This report includes findings from the CA MTSS Phase 2A Pilot Project’s Year 1 of participation qualitative data collection and analysis.
This pilot project follows 14 schools from 7 districts across California as they implement the California Multi Tiered System of Support (CA MTSS) framework at the school level with a focus on school climate, positive behavioral supports, and social-emotional learning. The purpose is to shed light on California Multi-Tiered System of Support (CA MTSS) implementation processes, successes, and challenges from the schools participating in the pilot.
Schools participated in the pilot project during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years. During the fall of the first year, school leadership teams, along with district and county stakeholders, attended a two-day pilot project “kick-off” centering on a school-level approach to implementing the CA MTSS framework; during summers, school staff and other stakeholders attended three-day Professional Learning Institutes (canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Each school was also assigned a coach who met with the school site leadership team weekly or biweekly to guide and support implementation during the two years of participation. Finally, participating schools received sub- grants to support their efforts.
The purpose of this report is to capture, through publicly available data; school self-assessments; and interviews and focus groups conducted by the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools (CTS) research team, the starting point for the CA MTSS pilot program school site implementation process. We present findings on the 14 participating school sites’ self-assessments of implementation level (School-wide Implementation Tool [SIT] data) and school staff-reported problems of practice, implementation strategies, and challenges (interview, focus group, and SIT data) at the start of the pilot program (Fall 2019 – Winter 2020).
The report is intended to inform both the executive team and coaches in the ongoing development of support for the pilot program’s successful implementation. This Executive Summary presents a summary of data findings regarding cross-cutting themes across the 14 participating school sites regarding CA MTSS implementation at the start of the pilot program. We also present some key recommendations for the executive team and coaches based on our findings.
Learn more on the CTS website.