The Nevada Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Project

The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) and the Nevada PBIS Technical Assistance Center plan to build capacity to establish, scale-up, and sustain a Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) in many of Nevada Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), including the state's larger urban districts and small rural districts across the entire state. The NDE and Nevada PBIS have spent the past 5 years building a multi-tiered behavior framework across 7 LEAs through Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS). Due to the exciting success of implementing a PBIS framework in several of our LEAs, including significant reductions in discipline and improvement in overall school climate around Nevada, the intention of the proposed project is to now leverage the existing PBIS framework and move towards creating and scaling an integrated MTSS.

Nevada's overall project objective is to build infrastructure both at the SEA and LEA levels to integrate all of Nevada's school climate practices and initiatives including PBIS, Social Emotional Academic Development (SEAD), and School Mental Health within a MTSS. Project objectives include: (1) integrate initiatives and resources into a comprehensive MTSS, (2) build SEA capacity to support LEAs in implementing MTSS, (3) scale and enhance LEA capacity in implementing MTSS, and (4) address the opioid crisis within a MTSS. Some specific project activities include: (1) aligning leadership teams at the local, district, and state levels, (2) improving the SEA capacity for MTSS integration and data collection, (3) integrating initiatives and enhancing fidelity of implementation, especially at the advanced tiers, and (4) incorporating opioid prevention and treatment into the MTSS framework, including evidence-based practice selection and data based decision making.

This integrated MTSS framework will serve as the infrastructure needed in Nevada and to address the many rising needs of the student populations in both our urban and rural districts as well as evaluate the student outcomes of Nevada's school climate initiatives.The integration of initiatives aims to reduce time, effort and resources, and maximize student outcomes including improved school climate, reductions in discipline, and improved academic outcomes. In addition to the above mentioned outcomes, the proposed project intends to address the opioid crisis in Nevada through focusing on improvements in school climate in our most vulnerable and high-needs LEAs as well as integrating specific drug prevention and treatment practices into the MTSS.

Contact information

If you have any questions regarding Nevada's MTSS Project, please contact Kaci Fleetwood at the email or phone listed below:

Kaci Fleetwood, M. Ed., BCBA, LBA

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