Schoolin' Around

In this episode, Dr. James Lane, CEO of University Instructors, former Virginia State Superintendent of Public Instruction and author of Leading with Laser Focus: The 7 Steps to School Success, talks with Larissa about turning good intentions into a real system of support. He starts with how leading a middle school band shaped his approach to leadership, then tells how a 300-student rural school became the testing ground for his seven steps. If you’ve ever wondered why your MTSS pieces don’t add up to results, this conversation previews his keynote at this year’s MTSS Summit.Resources: Branching Minds MTSS Summit 2026 registration page Leading with Laser Focus: The 7 Steps to School Success Website: leadingwithlaserfocus.com Dr. James Lane on LinkedIn Leadership and System-Level Work in MTSSSuperintendent/District Leader Guide to MTSS and Improvement Planning: a guide for district leaders on building MTSS as a system.Takeaways:The concert is a moment in time; daily practice builds the program.Most schools have the right pieces but haven’t connected them into a system.Placing students in intervention based on one assessment can miss kids in both directions.Check longitudinal data alongside the latest benchmark before placing students in intervention.Tell students why they’re in intervention and what it takes to exit.Pair teachers’ strengths so they coach each other on intervention strategies.Start from yes when teachers bring ideas, then look for the flexibility.Raise the bar for adults and students alike; kids tend to meet it.Learn more about MTSS and Branching Minds by visiting our Branching Minds Website, or sign up for our weekly Newsletter on all things MTSS. Don’t forget to follow and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn @BranchingMinds.  Send feedback or inquiries to [email protected]!

In this episode, Tiffany Bergen, MTSS Coordinator at North Rockland Central School District in New York, shares how her district moved from talking about MTSS to putting it into practice in classrooms, in the year it outpaced both the state and its county in ELA and math growth. Larissa and Tiffany discuss what building a district MTSS handbook exposed, why the district rethought what Tier 1 means, and the meeting norm that changed how teams talk about students. Discover what it takes to build trust, momentum, and a real MTSS culture in the first years of implementation.Resources:How to Build an MTSS Handbook for Your School or DistrictMTSS Month-by-Month ChecklistsA Guide to Self-Assessment of MTSS ImplementationThe MTSS Meetings Guide and ToolkitRequest a consultationTakeaways:Tier 1 is core differentiated instruction, not an intervention.Lower the barrier, not the bar, so every student can reach grade-level work.The process is messy, but the product is clean.Make your handbook a living draft and ask staff to find the blind spots.Get really good at three to five interventions before adding more.Start every student meeting by sharing something amazing about the student.Table the meeting if the prep checklist isn’t done.Lead from the buildings, not from a desk. Visit classrooms as a guest, not an evaluator.Learn more about MTSS and Branching Minds by visiting our Branching Minds Website, or sign up for our weekly Newsletter on all things MTSS. Don’t forget to follow and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn @BranchingMinds.  Send feedback or inquiries to [email protected]!

In this episode, Leah Kuypers, creator of The Zones of Regulation and founder and CEO of The Zones of Regulation, Inc., joins Larissa to talk about why schools expect students to regulate but rarely teach them how. They discuss what regulation actually means, what support looks like across MTSS tiers, and the common ways a well-meaning framework turns into a compliance tool. Leah also explains why the adults in the building are part of the work, not just the ones delivering it.Resources: The Zones of Regulation Zones of Regulation Training Offerings (including Regulation 101)Link for Resources Leah mentioned:The Zones Climate Rubric and MTSS and Zones of Regulation CrosswalkLeah Kuypers LinkedInTier 1 Behavior and School Climate Guide for School LeadersClassroom Management Is Much More Than Discipline Changing the Way (and the Reason) You Document Behavior Takeaways:Regulation is developmental, just like learning to read.Being regulated means meeting the moment, not staying calm.You can’t impose a strategy on a student in the heat of the moment.Make regulation the norm for every student, not the exception for a few.Model your own regulation out loud so students see adults doing it too.Read behavior referral data for the missing skill, not a reason to crack down.Let students name their own zone, and never use the zones to label them.Shift staff mindsets before introducing any regulation curriculum.Learn more about MTSS and Branching Minds by visiting our Branching Minds Website, or sign up for our weekly Newsletter on all things MTSS. Don’t forget to follow and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn @BranchingMinds.  Send feedback or inquiries to [email protected]!

In this episode, Joan Schumann, PhD, founding executive director of the International MTSS Association, traces how a fifth-grade year spent watering a teacher's plants instead of doing math turned into a career building integrated systems of support. She and Larissa get into why so many districts say they're "doing MTSS" while running something much closer to a two-tiered model, and why she thinks the research community's incentives are part of the problem. For leaders trying to sort what actually works from what's being marketed to them, Joan names the structural reasons that's so hard — and what a professional association can do about it.Resources:International MTSS AssociationIMA Action NetworksTeam Time — Santa Fe, January 2027Journal of MTSSJoan SchumannThe Difference Between MTSS on Paper and MTSS in PracticeUsing Universal Screening For Accurate, Objective Tiering in MTSSThe Ultimate Guide to MTSSRequest a consultationTakeaways:MTSS is a different operating system, not another initiative layered on top.The alternative to multi-tiered is two-tiered: nothing between core and long-term formalized support.A long-term need doesn't mean a permanent need for intensive support.Academic gaps often originate in the learning environment, not the learner.Researchers are the one group in education not held accountable for collaborating.Run true universal screening so support doesn't depend on which teacher notices.Build problem-solving teams that put the counselor and the interventionist at the same table.Stop using tiers as a new vocabulary for the same sorting behaviors.Bring leaders to researchers with the real implementation problem, not the other way around.Learn more about MTSS and Branching Minds by visiting our Branching Minds Website, or sign up for our weekly Newsletter on all things MTSS. Don’t forget to follow and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn @BranchingMinds.  Send feedback or inquiries to [email protected]!

This episode explores what happens to MTSS buy-in once the energy of launch wears off. Larissa looks at why buy-in fades in year two, including leadership turnover, competing initiatives, and teachers who submit data and never see what comes of it. She gives listeners a quick checklist to tell whether their school is in the slump. Drawing on her own time as a teacher and coach and on habits from Richardson ISD's MTSS Director, she offers practical ways to keep teams engaged, plus a three-question gut check for your next leadership meeting.Resources:6 Tips for Administrators to Sustain MTSS Buy-In Across Your DistrictWebinar: MTSS Leadership EssentialsWebinar: From Flowchart to Framework: Building Your District's MTSS Decision GuideThe MTSS Spark Newsletter + MTSS Month-by-Month ChecklistArticle: School Leaders Struggle With Teacher Buy-in. What to Do About That (Thomas R. Guskey, Education Week)Article: Your Foolproof Plan to Create Staff Buy-In That Sticks (PBISApps)Article: How to Get Buy-In For Your New Initiative (Coaching for Leaders)Article: For Leaders, Getting Real Buy-In for School Initiatives (Edutopia)Michael Fullan, Leading in a Culture of Change (2001), the source of the "implementation dip"Chip and Dan Heath, Made to Stick (2007)Request a consultationTakeaways:The implementation dip is normal. Things feel harder before they get better.Teachers believe in a practice after they see it work for their students.Staff buy-in is both the top reason MTSS lasts and the top reason it fails.Audit last week's calendar to see whether it shows MTSS is a priority.Replace one-time PD with short, recurring, just-in-time sessions.Start every MTSS update with what teams should be doing right now.Show teachers what happened with the data they submitted.Ask whether MTSS would keep running if you disappeared for a month.Learn more about MTSS and Branching Minds by visiting our Branching Minds Website, or sign up for our weekly Newsletter on all things MTSS. Don’t forget to follow and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn @BranchingMinds.  Send feedback or inquiries to [email protected]!