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Board hears MTSS data showing 'flipped pyramid,' sets focus on stronger core instruction
Summary
Maple Heights administrators told the board that fall benchmarks show far fewer students in tier 1 instruction than expected and outlined steps — clearer lesson goals, coaches, targeted PD and revised progress monitoring — to shift students into core instruction. PM2 progress monitoring is scheduled this week.
At its Nov. 10 meeting, the Maple Heights Board of Education heard a start-of-year update on curriculum, instruction and assessment that showed large shares of students requiring tier 2 and tier 3 interventions.
"On the ELA side, instead of 80% being a tier 1 on our fall benchmark, we only have 25% in tier 1," John Scala, the district data lead, told the board, and for math "4% would be able to meet all their NEARs within tier 1 without any additional supports." The presenters called that distribution a "flipped pyramid," meaning more students were in the yellow and red bands than in green — and the trend creates a heavy resource burden for targeted interventions.
Dr. Shay Price, who led the presentation on instructional strategy, said the diagnosis is clear. "It's a tier 1 problem, not a student problem," she said, arguing the district must strengthen core classroom instruction rather than rely solely on remedial programs. Price outlined six components the district will use as a working definition of high-quality instruction, including clear student learning goals, differentiated Tier 1 lessons, ongoing assessment and teacher reflection.
The presentation included unit-assessment results and multi-tiered progress-monitoring data. District-wide, presenters reported a Unit 1 average percent correct of 59% for tested subjects; the weighted average for students with disabilities was 38%. Presenters said the district’s end-of-year targets are 66% (regular education) by the end of year 1 and 80% by the end of year 3, with separate targets for students with disabilities.
Attendance and chronic absenteeism were cited as compounding factors. Presenters explained chronic absenteeism starts at missing 10% of the school year and that building-level rates and out-of-school suspensions/tardies materially affect the district totals. The district plans to continue month-long, building-level tiered incentives, attendance teams and targeted parent outreach — and to use state-mandated tier 3 attendance plans where required.
Presenters recommended continued use of MClass (a human-administered fluency assessment) alongside or in place of computer-only programs such as I-Ready for lower grades, describing MClass as providing both fluency and qualitative insight that helps teachers form effective small groups. They said intervention group sizes should ideally be 1:6 but that some groups currently run 1:7–1:8. PM2 progress monitoring was scheduled for the following week, with two buildings finishing on Tuesday and one on Wednesday.
The board heard that the district has adopted ELA and math curriculum K–12 and will deploy a new administrator "walk-through" tool, hire coaches, and expand targeted professional development to help teachers design and deliver stronger Tier 1 instruction. The presentation concluded with board discussion on implementation and the superintendent and presenters taking follow-up items to increase parent communication and consider device sign-out options for at-home practice.
The presentation closed and the meeting proceeded to routine business.
