School Leaders’ Role in Strengthening Multi-Tiered Systems of Support to Promote Student Success

School leadership in education is thinking, communicating, and modeling to maximize student growth and achievement. This quantitative research study explored how school leadership can strengthen the academic progress of students within Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). When implementation of MTSS is guided by adaptive school leadership, educators will be prepared, communication will occur, interventions will be established, and data will be evaluated. Adaptive school leaders who build efficacy will ensure fidelity and continuous improvement. Survey research was conducted to analyze the operational level of MTSS regarding the domains of Leadership, Building Capacity for Instruction, Communication and Collaboration, Data-Based Problem-solving, Tiered Interventions, and Data Evaluation. Demographic information was analyzed to determine correlations between educator tenure and leadership, and educator school level on leadership, within MTSS. The findings established an operational baseline for each domain and indicated that Communication and Collaboration, as well as Building Capacity for Instruction, are focus areas to improve the academic MTSS. Additionally, the demographic impact of school level on the domain variables does impact educator perceptions. The implications of this research can help school leaders identify topics for continuous improvement to achieve an operational or optimizing level of MTSS performance. The outcomes from the research can help identify the current use of evidence-based practices and identify professional development needs. Future research could be done within educator talent development to determine the types of professional development where educators feel they need support in implementation, as well as a plan for coaching to provide a feedback loop to maximize support.