Too often, elementary school students lack the behavioral and social skills necessary to focus on academics and achieve in school. Without proper support, teachers inevitably spend far too much time managing their students’ behavior and too little time actually teaching. Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for Behavior (MTSS-B) is not a specific model but a compilation of effective practices, interventions, and systems change strategies that are designed to prevent student behavior problems and promote student achievement. This can happen both by articulating behavioral expectations and supporting positive behavior to improve school climate and by building staff and teacher capacity to manage student behavior and to provide instruction in, and opportunities for student practice with, effective social skills. These changes are intended to improve students’ academic outcomes, and the implementation of MTSS-B is influenced by the context of individual schools and districts.

MDRC is evaluating the training of teachers and other school staff in this vision of MTSS-B in schools across the nation. The study will estimate impacts by comparing outcomes among three sets of elementary schools:

• schools receiving training on universal MTSS-B practices (school-wide and classroom-based),
• schools receiving training on universal MTSS-B elements plus training on targeted interventions for students needing more support, and
• schools continuing with existing practices to support student behavior (business-as-usual).

The universal aspects are sometimes called Tier 1 of a MTSS-B system, while the targeted aspects are sometimes called Tier 2. The study’s findings on school context, implementation fidelity, and the service contrasts among the groups of schools will help lay a framework for understanding the impact findings and what it takes to implement the tested practices with fidelity.