The MTSS system is not just a “school” approach. It is a team approach between the school and the home. Your at home involvement in this process could look like:

• Communicating with your child’s teacher.
• Asking for reports on your child’s academic, behavioral, or social progress.
• Celebrating your child’s successes.
• Reviewing and assisting your child with homework.
• Modeling and reinforcing appropriate social and behavioral skills.

You know your child best, so your role in the MTSS process is important. The more involved you are in your child’s learning, the higher your child’s achievement.

Bemidji Area Schools provide the following resources for parents and families to enhance the home/school partnership,support parent learning, and encourage involvement in the MTSS process. 

• Bemidji Community Education – Bemidji Community Education offers a variety of parent/child enrichment programs and activities that support the whole child. 
• Bemidji Indian Education Department – Bemidji School’s Indian Education Program offers support designed to meet the educational and cultural needs of identified American Indian students and families. 
• Bemidji Area Schools Student Enrichment –The Bemidji Enrichment website offers students and families engaging activities that support learning at home. 
• Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)–Contact your child’s teacher for the name and contact information of your school’s current PTO president. 
• Individual School Programs–Each school offers different family programs to help build the home/school partnership. Be on the lookout for flyers, emails, and notifications about when these programs are happening at your child’s school. 

If your child is not responding to the whole classroom instruction and interventions, they may begin receiving targeted Tier 2 or Tier 3 individual or small group interventions to help them make appropriate progress. If your child begins to receive Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions:

• You will be informed about the interventions your child receives. 
• You will receive frequent information about how your child responds to the interventions.
• You will see school support that increases or decreases depending on your child’s needs.
• You will be informed about next steps that may occur, based upon how your child responded to the interventions.

Special education students are those students who did not adequately respond to any Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3 interventions. Because of this, they were referred for a special education evaluation, to see if they qualified for more intensive services. While a potential outcome for non-responsive students, placing students in special education is not the goal of MTSS, and should never be seen as the “end goal.” 

MTSS is our district’s systematic approach to ensure students remain within the general education classroom by receiving whole group and small group targeted interventions. MTSS is done with the intention that all classroom supports have been utilized to promote positive results with a struggling student receiving Tier 2 or Tier 3 services. The goal of MTSS is to help students achieve grade level expectations (whether behavioral, academic, social, or functional), NOT to be a vehicle for a “fast track” to special education.