To remove barriers, Dundee Elementary Academy follows Florida’s designated system which ensures success for all students. This system is known as the Multi-Tiered System of Support, or MTSS.

According to the Florida Department of Education technical assistance paper: General Education Intervention Procedures, “MTSS is an evidence-based framework to ensure successful educational outcomes for all students by using a data-based, problem-solving process to provide and evaluate the effectiveness of multiple tiers of integrated academic, behavioral and social-emotional instruction and intervention supports matched to student need in alignment with educational standards. Although often used interchangeably, in Florida, MTSS replaces “the response to intervention (RtI) framework" for data-based problem solving. Within an MTSS, student data is used to monitor the effectiveness of interventions.”

Multi-Tier Model

To implement the MTSS model at Dundee Elementary Academy, our school-based Student Success Team (SST) which consists of our guidance counselor, school LEA, Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teacher, school psychologist, instructional coaches as well, administration and teachers, meet together each month, at a minimum. At this meeting we work to analyze data to identify students in need of intervention, develop intervention plans, assess the effectiveness of those plans and make adjustments accordingly. We follow the steps described below in order to problem solve and meet every student’s needs.

Florida Department of Education Technical Assistance Paper- General Education Intervention Procedures

Data-based problem solving is an ongoing, systematic process of analyzing and evaluating information to guide educational decisions and actions. The problem-solving approach contributes to effective student outcomes by accurately identifying the problem, analyzing relevant data to understand why the problem is occurring, designing, and implementing interventions, and measuring the effectiveness of the interventions that are implemented. School-based teams engage in problem solving to inform instructional decisions and develop intervention supports. Data-based problem solving involves the following steps:

Define the problem and establish a goal by determining the discrepancy between what is expected and what is occurring. Ask, “What’s the problem?”
Analyze the problem to determine why the discrepancy is occurring.
Ask, “Why is there a discrepancy between the current level of performance and the desired level of performance?”
Develop an intervention plan to achieve the goal, describe how student progress will be monitored and identify how integrity of implementation will be ensured. Ask, “What are we going to do about it?”
Monitor student response to the intervention to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Ask, “Is it working?” If not, how will the intervention plan be adjusted to better support the student’s progress?

Teachers deliver and document targeted intervention to students at the tier 2 and tier 3 level. They provide progress monitoring to track the student’s success. Each month, teachers meet with the parents of students in these groups and update them on the student’s progress. As a team, parents, teachers, and the school- based team of coaches, administration and support staff work to problem solve specific interventions for groups of students or individuals.

Tier 2 Academic Intervention - Our school-based team collaborates to identify criteria and procedures for identifying students for Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions and supports. The targeted tier 2 intervention group consists of about 15% of the student population of each class. These students earn a percentile rank of 25 to 39 on district progress monitoring assessments.
Tier 3 Academic Intervention - Students targeted for a tier 3 level of intervention receive intensive, individualized intervention. These students are identified from earning a percentile rank of 24 or below on district progress monitoring assessments.
Tier 2 Behavior Intervention - When a student has earned 10 infractions for behavior that student is referred to the team for Tier 2 intervention and support. The grade level team gathers supporting data of students not responding to Tier 1 practices, to develop a focused small group-oriented response to situations where problem behavior is likely. The goal of the small group intervention is to reduce the amount and/or intensity of problem behaviors. A parent meeting is set up to finalize the behavior plan. Tier 2 students’ progress is analyzed at monthly grade level MTSS meetings. Progress updates are discussed using each student’s progress monitoring graph since the onset of the Tier 2 behavior plan. Modifications are suggested as needed, such as moving a student to Tier 3 for behavior intervention.
Tier 3 Behavior Intervention - A student not demonstrating an increase in positive behavior after receiving Tier 2 behavior supports is referred to Dundee Elementary Academy’s school-based PBS Leadership Team for Tier 3 behavior support. The team gathers supporting documentation to develop an individualized plan to meet the student’s specific needs. Intensive intervention is provided at this point to increase desired outcomes and reduce or eliminate undesired outcomes.

Admission Policy