Scaling up multi-tiered systems of support implementation with improvement science: A state-wide effort in school improvement

Despite decades of school reform efforts, there has been little success in addressing pervasively inequitable outcomes within the public school system. Although there has been a great deal of scholarship around the achievement gap over the last fifty years (e.g., Coleman et al., 1966; Darling-Hammond, 2007; Margo, 1986; Rosenfeld & Hilton, 1971; Singham, 1998), there has been little success in actually closing this gap (Hill, 2017). Schools continue to fail in meeting the needs of the same learners year after year. Two relatively new concepts in education, multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) and improvement science, promise new avenues of meeting the diverse needs of all students, but not enough research has been done to evaluate the impact of these practices on improving student outcomes at a large scale. This quantitative study used a conceptual framework anchored in both the tenets of equity and MTSS to examine the relationship between one state’s improvement science-oriented approach to MTSS implementation and student outcomes. A significant relationship between MTSS implementation and student outcomes was not found; however, several factors were found to have significant interaction with MTSS implementation on student outcomes. The percentage of low-income students in the school was significant across all student groups and outcome measures, but none of the other significant factors were consistent across all student groups and outcome measures. The findings indicate that districts should not expect instant results from MTSS implementations. The findings also indicate that the MTSS implementation system is not currently set up for success across all student groups, and that more work is needed to align MTSS implementation with the principles of equity.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Chisholm, Barbi K.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Welton, Anjale D
• Alexander, Kern
• Hinze-Pifer, Rebecca
• Herrmann, Mary

• equity
• multi-tiered systems of support
• improvement science

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Barbi Chisholm

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110693

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110693