Maine Township HSD 207 outlines ‘learning lab’ to centralize tiered academic supports

District 207 administrators told the board they will restructure how they deliver targeted academic interventions, moving toward a ‘learning lab’ model that centralizes Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports into coordinated 40‑minute intervention blocks starting next school year. Dr. Kelly Morrissey, identified in the meeting as the district’s director of MTSS, and district staff said the model is intended to make interventions more fluid, data driven and easier to monitor for fidelity.

"Tier 1 is our core curriculum; tier 2 is targeted support; tier 3 meets individual needs," Morrissey said, summarizing the rationale for the redesign and the tiers’ expected distribution: about 80–90% of students in tier 1, 5–15% in tier 2 and 1–5% in tier 3. Administrators described using STAR screening data, diagnostic assessment and progress monitoring to identify students for interventions, emphasizing that screening results are triangulated with other information to avoid acting on single assessments alone.

Under the proposed learning lab, students could participate in up to two interventions in a given block. Interventions will run as structured 40‑minute chunks offered every other day; halfway through the block students would shift from one targeted intervention to the next. The district said certified staff will deliver interventions and at least one teaching assistant will support executive‑function and study‑skill activities during supported study time.

Administrators said the redesign addresses limitations of the present course‑based model, in which full‑block elective courses and departmental silos make it difficult to move students fluidly between supports or to match intensity precisely to student needs. The district plans a multi‑year rollout: year one will pull reading and executive‑function supports into the learning lab, with later phases intended to add math, writing and possibly other interventions.

Officials also described the work of subcommittees formulating intervention practices and implementation routines. The district cited fall benchmark STAR reading results showing 63% of students in the green range at Maine East, 88% at Maine South and 74% at Maine West, and noted counts of students flagged for closer review during screening: 489 at Maine East, 219 at South and 314 at West (administration emphasized these are screening counts, not final placements in the learning lab).

Board members thanked staff for the overview and asked that the board receive periodic updates during implementation. Administrators said they will pilot and phase changes to ensure fidelity of delivery and to minimize schedule disruption for students receiving supports.