Reading unlocks every other part of a student’s education. When kids fall behind, it’s hard to catch up, which is why schools invest in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support in Reading (MTSS-R) that identify students who need extra support, analyze learner needs, and provide effective interventions. However, even the best systems lose momentum without checking progress and refocusing the work.
Our tool gives teams a clear, structured way to make that happen. Adapted from REL Northwest’s Evidence-Based Practices for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support in Reading, our downloadable, fillable MTSS-R Reflection Tool gives schools and districts a structured way to evaluate their current reading support systems. It helps teams get clear on what’s working, what’s not, and what comes next. It does this through guided reflection, prompting honest conversations, and a strong focus on real implementation.
MTSS-R Gets Results
When schools implement MTSS-R with quality and accuracy, the benefits are significant. Research links it to stronger academic achievement, fewer behavioral disruptions, fewer referrals to Special Education, and higher graduation rates (Bohanon et al., 2024; Burns et al., 2005; Gersten et al., 2009; VanCamp et al., 2020).
Despite these benefits, many teams struggle to bring MTSS-R to life in a way that is purposeful and aligned to their pre-existing literacy programming and tiered-systems of support. This is where structured reflection and associated action becomes essential.
This is not reflection for the sake of it. The tool is designed for real-time actionable decision-making, focused on student outcomes.
What the Tool Helps You Do
The MTSS-R Self-Reflection Tool helps teams examine their practices across four essential components:
- Evidence-based instruction and interventions
- Comprehensive literacy screening and assessment
- Tiered delivery system
- Continuous data-based decision-making
It prompts discussion across teams and departments, and helps break down silos while guiding educators toward actions that align with best practices in reading instruction, assessment, and support. Each section contains clear indicators of effective practice. Teams work through these indicators and compare them to current conditions. They note strengths, identify gaps, and set priorities.
To read about this tool in action, check out our blogs about our work in Hardin Public Schools and Whitehall School District in Montana. These stories show how schools used the reflection process to drive real improvements in literacy systems.
“The immediate impact was seen in two areas: logic-based, student-centered communication between teachers and administrators about learning, and a closed-loop process at the classroom level where plans were made, implemented, and their impacts assessed.” – Principal
Fueling Literacy Improvement with the Right Team
Real progress happens when the right team is in place. Rather than add another layer of complexity, the MTSS-R Self-Reflection Tool provides a helpful structure teams use to reflect, plan, and act purposefully.
The tool is most effective when used by a literacy leadership team that includes representatives across grade levels, content areas, and roles. This kind of cross-functional group brings the perspectives needed to see the full picture and make system-wide improvements.
Teams use it to ground their conversations in evidence, clarify priorities, and align their efforts. Beyond merely identifying challenges, it creates space for honest reflection and practical next steps.
When teams reflect together, they lead better. What matters most is starting the conversation. This tool gives teams the language and process to do that.
What Makes It Different
The MTSS-R Self-Reflection Tool is all about practicality. Teams work through criteria and consider their current practices without sugarcoating. That level of clarity makes action possible.
It also supports shared leadership. The reflection process includes input from classroom teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, and specialists. This builds shared ownership and can reduce top-down implementation fatigue.
It allows for variation as well. A team may mark an area as both a strength and a need, depending on the context. That flexibility keeps the process grounded in reality.
Teams that use the tool come away with focused next steps, not just long lists of tasks. That focus increases the likelihood of actual change at the classroom level.
We’ve also helped teams go further. We can support districts and schools in using the MTSS-R Self-Reflection Tool to navigate particularly difficult challenges, such as:
- New literacy leadership
- Conflicting leadership ideals
- Lack of time and capacity to drive change
Our coaches partner alongside leadership teams to work through the tool and interpret the results of the reflection process, then build customized plans for professional learning, intervention design, and continuous improvement.
Start Here
If your team is serious about improving reading outcomes for all students, this tool will help you move forward with purpose. It guides honest reflection. It focuses your efforts. And it builds the foundation for the kind of system-level change that shows up in classrooms.
Download the MTSS-R Self-Reflection Tool
Sources
Bohanon, H. S., Wu, M.-J., Kushki, A., & LeVesseur, C. (2024). A preliminary study connecting school improvement and mtss with student outcomes. Australasian Journal of Special and Inclusive Education, 48(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1017/jsi.2023.15
Burns, M. K., Appleton, J. J., & Stehouwer, J. D. (2005). Meta-analytic review of responsiveness-to-intervention research: Examining field-based and research-implemented models. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 23(4), 381–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/073428290502300406
Gersten, R., Compton, D., Connor, C. M., Dimino, J., Santoro, L., Linan‑Thompson, S., & Tilly, W. D. (2009). Assisting students struggling with reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and multi‑tier intervention in the primary grades (WWC Practice Guide NCEE 2009‑4045). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/WWC/PracticeGuide/3
VanCamp, A. M., Wehby, J. H., Martin, B. L., Wright, J. R., & Sutherland, K. S. (2020). Increasing opportunities to respond to intensify academic and behavioral interventions: A meta-analysis. School Psychology Review, 49(1), 31-46. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1278746
