SystemK–12 Teaching, Curriculum & MTSS

MTSS Intervention Planning & Progress Monitoring

MTSS progress monitoring that checks the sessions happened before a team judges a student, with every plan drafted and cited

Plans drafted in minutes, and no student judged on sessions that never happened.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo612studentson one school's math pyramid, one dot each, with tier changes and today's agenda marked
demo67%of Mateo R.'s sessions delivered (12 of 18), so the agents recommend restoring delivery, not a referral
demo11studentson Thursday's data-team agenda, each arriving with a cited recommendation
target100%of tier decisions made with delivery checked first
In short

What is MTSS Intervention Planning & Progress Monitoring?

MTSS Intervention Planning & Progress Monitoring is MTSS progress monitoring software for school data teams. Seven agents bring in each screening window and propose tiers by the district's rule, draft every Tier 2 and Tier 3 plan from the screener, the diagnostic and the district menu, read the intervention logs every week, and prepare a cited recommendation for each student on the data-team agenda. The team decides, and the coordinator approves every plan change and referral packet.

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Updated

The problem

Why MTSS progress monitoring judges students on sessions that never happened

MTSS progress monitoring is the weekly or biweekly probe that tells a school data team whether a Tier 2 or Tier 3 intervention is working. Three times a year every student takes a universal screener; the students below the district's cut points get an intervention plan, are probed against an aimline, and every six weeks or so the team decides whether to continue, intensify, fade or refer for a special education evaluation.

Today the plan is a form typed from three systems: the screener report, the diagnostic and the district's intervention menu. The intervention log is a spreadsheet or a paper sheet, and misses are rarely coded, so the team calls a non-response without knowing whether the intervention happened. A parent who asks for an evaluation can be told to finish the tiers first, and the letter home often goes in English only. MTSS Intervention Planning & Progress Monitoring puts seven agents in front of that work, so the coordinator and the team spend their time deciding.

estimated30–45minutesto type one intervention plan by hand from three systems
demo279sessionsnot delivered at one elementary school since September 8, in math alone
estimated9,600studentson Tier 2 or 3 plans in a 48,000-student district, each reviewed every six weeks or so
Where staff hours go for one Tier 2 student in one review cycleestimated
By hand3 hours
With the solution0.5 hours
  • Sorting the screener export and proposing a tier0.5 → 0.1 h
  • Typing the plan from the screener, the diagnostic and the menu0.8 → 0.1 h
  • Counting sessions and finding why they were missed0.5 → 0.1 h
  • Preparing the graph and the history for the data-team meeting0.5 → 0.1 h
  • Writing the letter home and getting it translated0.8 → 0.1 h

Estimated split of the staff hours one Tier 2 student takes in a six-week review cycle, by hand and with the agents. Our arithmetic, kept modest; the hand-typed plan is the 30–45 minutes the spec estimates.

How it works

How a student moves through MTSS

Seven agents place, plan, read every session log and prepare each decision; the team decides, the coordinator approves, the liaison checks.

What comes in
Data in5 systems · student information, screener, logs, special education, families
Agents at work
Screening agent3 windows a year
Placement agentrule 3.1, cited
Then
Planner agentdistrict menu
Then
Fidelity agentsessions held?
Decision agent4 below · fidelity first
Then
Referral packet agentfull history
Family letter agentbeside the English
A person decides
Data team decidescoordinator approves · liaison checks
What comes out
Cited plan
Team decision
Referral packet
One case, step by step

MTSS progress monitoring for one student, from the pyramid to the letter home

Mateo R. is in grade 4 at Pellwood Elementary, on a Tier 2 math plan since September 8. His last four scores sit below his aimline. Here is what happens before, during and after Thursday's data-team meeting, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 01Thursday, 2:40 p.m.

    The day in four numbers and one list

    Alicia Varga-Moreno · MTSS coordinator

    Alicia opens Pellwood's math: 134 of 612 students in Tier 2 or 3, 87% of scheduled sessions delivered since September 8, six students with four scores below the aimline, and two evaluation clocks open. Her list starts with the data-team meeting at 2:45 p.m.

  2. 02One click

    The school's MTSS tiers as a pyramid, every student a dot

    Alicia

    Tier 1 holds 478 students, Tier 2 98 and Tier 3 36. Arrows mark the 11 students who changed tier since the October 8 meeting, rings mark the 11 on today's agenda, and hollow dots are the 14 make-up screeners waiting for confirmation. Selecting Mateo opens his progress-monitoring chart beside the pyramid.

    12 of 18 sessions delivered · 67%

  3. 03Any point on the chart

    Every progress score opens its source

    Alicia

    Mateo's baseline was 12 digits correct, with a goal of 24 by November 13. His scores read 14, 15, 14, 16, 15 and 17. Clicking the last one shows the grade 4 computation probe, form 8, given by Devon Okafor on Friday, October 16: 17 digits correct against an aimline of 19.2 that day.

  4. 04Monday, 6:00 a.m.

    Intervention fidelity, read from the logs before the review

    Fidelity agent

    The Fidelity agent read every intervention log and found six of Mateo's sessions not held, from September 29 to October 8, while Mr. Okafor covered a grade 4 classroom vacancy. Six students lost the same six sessions, 36 in all. Devon confirmed the log; the staffing gap can go to the principal, Marcus Hale, in one step.

  5. 05Before the meeting

    A recommendation that checks delivery first

    Decision agent

    The Decision agent applied rule 4.1, four scores in a row below the aimline, then rule 4.4: below 80% delivery, restore before judging response. It read the cause of every missed session, found no evaluation request, and recommended continuing Tier 2 with three weeks of full delivery, Monday make-ups and a review on November 19. Confidence 0.91.

    Continue Tier 2 and restore full delivery for three weeks.

  6. 062:52 p.m.

    The team decides, and the reason is on the record

    Alicia Varga-Moreno

    The team agrees. Alicia records the decision: restore full delivery from October 26 to November 13, not judged as a non-response. The note cites the six dates the sessions were not held and the log confirmation of October 19.

  7. 072:53 p.m.

    The plan change waits for a second person

    Devon Okafor · Math interventionist

    Devon records plan change v2 from the team's decision: the same intervention, M2-03 Computation fluency small group, three 30-minute sessions a week, plus Monday make-ups on October 26, November 2 and November 9. The goal of 24 digits correct stays. Alicia approves it; the person who records a plan change never approves it.

  8. 082:55 p.m.

    The letter home in Spanish, beside the English

    Lucía Ortega · Parent liaison

    The Family letter agent drafts the letter to Mateo's mother, Sra. Rocío R., in Spanish beside the English. It says that 6 of his 18 sessions did not happen, that all sessions resume on October 26, and that she may ask in writing for a special education evaluation at any time. Lucía checks it, with a translation confidence of 0.96, before it can be sent.

  9. 09Day 6 of 15

    A parent's evaluation request is never delayed by MTSS

    Dr. Priya Raman · School psychologist

    Jaylen T., grade 3, is in Tier 3. His mother asked in writing for an evaluation on October 14, so the agents started the response clock and took every "wait for more data" option away. Dr. Raman assembled the referral packet: 3 screener windows, 3 plan versions, 31 progress scores and 96 of 105 sessions delivered. Alicia approves and sends it.

    Response due Wednesday, November 4 · day 6 of 15.

  10. 10On the record

    Who decided, when, why and on what evidence

    Thomas Whitlock · Compliance and records officer

    Every view, recommendation, decision, plan change and letter is on the audit trail, with each agent named by its version. The export pack for state monitoring builds in one step, with other students redacted.

Who it’s for

Built for everyone around the MTSS data-team table.

The same students, seen by the five people who carry them: what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.

AV
Alicia Varga-MorenoMTSS coordinator · 134 students in Tier 2 or 3 math, a data team every other Thursday
MTSS coordinator
Before
Pulls graphs from one system, plans from another and the session log from a spreadsheet, then asks in the meeting whether the intervention happened.
Now
Opens the pyramid and each student's line with the delivery log beside it, and arrives with a cited recommendation for every student on the agenda.
DO
Devon OkaforMath interventionist · five small groups a day, a probe every Friday
Math interventionist
Before
Types each plan from the screener and the diagnostic, and logs sessions in one place and explains the misses in another.
Now
Edits a plan the Planner agent drafted, with a source on every field, and confirms a log the agents already counted.
PR
Dr. Priya RamanSchool psychologist · three schools, every evaluation on a clock
School psychologist
Before
Rebuilds a student's intervention history from memory and several systems while the evaluation clock runs.
Now
Starts from a packet with every screener, plan version, score and session, other students redacted.
LO
Lucía OrtegaParent liaison · checks every Spanish letter before it is sent
Parent liaison
Before
Is asked to translate English letters after they were already due home.
Now
Reads the Spanish beside the English, line by line, and nothing goes until she has checked it.
RC
Renee CastilloDistrict MTSS director · one rule for 62 schools, written down
District MTSS director
Before
Writes decision rules in a handbook and cannot tell which version a school applied.
Now
Sets the cut points, the four-point rule and the fidelity threshold once; every recommendation names the rule version it used.
Built on the engine

7 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Seven agents place, plan, read every session log and prepare each decision; the team decides, the coordinator approves, the liaison checks.

Screening agent

Imports each screening window's results in math, reading and behavior, including make-up tests, matches every student to the student information system, and flags missing, invalid or rushed tests.

  • Never changes a score
  • Never places a student
Placement agent

Applies the district placement rule and proposes each student's tier, citing the score and the cut point.

  • Never places a student in Tier 3 on one score; holds the placement until a second data source exists
  • Never confirms; the coordinator does
Planner agent

Drafts each Tier 2 or Tier 3 plan from the screener, the diagnostic and the district intervention menu: need, intervention, group, interventionist with open seats, measure, baseline, goal, aimline from the district norm table, and review date, with every field cited.

  • Never picks an intervention outside the district menu
  • Never approves a plan
Fidelity agent

Reads every intervention log each Monday at 6:00 a.m., counts the sessions delivered against the plan, codes the cause of each missed one, and flags students under the fidelity threshold before their review.

  • Never edits a log
  • Asks the interventionist to confirm
Decision agent

Applies the district's decision rules, delivery first, and drafts continue, restore delivery, intensify, fade or refer for each student on the agenda. It reads family messages and call notes for an evaluation request.

  • Never decides; the data team does
  • Never recommends waiting on MTSS when a parent has asked for an evaluation
Referral packet agent

Assembles the full intervention history for a special education referral: screeners, tiers, plan versions, progress scores, sessions and family contacts, with other students redacted.

  • Never sends a packet
  • One student per packet
Family letter agent

Drafts every letter home in plain words, in the family's language beside the English, including the parent's right to ask for an evaluation.

  • Never sends a letter
  • Below 0.90 translation confidence, the letter goes to the district translation service
Data team, coordinator and liaison

Decide, approve and check. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any student, plan or session

Ask about any student, plan, session or rule, or say what to prepare. Every answer cites its source and opens the screen where the work is done.

Why restore delivery for Mateo instead of a referral?

Because the intervention did not fully happen. Mateo's last four scores are below his aimline, but only 12 of 18 sessions were delivered: six were not held between September 29 and October 8 while Mr. Okafor covered a classroom. Rule 4.4 says to restore delivery before judging response, and the family has not asked for an evaluation. The recommendation is three weeks of full delivery with Monday make-ups and a review on November 19. The team decides.

Which students got under 80% of their sessions?

Seven of the 134 on plans. Mateo R., Kai L., Ruby F., Theo G., Andre K. and Mila P. each had 12 of 18, all lost to the same staffing gap; Hana S. had 13 of 18 after five absences. Fidelity is open so you can schedule make-ups or send the gap to Marcus Hale.

Can Jaylen finish another round of Tier 3 before we evaluate?

No. His mother asked in writing for an evaluation on October 14. A parent may request an initial evaluation at any time, and MTSS cannot be used to delay or deny it. Tier 3 support continues while he is evaluated. The district's response with prior written notice is due November 4, and the packet is ready for your approval.

Draft plans for the five new Tier 2 students

Five drafts are ready, from the make-up screener, the October 20 diagnostics and the district menu, each field cited. Noor A. gets M2-07 Math facts fluency with Devon Okafor at 10:40 a.m., where two seats are open. Kiara B.'s Tier 3 plan stays held until Monday's diagnostic. They are waiting for your approval.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

One school's MTSS tiers as a pyramid, every student a dotPellwood Elementary's math pyramid: 612 students in Tier 1 (478), Tier 2 (98) and Tier 3 (36), with arrows for tier changes and rings for today's data-team agenda. Selecting Mateo R. opens his MTSS progress monitoring chart against the aimline, with a shaded band where 6 sessions were not held, and his log: 12 of 18 sessions delivered, 67%.
The MTSS coordinator's day, in one listFour numbers, the work that needs the coordinator and what the agents did since yesterday: the data-team meeting at 2:45 p.m., a parent's evaluation request, 7 students under 80% of their sessions, plans waiting for approval and 14 make-up screener results.
Every progress-monitoring score opens its sourceClicking a point on the progress-monitoring chart opens the score behind it: the grade 4 computation probe, form 8, given on Friday, October 16, with 17 digits correct against an aimline of 19.2 that day and a goal of 24 by November 13.
Screening and placement by the district rule, citedThe Screening agent brings in each universal screening window, including 14 make-up tests, and the Placement agent proposes every tier by the district's cut points: 8 Tier 1, 5 Tier 2 and 1 Tier 3. The Tier 3 student is held for a second data source; the coordinator confirms the other 13 in one step.
An MTSS intervention plan for Tier 2, drafted from the screener and the menuThe Planner agent drafts Noor A.'s Tier 2 plan from the diagnostic and the district intervention menu: M2-07 Math facts fluency, four 15-minute sessions a week, a baseline of 11 digits correct and a goal of 20 by January 22, 2027, with a numbered source on every field. It cannot be approved until her placement is confirmed.
Intervention fidelity, read from the logs every weekThe Fidelity agent reads every intervention log on Monday morning: 87% of sessions delivered since September 8 (1,869 of 2,148), each missed session's cause coded, and 7 students under the 80% threshold. One staffing gap cost six students six sessions each, and goes to the principal in one step.
The MTSS data team meeting, prepared with a cited recommendation per studentThe Decision agent prepares each of the 11 students on Thursday's agenda. For Mateo R. it applies the four-point rule, checks delivery first, and recommends restoring delivery rather than a referral, confidence 0.91, with every step shown and every rule cited.
The team decides; the decision is recorded with its evidenceThe coordinator records the team's decision in the meeting at 2:52 p.m. The note cites the six missed session dates, and the next steps follow at once: a plan change for approval and a letter home in the family's language.
A second person approves every plan changeThe interventionist records plan change v2 from the team's decision; the coordinator approves it. Each field carries its source: the district intervention menu entry M2-03, the progress-monitoring measure and the rate-of-improvement norm behind the aimline.
The letter home in Spanish, beside the EnglishThe Family letter agent drafts the plan-change letter to Mateo's mother in Spanish beside the English. The parent liaison checks it, with three district glossary terms confirmed and a translation confidence of 0.96, before it can be sent.
A parent's evaluation request, never delayed by MTSSJaylen T.'s mother asked in writing for an evaluation on October 14. The agents start the response clock, due November 4, remove every "wait for more data" option and assemble the full intervention history in eight sections. The school psychologist assembles; the coordinator approves and sends.
An audit trail of people and agents, with an export packEvery view, recommendation, decision, plan change, letter and setting is recorded with who, what, when, why and the evidence, and each agent appears with its version. One step builds the export pack for state monitoring.
District MTSS decision rules, versionedThe district MTSS director sets the cut points, the four-point rule, the fidelity threshold and the referral rule the agents apply. Every change is a new version, and the Child Find guard is always on.
Governance

Built for Child Find and FERPA: cited, decided by people, on the record.

Eight roles, separated by dutyInterventionists log sessions and propose plans; the data team decides; the coordinator confirms placements and approves plans and referral packets; the principal approves any plan the coordinator edited; the psychologist assembles packets; the parent liaison checks translations; the district director owns the rules; the compliance officer reads and exports, and changes nothing.
A second person on every plan change, packet and letterThe person who records a plan change never approves it, the psychologist who assembles a referral packet never approves it, and the drafter of a letter never sends it. Overrides of an agent's proposal need a reason code.
Every value and agent statement cites its sourceA score opens the probe it came from, a plan field opens the menu entry or the norm table, and a missed session opens the log entry. The recommendation lists each rule it applied.
The Child Find guard is always onWhen a parent's request for an evaluation appears in a message or a call note, the response clock starts and no "wait for more data" option is offered. The guard cannot be switched off in settings.
FERPA-aware access, retention and redactionStudent records are visible only to the school team with a legitimate educational interest; the district sees counts. Every view of a student record is logged, parent inspection requests are answered within 45 days, MTSS records are kept 5 years after the student leaves, and exports are redacted. Referral packets are handled under IDEA confidentiality.
Versioned agents and rules, and an audit trail with an export packEach agent has a version, a model and a confidence threshold; below it, a person does the work. Each rule change is a new version. Who, what, when, why and which evidence are on the record for people and agents alike, kept 7 years, and the export pack for state monitoring builds in one step.
Configuration

Your MTSS decision rules, versioned

The district MTSS director sets the rules the agents apply. Every change is a new version, and every recommendation names the version it used.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Placement cut points (rule 3.1)Tier 2 at the 25th percentile, Tier 3 at the 10thStepped; each change a new version
Second data source for Tier 3OnA diagnostic or classroom assessment
Scores in a row below the aimline (rule 4.1)4To indicate a plan change
Scores in a row above the aimline (rule 4.2)3With the goal met, to consider fading
Fidelity threshold (rule 4.4)80%Below it, restore delivery before judging response
Tier 3 plan changes without response (rule 4.3)2Before a referral is considered
Child Find guardAlways onAn evaluation request always overrides MTSS timing
Evaluation request response15 school daysEscalates to the district director at day 10
Connections

Works with the systems a district already runs MTSS on

Student information systemenrollment, grades, attendance and home language, nightly
Assessment platformuniversal screener and progress probes, hourly
Intervention logsessions as they are logged
Special education case management systemreferral packets out, evaluation status back
Family messaging platformletters out, replies and delivery receipts back
State reporting portalrecords for state monitoring, on request
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
100%
of tier decisions made with delivery checked first
Fidelity first
rule 4.4 before rule 4.1
typical
60days
IDEA evaluation clock honored from the parent's request; MTSS never delays it
Oftenfinish the tiers first
With agentsclock starts the day of the request
estimated
30–45min
of typing saved on each plan, drafted from the screener and the menu
By handWith agents

Sources: 34 CFR 300.301(b) (a parent may request an initial evaluation at any time) · OSEP Memo 11-07, January 21, 2011 (RTI cannot be used to delay or deny an evaluation) · 34 CFR 99.10 (parents' right to inspect education records within 45 days) · "target" = design goal, measured in the live solution · "demo" = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · "estimated" = our arithmetic from the sample district's volumes. Marlow Bay Unified School District, Pellwood Elementary, and the people and students named on this page are fictional: characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What MTSS teams and districts ask us.

What is MTSS Intervention Planning & Progress Monitoring?

MTSS Intervention Planning & Progress Monitoring is MTSS progress monitoring software for school data teams. Seven agents bring in each screening window and propose tiers by the district's rule, draft every Tier 2 and Tier 3 plan from the screener, the diagnostic and the district menu, read the intervention logs every week, and prepare a cited recommendation for each student on the data-team agenda. The team decides, and the coordinator approves every plan change and referral packet.

How does it check intervention fidelity before a tier decision?

The Fidelity agent reads every intervention log each week, counts the sessions delivered against the plan and codes why each missed one was missed. When delivery is under the district's threshold, 80% in the working solution, the Decision agent will not call a non-response: it recommends restoring delivery and cites the missed dates.

Can MTSS delay a special education evaluation?

No. A parent may request an initial evaluation at any time (34 CFR 300.301(b)), and the Office of Special Education Programs has said that RTI or MTSS cannot be used to delay or deny one (OSEP Memo 11-07). When a request appears in a message or a call note, the agents start the district's response clock, offer no "wait for more data" option and assemble the referral packet for the school psychologist.

How are MTSS intervention plans drafted?

The Planner agent drafts each plan from the student's screener, the diagnostic and the district's own intervention menu: the need, the intervention, the group, the interventionist with open seats, the measure, the baseline, the goal and the aimline from the district norm table. Every field cites its source. The interventionist edits, and the coordinator approves.

What happens at the MTSS data team meeting?

Each student on the agenda arrives with a recommendation from the Decision agent (continue, restore delivery, intensify, fade or refer), with the rule it applied and the evidence. The team agrees or chooses another option with a reason, and the plan change and the letter home in the family's language follow within minutes.

Do people stay in control of tier decisions?

Yes. The agents propose and explain; they never decide, approve, send, or edit a log or a score. The data team decides, the coordinator confirms placements and approves plans and packets, the person who recorded a change never approves it, and the parent liaison checks every translation before it goes home.

Can a district set its own MTSS decision rules?

Yes. Cut points, the second data source for Tier 3, the number of scores below or above the aimline, the fidelity threshold, the referral rule, the intervention menu, roles, retention and the response deadlines are settings. Every change is a new version on the audit trail; only the Child Find guard is always on.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents, such as your MTSS handbook, your intervention menu and a sample of past screener data and logs, and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own data first.

See it on
your school's MTSS data.

We'll run MTSS Intervention Planning & Progress Monitoring on a sample of your own screener, plans and intervention logs.