together towards a common goal…student achievement!

School Support Systems in Elementary

There are numerous factors that go into student achievement:

• Great First Instruction

• Evidence Based Teaching Practices

• School Procedures and Routines

• Classroom Procedures and Routines

• Behavior Management

• Rules, Consequences, Rewards

• Intrinsic Motivation

• Social Emotional Support

• Academic Diagnostics and Assessments

• IEP’s

• 504’s

• Data Analysis

• Whole Group Direct Instruction

• Small Group Instruction

             and more…

No individual teacher can do it alone; rely on your school community for support.

Successful schools have support systems in place for:

• Supporting Teachers in Improving Teaching Practices and Student Learning Outcomes

• Student Behavior Management

• Supporting Students with needed Remediation, Intervention, and Extension

When programs and procedures for these support systems are implemented with fidelity, the result is collective teacher efficacy and student achievement.

Too often, schools adopt a support program but only implement individual components or allow for partial implementation based on pushback from staff members. When teachers do not feel respected, valued, and supported it ultimately affects student achievement.

Each of these support systems will be explained in detail. If your school site is not fully implementing one or more of these essential supports, practical information will be given to help you reach your full potential and ensure the students in your classroom achieve.

The support systems in this chapter are commonly known by the acronyms of:

PLC – Professional Learning Community

PBIS – Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support

MTSS – Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

This phrase refers to the value, quality, or truth of something being judged based on direct experience with it or on its results.

I am here to tell you that I have personally experienced the results of a Professional Learning Community, an MTSS Framework, and a PBIS program implemented with FIDELITY.

FIDELITY - the degree to which a program is delivered as intended.

I often see the comments of teachers, within my own district and from other schools across the country, that say these programs DO NOT work.

I will tell you, as a primary source, they DO work.

If they are not working at your school, they are not being implemented with FIDELITY.

Implementing PLC, MTSS, and PBIS with fidelity is a multi-year process. When implementing any program it does not happen overnight; you are playing a long game.

It involves a HUGE commitment from administration with effective leadership and ALL teaching staff to do what is best for the kids. This may mean changing the way you work with colleagues and the way you teach.

CHANGE IS HARD

The KEY to successful PLC, PBIS, and MTSS is a willingness to change, get out of your comfort zone and try new things. Change is hard, but change is necessary.

My school district started the process of becoming a PLC - Professional Learning Community in the  2017/2018 school year. PBIS implementation started around the same time and MTSS was fully adopted after COVID in 2021. 

Even after 8 years, the 50+ schools in my district are all at different places in their journey.

At my elementary school, we are farther along in the process compared to other schools and have seen incredible results!!

THE 95% RULE

Research shows that 95% of students can learn to read when taught using research-based direct instructional strategies. There is a lot more to it than this, but it’s a good start!

I will make the assumption that this percentage applies to math as well.

If there are teachers at your school that push back on change, ask them if 95% of their students are performing at or above grade level. If the answer is no, then change needs to be made.

If a classroom has 65% of its students reading proficiently and completing grade level mathematics, then YAY for those 65%.

But what about the other 30-35%?

Without change, we are sending a message that it is OK for those students to not meet grade level expectations.

CONCLUSION

There is A LOT more to this story, and I could write an entire book with everything that has been done to create change at my school, but that will have to wait. 

In the meantime, view the positive impact we’ve had on the students at my school by being a Professional Learning Community that implements Multi-Tiered Systems of Support while managing student behaviors and social emotional well being through Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports.

The implementation of Professional Learning Communities, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports is a long process and it takes a lot of HARD WORK. Results will not be seen overnight, but when done with a common goal and vision with 100% buy-in from all stakeholders (administration, teachers), you WILL see results. 

The scores below are from 2019 (pre-COVID) to spring 2023. It is important to note that proficiency growth started at a slow rate before 2019.

The data below was charted to show the large achievement growth of students despite COVID.  No learning loss was experienced from COVID distance learning because essential support systems were in place to ensure that did not happen.

If you want to see your students achieve the same growth as our students did, read the next blog post in the series on PLC’s Professional Learning Communities!