District details MTSS/AIS plan; principals say highest‑need students receive services by second week

GOSHEN, N.Y. — At the Feb. 18 board meeting, administrators gave a districtwide briefing on academic intervention services and the district’s MTSS (multi‑tiered system of supports), outlining how the schools screen students, assign tiered interventions and monitor progress.

“Academic intervention services … are our supplemental services that truly is in addition to what we offer with the core curriculum,” Jason Carter, the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction, personnel and technology, told the board. He summarized the district goal: to identify student needs quickly and move students toward proficiency so fewer children require more intensive supports.

Staff described the MTSS tiers used across buildings: tier 1 (universal core instruction) typically includes 80–90% of students; tier 2 (strategic small groups) is about 5–15% with group sizes usually 4–8 and sessions one to three times per week; tier 3 (intensive intervention) may involve 1–5% of students with groups of 1–3 and more frequent meetings. Screening tools the district uses include NWEA MAP, Scholastic reading measures (SRI/NSGRA), DIAL‑4 for incoming kindergarteners and building‑level diagnostics; DataMate and IXL were cited for progress tracking.

Building principals walked the board through how MTSS operates at each level. At Scotchtown Avenue, Principal Driscoll said weekly MTSS meetings are driven by teacher referrals and that universal screening occurs three times a year (MAP windows in October, January and June). She said classroom interventions are used first and that AIS is layered in if students do not make expected progress. Scotchtown’s team includes classroom teachers, AIS providers, a school psychologist and specialists as needed.

At district elementary buildings and Goshen Intermediate School, administrators said they are moving to synchronized pull‑out blocks so students pulled for AIS miss the same classroom time, reducing disruption. Several presenters said the district tries to start the most‑intensive interventions identified in June during the second week of the school year; newly arrived students or borderline cases may begin a bit later after initial screening.

At the middle and high school levels, presenters said scheduling is easier because AIS support can be placed directly into students’ schedules rather than as pullouts. The high school also offers a 10th period support option, peer tutoring and evening high‑school programming for additional help.

Principals and staff acknowledged a common concern from families: students missing core instruction when pulled for AIS. Administrators described steps to reduce that impact (scheduling pullouts during the same blocks, using intervention periods, and planning enrichment for students who remain in class) and emphasized progress monitoring so students “come in and out of AIS as needed.” Several presenters estimated tier‑3 enrollment districtwide is under 5% at present.

The presentation listed commonly used intervention programs and resources, including LLI, Heggerty, Heggarty/Hegarty (phonemic instruction), Fast ForWord, Read 180/System 44, TouchMath, IXL, Scholastic decodables and DataMate for assessment breakdowns. Counselors, social workers and school psychologists were named as sources of social‑emotional support within MTSS. Staff said they will provide more precise counts of students in each tier on request.

Administrators said the MTSS/AIS framework is intended to be fluid: the district uses multiple data points over time to make placement decisions and aims to reduce the need for special‑education referrals by providing timely, targeted instruction.

Next steps: building teams continue to refine schedules and groupings; administrators will provide specific tier counts and a summary document for the district website.