A new report by the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools evaluates the success of scaling up California’s Multi-Tiered System of Support (CA MTSS) initiative. Scaling Equity: Unfulfilled Promises and Lessons From California’s MTSS Initiative evaluates the Phase 2 expansion, which was centered on collaboration between county offices of education, coaches and school sites to help them implement different components of the framework at scale, guided by implementation science.
CA MTSS is a “comprehensive framework that aligns academic, behavioral, social and emotional learning, and mental health supports in a fully integrated system of support for the benefit of all students,” as defined in the report. An MTSS approach to student behavior combines Tier 1 supports — universal supports designed for all students — with more focused and intense Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports, utilizing prevention and intervention methods.
Unlike previous studies on the system, this report assesses whether MTSS implementation influenced school climate outcomes — such as chronic absenteeism or out-of-school suspensions — for specific student groups, particularly students of color, from the 2018–19 to the 2022–23 school years. Since 2016, California has invested more than $200 million in scaling and sustaining the CA MTSS framework through direct grants and aligned initiatives supporting academic, behavioral and social-emotional development.
The CA MTSS Phase 2 A and B pilots included 35 schools from 26 districts across California as they implemented the CA MTSS framework at the school site level, focusing on school climate, positive behavioral supports and social-emotional learning.
Key findings
The report used publicly available data and interviews with about 60 administrators to arrive at its findings.
Quantitative findings
Suspension rates decreased statewide for most schools in the CA MTSS pilot. Baseline rates for this metric were collected in the 2018–19 school year, which was one year before Senate Bill 419, which banned suspensions for willful defiance for all elementary and middle schools. The change in suspension rates also reflects this law’s impact.
- Suspension rates decreased for all groups across both phases for elementary schools in the CA MTSS pilot from 2018–19 to 2022–23, except for Black students in 2A elementary schools, where rates increased by 1.7 percent.
- In Phase 2B elementary schools, suspension rates decreased across all groups. The most significant decline occurred among Black students. While the overall suspension rate dropped by 1.2 percent, the rate for Black students fell by 2.5 percent.
- In secondary schools, Black students continued to be suspended at a higher rate compared to their peers in 2022–23. The suspension rates were more disproportionate across groups in Phase 2A secondary schools than in Phase 2B.
Chronic absenteeism rates increased across all schools over the study. Statewide, the chronic absentee rate increased from 10.1 percent in 2018–19 to 24.3 percent in 2022–23.
- Phase 2A elementary and secondary schools saw chronic absence rise from 14.6 percent in 2018–19 to 31.7 percent in 2022–23, with similar trajectories for both.
- Rates of chronic absence at Phase 2B schools increased overall from 19.3 percent in 2018–19 to 31.7 percent in 2022–23.
- However, secondary schools in this group improved their chronic absence rate from 26.8 percent in 2018–19 to 13.6 percent in 2022–23, while elementary schools increased from 11.8 percent in 2018–19 to 23.6 percent in 2022–23.
Academic achievement generally declined. The total percentage of elementary students meeting or exceeding English language arts (ELA) standards decreased across both phases. However, there was a sharper decline for 2B elementary schools (-14 percent) compared with 2A elementary schools (-3.5 percent). Similarly, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding math standards declined for all groups across both phases, except for Phase 2A Black students, which grew by about 2.5 percent. However, the percentage of Phase 2B Black students meeting or exceeding math standards declined at a notably disproportionate rate (-16 percent) compared with the overall decline (-5 percent) for Phase 2B schools.
- ELA rates fell similarly for most secondary schools in the CA MTSS pilot. In both years, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards was higher in 2B schools than in 2A schools for all groups except Black students. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding math standards decreased at a similar rate across Phase 2A (-10 percent) and 2B schools (-8 percent). However, Black students in Phase 2A secondary schools met or exceeded standards at a higher rate compared with 2B schools for both years.
Qualitative findings
In February and March of 2023, researchers interviewed 16 principals and coaches from participating 2A and 2B schools to gain insights into implementing the CA MTSS Pilot, tiered supports, and schools’ responses to student behavior.
- Most administrators discussed the presence of school-based supports across all three MTSS tiers in academic and behavioral areas. In contrast, support in the social-emotional learning domain was notably less prevalent.
- Almost all administrators shared a common goal of reducing suspensions and safeguarding students’ opportunities to learn. Significantly, most administrators outlined a thorough process for addressing student behavior.
- Schools reported more robust implementation and a wider variety of strategies in the academic domain compared to social-emotional and behavioral supports.
Challenges
While the statewide expansion of CA MTSS aimed to promote greater equity and access across schools, this study identified three significant and recurring challenges that hindered consistent implementation: time constraints, rural/urban differences and school size, and funding and staff capacity.
Researchers recommend:
- Prioritize staffing and capacity to ensure fidelity in implementation.
- Ensure that competing priorities or requirements of state initiatives aren’t overly burdensome for practitioners to balance.
- Prioritize predictable and sustainable funding for school sites over one-time dollars for initiatives.
- Center efforts to address racial disproportionality in a holistic and intentional fashion.
- Align and integrate efforts, such as aligning MTSS with Positive Behavior and Intervention and Supports (PBIS), when appropriate.
- Allow time to build meaningful relationships in and across schools and communities,
Read the full report for more details, including the make up of the pilot schools.
