The SER5CC’s work to support Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) in the region includes topic research, exploring MTSS implementation through interviews with schools and districts, and facilitating opportunities for state MTSS leaders to collaborate with their peers to share experiences and address common challenges.
To assist those working to inform and improve MTSS implementation in their schools, this site also features key MTSS resources from The MTSS Center at AIR, IES, and other nationally-recognized entities that have published tools and resources for implementers.
History of SERVE’s MTSS Work
In its capacity as the federally-funded Region 6 Comprehensive Center (RC6) from 2019-2024, SERVE provided high quality, intensive capacity-building services to state departments of education, school districts, and schools across Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Several of the RC6’s projects involved providing support for MTSS implementation. The RC6 regularly convened state MTSS leaders from the region to collaborate to improve MTSS supports to schools and developed written stories describing 14 schools’ MTSS implementation journeys. The RC6 also examined and reported on the application of MTSS to early literacy and the identification of students with characteristics of dyslexia in Georgia and developed resources describing challenges in implementing MTSS at the middle and high school levels.
Over the course of these projects, the RC6 recognized a desire among the three states it supported to connect and collaborate with each other on their MTSS structures and supports. A need for more insight into how MTSS can be successfully implemented in different contexts, particularly in secondary schools, also emerged. This website is one result of the RC6’s work to address that need.
SERVE currently holds a federal grant allowing it to operate as the Southeast Region 5 Comprehensive Center (2024-2029) and continues its work to support MTSS implementation in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. A 2025 brief describes strategies and resources for MTSS implementation in secondary schools, including many examples of implementation drawn from middle and high schools. An earlier analysis of MTSS implementation in six high schools described similarities and differences between their approaches. To assist those working to inform and improve MTSS implementation in their schools, this site also features key MTSS resources from nationally-recognized entities that have published tools and resources for implementers.
What is MTSS?
A multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) provides a structure and process for schools as they work to identify and address students’ academic, behavioral, social and emotional, and other needs. Implementing MTSS requires collecting and analyzing student data to identify students in need of additional support and determine subject-specific, grade-wide, school-wide and/or district-wide areas for improvement. Schools and districts then develop plans to support students and/or address larger issues by engaging in a process of continuous improvement, including setting goals for improvement, collecting additional data to monitor progress toward those goals, and modifying the plan as needed to reach the goals.
While the structure and general processes involved in implementing MTSS are relatively consistent across settings, each school may implement MTSS in slightly different ways—involving different areas of focus, methods for collecting data, types of supports, and staff to oversee and guide implementation.
Implementing MTSS in Secondary Schools:
Strategies from Research and the Field
The purpose of this brief is to provide information about and practical strategies to help secondary schools implement a Multi-Tiered System of SupportS (MTSS) with an academic focus.