S11 E3: Tier 1: Your MTSS Foundation, with Sarah Brown, Ph.D.

Susan Lambert (0:00)

Hi, listeners, it's Susan. I've got a quick favor to ask. Science of Reading the Podcast was just named a finalist for a Signal Award.

That means we're also eligible for a Signal Listener's Choice Award. If you've gotten something from this podcast, I'd really appreciate your vote. Go to amplify.com/signalawards to vote today. That's amplify.com/signalawards.

Sarah Brown (0:27)

We are running ourselves ragged, trying to provide intervention for too many students.

Susan Lambert (0:38)

This is Susan Lambert and welcome to Science of Reading the Podcast from Amplify. We're on to episode 3 of this MTSS season. So far, we've explored the philosophy at the heart of a multi-tiered system of supports and we've gotten an overview of the pillars of an effective MTSS. Now, it's time to put the spotlight on each of those foundational elements. First up, core instruction. In this episode, we'll explore why core instruction may indeed be the most important element of MTSS, how it fits and connects with the rest of the system, what strong core instruction looks like, and some common misconceptions. To explore all of that, I'm joined by Dr. Sarah Brown, Consultant and President of System Impact Consulting. She's the co-author of the books Effective Universal Instruction, MTSS for Reading Improvement, and Routines for Reading Results. She previously served as Bureau Chief, Leading Special Education and MTSS Implementation for Iowa.

Sarah is the right person for this conversation about MTSS and core instruction. And before we dive in, a quick note. We've put together a new ebook to complement the season. Download this free resource on implementing a multi-tiered system of supports for literacy at amplify.com/mtssebook.

There's also a link in the show notes. Okay. Let's bring Sarah on now.

Well, Dr. Sarah Brown, thank you so much for joining us on today's episode. Great to have you here.

Sarah Brown (2:23)

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Susan Lambert (2:25)

I would tell our listeners a story of how we met at a conference, sitting at a bar, but they might not be as interested in that as we thought it was.

Sarah Brown (2:34)

It was. It was a great evening.

Susan Lambert (2:37)

We would love if you could tell our listeners just a little bit about your journey into education and maybe why MTSS, which is going to be part of our topic today, why that became of particular interest to you.

Sarah Brown (2:51)

Sure. I've worked at just about every level of education.

From the building level as a school psychologist to a district leader and then a state leader. Now, I consult full-time. I work with schools around the country. I'm helping them to take evidence-based practices and turn them into practical, actionable supports for teachers and students.

School psychs get a whole year of an internship, which is a gift, where we get to practice and study at the same time. So it's kind of cool.

I came from a really different type of school psychology program than a lot of school psychologists have, where it's very instruction-focused.

In my program, my advisor told me I was going to be teaching a reading group. Every day for that whole year. And secretly, I know, I know. And secretly, I was kind of wondering, you know, why am I going to need to know how to teach reading? I'm a school psychologist, not a teacher. And which is now I realized the silliest thing I ever could have thought. Luckily, I didn't say it out loud until apparently now on a podcast, a very popular one. But what happened was really like life-changing for me. I taught four first grade boys and four or five. At the end of the year, all four to five, it's been decades, were on track readers, all of them. And yeah, all year long, though, I had really great training. I had an amazing program and I progress monitored them all year long using a curriculum-based measure and then we adapted based on how they were responding. And I learned two things, really. One, like high quality instruction really matters. And then also that all kids can learn, right? That our labels don't define our students' skills and abilities, that the quality and intensity of our instruction is really what matters. And so that really kind of set the trajectory of my career at that point in time. And it really got me interested in what we now call MTSS, before it was, I mean, decades before it was called that. My dissertation became about MTSS.

It was all about screening then. And I was really fortunate through my early roles to have fantastic professional experiences and mentors who were using data to support students and teachers. And it really just helped me really build an understanding about and passion for data and system wide supports.