Evaluating Your Overall Intervention Program’s Effectiveness

As we implement MTSS, it’s really important that we take a look at which kids are receiving interventions, and being able to answer the question: “Is what we’re doing working?” 

Evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention can be done in a few different ways within a district.

There are some important systems that you can put in, such as a Program Data Analysis Team (DAT). That should be implemented about nine weeks after you’ve started implementing interventions. The purpose of the Program DAT is to help look at how many interventions we have going on in our district, how many kids are responding to these interventions.

And, beyond thinking about individual kids, there’s also taking a step back and saying, “How effective overall are these interventions?”

Thinking about pockets of success is also another really important thing. Sometimes we’re asking staff to do interventions with kiddos that they haven’t had training for. And so we have to take that next step and say, “This interventionist is having great outcomes with these students.” That’s not to say that this other person isn’t working hard; it’s to say, maybe we can have these two people work together to be able to support and identify what is working and what isn’t working.

Another way is just by simply looking at kids who are responding. I think it’s also important that we take a step back again and say, based on all of the kids that we’ve identified as needing interventions as a whole, based on general outcome measures or from one screening period to the next, are we seeing that we’re closing the gap.

Finally, take a look at the students that you’ve identified at the beginning of the year who are at need and who are receiving interventions. How many of them are still in that at risk level? Maybe some of them moved up into the “some risk” level.

It’s important to take a look at both sets of data: (1) how many kids are receiving interventions and the response to those interventions, as well as (2) the growth that we’re seeing for students who are in intervention.

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Illuminate Education equips educators to take a data-driven approach to serving the whole child. Our solution combines comprehensive assessment, MTSS management and collaboration, and real-time dashboard tools, and puts them in the hands of educators. As a result, educators can monitor learning and growth, identify academic and social-emotional behavioral needs, and align targeted supports in order to accelerate learning for each student. 

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