Multi-tiered Systems Research Articles

Assessment load capacity in floor constructions

The desire to use warehouse space with maximum efficiency has led to the development of the warehouse technology. The emergence of the new types of material handling equipment, an increase in their movement speed, the emergence of new multi-tiered storage systems inevitably affects the carrying capacity of the floor structure. It should also be borne in mind that in the course of operation, the ability of the floor construction to absorb external load decreases. That is why before the start of the operation at the old storage facilities it is advisable to assess their carrying capacity. One of the main types of inspections of building structures is the examination of the concrete floor, which is carried out in order to assess its strength, detect various types of defects, as well as check the operating conditions for compliance with building codes. The most frequent reason for technical inspection of the floor is the reconstruction or overhaul of a construction site. Therefore, the examination of the floor becomes a prerequisite for the object launch in operation. In addition, the reason for the survey may be doubts about the quality of the floors after putting them into operation; increased floor load; detection of cracks or the development of old cracks on the floor covering. In the article the authors consider the examination of the floor construction of warehouse premises belonging to the enterprise of Belgorod.

The Emerging Promise of Restorative Practices to Reduce Discipline Disparities Affecting Youth with Disabilities and Youth of Color: Addressing Access and Equity

In this article, Kervick and colleagues posit that restorative practices (RP) implementation promises to mitigate educational inequities resulting from discipline disparities for youth with disabilities and youth of color. Recent efforts to reduce these disparities have emphasized more relational approaches to behavioral change. Kervick et al. argue that nonpunitive restorative approaches promise to mitigate discipline disparities for racialized youth and youth with disabilities within a schoolwide multitiered systems of support framework only if implemented with an emphasis on educational access and equity. They offer practical tools and strategies to support teachers with implementation of inclusive, accessible, and equitable Tier 1 restorative circles.

Blue Ocean Shift: Evidence-Based Practice in the Professional Development of Teachers

With the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in the United States, teachers have been given new responsibilities tied to supporting student scholastic and behavioral needs. The recent implementation of ESSA has left educators with minimal professional development support options to acquire skills to support students under this Act. To meet the diverse professional needs of teachers, it is necessary to look toward new cost-effective methods for professional development that stretch beyond in-person trainings, and that will prepare teachers to support the scholastic and behavioral needs of all learners. The authors propose incorporating the Blue Ocean Shift (BOS) strategy to identify alternative methods for teacher development. BOS comes from the business setting and is a strategy used in market development. The authors apply BOS to education through exposing its applicability as an assessment process. This assessment process can support the identification and development of online teaching tools for supporting multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS) coaches in their training of teachers for school improvement efforts. The authors analyze the current professional development options provided to teachers and evaluate the use of BOS to determine innovative practices that MTSS coaches can implement to develop teacher skills and promote student learning.

A Review of State-Level Procedural Guidance for Implementing Multitiered Systems of Support for Behavior (MTSS-B)

Given the authority of state government over public education, one means of narrowing the best-practice to actual-practice gap in education is by putting forth clear state guidance and recommendations to schools. To date, however, little is known about the national landscape of procedural guidance that is readily available to practitioners looking to implement multitiered systems of support for behavior (MTSS-B). The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic review of state department of education websites to understand what guidance is afforded to local education agencies regarding MTSS-B. Results supported that roughly half of the states provided some form of procedural guidance for MTSS-B; however, both the type (e.g., what interventions to use, how often to progress monitor) and level of guidance varied widely. When states did provide behavior-specific guidance, documents were most likely to include specification of what types of interventions and measures to utilize; information less typically focused on assessment such as indications as to how often data should be collected and reviewed or what decision rule(s) should be used to determine student responsiveness. Implications for local implementation and strengthening future state-level guidance for MTSS-B are discussed.

Innovative approach to the assessment of moisture content of forest areas within the framework of the fundamental multi-layered concept

Modern methods of assessing the state of forests are verbal (descriptive). They are usually based on the assessment of environmental factors (air and soil pollution, meteorological data, etc.). The models are deterministic or probabilistic in nature (sometimes the combination of these approaches is observed). Forests are multi-tiered complex systems. The study of such complex systems is poorly designed and fragmentary at the moment. The simulation does not have a serious fundamental concept. The reasons are due to the lack of experimental methods for measuring the main characteristics of the state of forests with controlled accuracy. The fundamental concept of multi-layered representation of forests is justified in the article. The concept enables to develop a formalized model for assessing the relative moisture content in each layer at any time. The current state parameters have a transparent physical meaning. The concept takes into account the impact of the object of such natural factors as rainfall and evaporation rate on the state of the object. The potential difference measured along the radius of the tree trunks with changes in ambient temperature can be an indicator of the moisture content of tree trunks.

Adapting Social Emotional Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports for Kindergarten Classrooms

This conceptual article describes key considerations for elementary school personnel to ensure social emotional multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS) are adapted for kindergarten classrooms. Kindergarten represents a unique developmental period of early childhood when 5 to 6-year-old children transition into formal schooling and experience a learning environment that places greater emphasis on children’s independence, adherence to routines, and academic goals. This increase in demands may place stress on children’s social emotional competencies. School personnel may find existing practices associated with their elementary schools’ social emotional MTSS have not been adapted to meet the developmental needs of kindergarteners; this article describes ways to adapt existing universal, targeted, and intensive social emotional supports for kindergarten. Key considerations for administrative personnel are presented.

A Conceptual Framework: Creating Socially Just Schools for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities

Students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) are among the most marginalized group of students in ourschools. In essence, students with EBD are often denied their civil right to a free and appropriate public education(FAPE) which is a social justice issue. Teachers who become social justice allies are more likely to create a sociallyjust school when they promote the implementation of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) throughevidence-based practices (EBP) for positive behavior interventions and supports through a social justice lens.Implementing these interventions while being social justice allies in socially just schools offer the best opportunityfor students with EBD to receive an equitable and socially just education in schools thereby achieving social justiceregarding their civil right to a FAPE.

New Research Network Investigates Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

New Research Network Investigates Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

Emotional and Behavioral Risk Configurations, Students With Disabilities, and Perceptions of the Middle School Ecology

Perceptions of the ecology and middle school transition are examined in relation to interpersonal competence patterns (ICPs) of approximately 3,000 sixth graders (46.2% boys) including 415 students with disabilities from 26 metropolitan schools. Teacher ratings of students’ academic competence, externalizing and internalizing behavior, popularity, physical attractiveness/athletic ability, and friendliness are used to determine students’ ICPs. Using latent profile analyses, distinct ICPs are identified, including Model (high adaptive), Average, Tough (popular-aggressive), Passive (shy, withdrawn), and Troubled (low adaptive) for boys and girls, respectively. Although students with disabilities are overrepresented in Passive and Troubled ICPs and underrepresented in the Model ICP, 804 students without disabilities (367 boys) were identified in risk ICPs (i.e., Passive, Tough, Troubled) compared with 197 students with disabilities (128 boys). Risk ICPs are differentially associated with students’ perceptions of the school ecology and the transition experience of students with disabilities. Implications for Multitiered Systems of Support and the tailoring of interventions are considered.

Choice-making at Tier 2: Linking and adapting choice by type and function

Choice-making is a strategy that can be implemented across varying age levels and abilities to target problem behavior as well as academic engagement/performance. It can be embedded within multitiered systems of support frameworks as an individual or group approach as well as a Tier 1 or 2 strategy, depending on students’ need and response, thus requiring limited planning and resources on the part of educators. This article presents the systematic steps for implementing choice-making as well as a variety of choice options along with the process for adapting choice at Tier 1 and Tier 2. In addition, function-based choice-making is described and classroom-based illustrations of function-based choice provided.

Promoting Student Success: How Do We Best Support Child and Youth Survivors of Catastrophic Events?

School mental health services have achieved recognition for increased access to care and intervention completion rates. While best practice recommendations include connection of school mental health programming to multi-tiered systems of support that promote early identification and intervention, many schools struggle to operationalize student screening for trauma exposure, trauma symptoms, and service identification. Relatedly, progress monitoring for trauma symptoms, and the effect of trauma on school functioning in the context of catastrophic events, can also be difficult to systematically collect. Research regarding the effects of catastrophic events, such as exposure to natural disasters, terrorist attacks, war, or the journey to refugee status on children and youths school functioning, indicates salient age and gender differences among student responses. In addition, school professionals have been identified as sources of social support for students and as potential brokers to school linked intervention resources for children, youth, and their families. Based on our review, we outline recommendations for school professionals, including potential changes to school policies and procedures, and delineate future research questions.

How to Use Colleague Education to Help Your Caseload

How to Use Colleague Education to Help Your Caseload

A Survey of Team Members’ Perceptions of Coaching Activities Related to Tier 1 SWPBIS Implementation

Coaching is an important component in multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) such as school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS), but little is known about which coaching activities are most related to sustained implementation of this school-wide framework. A survey was developed to examine the amount of receipt and perceived importance of coaching activities delivered to SWPBIS school teams. Respondents included SWPBIS team members ( n = 264) implementing Tier 1 SWPBIS for at least 3 years in 138 districts across nine states. Partial correlations were conducted on a subsample of schools ( n = 131) using the Benchmarks of Quality (BoQ) to assess self-reported implementation fidelity to examine the extent to which each coaching activity was associated with fidelity of implementation of SWPBIS. Results indicated Assisting With Team Action Planning, Assisting With Data Collection, and Sharing Knowledge of SWPBIS Systems were perceived as most important to SWPBIS sustainability. Partial correlations showed two activities were statistically significant and positively correlated with SWPBIS fidelity of implementation: Running Data Reports for the Team and Modeling SWPBIS Implementation. Implications for assessing and differentiating coaching supports delivered to schools are discussed.

Strategic adaptation of city-regions in federal systems: comparing Canada and the United States

ABSTRACT The paper investigates the institutional resilience and adaptability of industrialized mid-sized city-regions nested within multitiered federal systems. The wider context of the discussion is the complex and shifting boundaries of subnational territorial politics as spaces of governance, and the attendant dynamic political organization of space amidst ongoing economic shifts and perturbations. The empirical focus is an in-depth comparative case study of two city-regions in Canada and the United States to explore the mechanics of institutional adaptation in the face of economic changes over the past few decades. Revisiting the concept of path dependency as a framework for understanding regional economic development governance, the discussion shifts the analytical focus from explaining stability to accounting for change. It also expands the analytical scope of urban policy governance platforms to shed a greater light on the complex multitiered institutional infrastructure of city-regions nested within federal systems as they seek to navigate through the challenges and opportunities of socioeconomic change.

Fidelity of Implementation in the Field of Learning Disabilities

Decades of research and billions of dollars have been spent to develop and evaluate evidence-based interventions and develop multitiered systems of support (MTSS) toward the goal of more effectively delivering interventions and improving student outcomes. Available evidence, however, suggests interventions are often adopted slowly and delivered with poor fidelity, resulting in uninspiring outcomes for students. The field of implementation science has emerged to address the science-to-practice gap in human service sectors (e.g., education) as a way of improving service recipient (e.g., student) outcomes. For the considerable investment in school-based intervention development and evaluation to have a significant public health impact for students, educators must integrate key findings from implementation science into their practice and research. Toward this end, the purpose of this article is four-fold. First, it overviews implementation science and implementation theories, models, and frameworks. Second, it discusses the relevance of implementation science and fidelity to both the systems-level implementation of MTSS and individual-level implementation of interventions to students with learning disability (LD). Third, it reviews the unique legal aspects related to service implementation for students with LD and the gap between state-level mandates and available science. Finally, it provides additional resources and recommendations for readers.

Use of Virtual Reality in Medical Practice in Russia

In the article is represented an analysis of the different areas of using virtual reality technologies (VR) in medicine in the Russian Federation. Virtual reality gives a chance for creating multi-tiered systems such as VR-based operating rooms. VR allows organizing the medical operations with a high accuracy of steering. VR technology is also used in the education process of young doctors. Most often VR is known to be an auxiliary method in such areas as neurorehabilitation. More than that, VR can influence re-storing of body movements after lessons. In the conclusion it is stressed that VR technologies need to be studied and made a detailed description.

An examination of the association between MTSS implementation fidelity measures and student outcomes

PBIS is has been consistently correlated with reductions in student exclusion including suspensions, expulsions, poor attendance, and high school dropout rates. However, school-wide strategies that do not specifically involve effective instruction in academic areas are unlikely to result in increased academic achievement. To address this reality, multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) involving tiered intervention for both academic and behavior have become commonplace. The Academic and Behavior Response to Intervention School Assessment (ASA) was developed to assess the fidelity with which schools are implementing MTSS for Reading, Mathematics, and behavior. Using the ASA to assess MTSS fidelity across 29 schools and four years, analyses were conducted to determine the predictive validity of sub-group domain scores. The question was whether ASA scores were predictive of student outcomes in terms of suspension and of state academic achievement scores in the areas of reading, math, and language. Results show that schools with higher fidelity in the behavior domain had significantly fewer suspension events than matched comparison schools. In comparison, higher fidelity in the reading domain was associated with more students at or above proficient on both the Language Mechanics measure and the Mathematics measure, but not in Reading; and higher fidelity in the math domain was also associated with more students at proficient or above on the Language Mechanics, but not in math or reading. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the further development of fidelity assessments and future research.

Improving Supply Chain for Essential Drugs in Low-Income Countries: Results from a Large Scale Randomized Experiment in Zambia

Despite increased investments in procurement of essential medicines, their availability at health facilities remains extremely low in many low- and middle-income countries. The lack of a well-functioning supply chain for essential medicines is often the cause of this poor availability. Using a randomized trial conducted in 439 health facilities and 24 districts in Zambia, this study helps understand the optimal supply chain structure for essential medicines distribution in the public sector in low-income countries. It shows that a more direct distribution system where clinics order and receive medicines supply directly from the central agency through a cross-docking arrangement significantly reduces the duration and frequency of stockouts compared to a traditional three-level drug distribution system. As an example, the frequency of stockouts for first line pediatric malaria medicines reduced from 47.9% to 13.3% and the number of days of stockout in a quarter reduced from 27 days to 5 days. The direct flow of demand and order information from health facilities to the central supply agency reduces the problem of diffuse accountability that exists in multi-tiered distribution systems. It also shifts the locus of decision making for complex supply chain functions such as scarce stock allocation and adjustment of health facility order quantities to levels in the system where staff competency is aligned with what the function needs. Even when supply chain system redesign such as the one evaluated in this paper are demonstrated to be technically robust using rigorous evidence, they often require navigating a complex political economy within the overall health system and its actors.

Introduction to Special Topic: Serving Children with Disabilities Within Multitiered Systems of Support.

Since the conception of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 there has been substantial progress regarding the education of learners with disabilities. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain for addressing the diverse needs of these learners and improving in- and out-of-school outcomes. This special issue focuses on an approach that holds promise for the delivery of interventions that are aligned to learners' social, emotional, behavioral, and learning needs - multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). The four articles that comprise the special issue highlight the need for actionable information for schools implementing MTSS, early intervention for children with or at risk for disabilities, and an enhanced focus on intensive interventions. This introduction to the special issue provides information on the meeting that motivated the special issue, a summary of each of the four articles, and paths forward for early and sustained intervention for learners with or at risk for disabilities.

Measurement invariance of the Student Risk Screening Scale across time and gender.

Universal screening for behavioral/mental health risk is a critical component of multitiered systems of support, allowing for early identification of students in need of prevention and/or intervention services. The Student Risk Screening Scale (SRSS; Drummond, 1994) is one commonly used universal screening tool intended to measure externalizing behavior difficulties. Although the reliability and criterion-related validity of the SRSS has been studied extensively, there are limited data supporting its construct validity. To this end, the current study investigated the internal structure of the SRSS and the degree to which it demonstrated measurement invariance across time (i.e., fall, winter, spring) and gender (i.e., male, female). Fifty-five teachers completed the SRSS for 1,220 students in kindergarten through 5th grade across three elementary schools during fall, winter, and spring benchmarking periods. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the SRSS as a single-factor measure of externalizing behavior difficulties. Results of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses supported its measurement invariance across time and gender. These findings further establish the psychometric defensibility of the SRSS as used within multitiered systems of support. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed for practitioners and researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).