For school and district leaders, MTSS often feels like a balancing act. Tier 1 supports every student, but it cannot address every need. Tier 3 exists for intensive intervention, yet capacity is limited. Meanwhile, behavior challenges, academic struggles, and staff workload create constant pressure.
In this delicate space, Tier 2 is not just a middle layer. It is the stabilizing force that keeps students supported, staff effective, and systems sustainable.
When Tier 2 is clearly structured and implemented with fidelity, it prevents small challenges from escalating into major disruptions. Without that structure, strain builds quickly, and service gaps begin to appear exactly when students need support the most.
In our recent webinar with CEC, Five High-Impact MTSS Supports That You Can Use Tomorrow: Practical Strategies to Improve Behavior, Engagement, and Staff Wellbeing, we explored Tier 2 MTSS interventions backed by research that schools can implement immediately to strengthen engagement, improve behavior, and reinforce system stability.
As Dr. Alexander Kurz, a former special education teacher and behavior analyst, shared:
“MTSS really operates under this one fundamental premise. All students are general education students first.”
This perspective reframes Tier 2. It is not just a placeholder between universal and intensive supports; it is targeted prevention designed to keep students thriving in general education while preserving Tier 3 for those who truly need individualized support.
Key Takeaways
- Tier 2 is the stabilizing layer in MTSS that prevents challenges from escalating and protects system capacity.
- Strong Tier 2 implementation relies on consistent structure, defined components, and data-informed progress monitoring.
- Evidence-based Tier 2 MTSS interventions improve behavior, engagement, and staff wellbeing while preserving Tier 3 resources.
- Fidelity in implementation is essential for MTSS to function reliably and deliver measurable outcomes.
- Early, targeted Tier 2 supports prevent service gaps, maintain manageable workloads, and keep students on track.
The Impact of Tier 2 Done Right
Strong Tier 2 implementation:
- Reduces escalation to Tier 3
- Preserves staff capacity and manageable caseloads
- Provides students with timely, consistent support
- Reinforces system-wide stability and equity
Brandy Samuell, experienced educator and Director of Product for K–12 Services at eLuma, emphasized:
“When we implement Tier 2 MTSS interventions with fidelity, we prevent escalation that would otherwise require Tier 3 support.”
Research shows that high-fidelity Tier 2 practices lead to fewer office discipline referrals and suspensions, higher student engagement, stronger teacher efficacy, and lower burnout. Structure and consistency are essential.
Five High-Impact Tier 2 MTSS Interventions
1. Check-In/Check-Out (CICO)
Check-in/check-out remains one of the most widely studied Tier 2 behavior interventions. The meta-analysis referenced in the webinar found “reliable moderate effects” across multiple studies.
CICO provides predictable adult connection, clear behavioral expectations, and ongoing progress monitoring. It requires minimal training and integrates naturally within PBIS frameworks.
Brandy described it as “a short interaction that’s typically positive.” Even corrective conversations occur within a supportive structure that reinforces growth and accountability.
For schools seeking efficient Tier 2 behavior supports, CICO offers immediate structure and measurable impact.
2. Social Skills Instruction
Across the research reviewed in the webinar, social skills instruction showed the strongest effect in reducing problem behavior.
Dr. Kurz shared:
“It’s very effective for reducing problem behaviors, and suggests that a lot of students simply do not know what the desired behavior ought to look like.”
This perspective centers on skill development rather than punishment.
Effective social skills instruction includes explicit teaching of expectations, modeling, structured practice opportunities, and immediate feedback. When students understand what success looks like and have opportunities to practice it, behavior improves, and classroom environments stabilize.
3. Targeted Small Group Interventions
Tier 2 small-group interventions enable schools to efficiently address shared needs while preserving individualized supports for Tier 3.
Strong small group structures are short, focused, and delivered multiple times per week. Groups remain small enough to allow active participation and consistent monitoring.
When Tier 2 roles, such as school counselors or school psychologists, go unfilled, even well-designed frameworks stall. That’s the service gap districts, and students can’t afford.
Placement decisions should be informed by data from universal screeners, attendance patterns, and discipline trends. Progress monitoring ensures that students receive appropriate support and can transition back to Tier 1 when ready.
As Brandy noted:
“Many of our students who receive high-quality interventions at Tier 2… we’re often able to return many of those students back to Tier 1 universal instruction.”
That movement reflects prevention working as intended.
4. Group Contingency Interventions, Including the Good Behavior Game
Group contingency strategies, including the Good Behavior Game, ranked among the top interventions discussed in the webinar.
These approaches establish clear group expectations and reinforce positive peer accountability. They align with school-wide PBIS practices and improve classroom climate without adding unnecessary complexity.
Dr. Kurz emphasized that they are most effective when you can define clear group expectations and deliver consistent reinforcement.
Consistency builds stability for both students and staff.
5. Coaching and Feedback to Sustain Fidelity
Strong Tier 2 implementation requires active, ongoing support for the staff delivering it. Quick, actionable feedback helps educators consistently apply evidence-based practices, reduces burnout, and ensures students experience the predictability that MTSS depends on.
Dr. Kurz emphasized implementing “high-leverage practices” consistently across classrooms, while Brandy Samuell captured the right coaching mindset:
“There should never be a ‘got you.’ It always should be ‘I wonder.’”
When feedback comes from curiosity rather than evaluation, teachers feel supported, and fidelity follows. These feedback loops ensure that evidence-based interventions retain their intended impact.
Understanding Fidelity in MTSS
Fidelity reflects how closely an intervention is delivered as designed. Dr. Kurz defined fidelity as the percentage of required components implemented correctly.
“If you implement 10 out of 10, that’s 100 percent fidelity.”
Research demonstrating strong MTSS outcomes typically reflects implementation at 80% or higher fidelity. Clear protocols, aligned coaching, and consistent monitoring support sustained results.
Fidelity allows prevention to function reliably rather than reactively:
Tier 2 protects Tier 3 capacity and system sustainability.
Effective targeted supports preserve intensive resources for students with the highest needs and help maintain manageable caseloads.
Preventing service gaps begins with strong Tier 2 systems.
Structured, data-informed Tier 2 implementation ensures students receive support early and consistently.
Prevent Service Gaps Before They Disrupt Student Progress
Strong Tier 2 systems create continuity. Students receive timely interventions, staff maintain manageable workloads, and Tier 3 is reserved for those with the most intensive needs.
eLuma partners with districts to fill hard-to-staff roles and prevent service gaps before they disrupt student progress. Whether you’re facing a staffing shortage mid-year or building out a more consistent Tier 2 framework, we help districts keep services running.
Strengthen your Tier 2 layer and protect your entire system. Connect with eLuma today to explore how your district can deliver the right support at the right time, every time.
About the Experts
Brandy Samuell, M. Ed., is a dedicated educator with over 32 years of experience. She has been involved in all facets of public education, from classroom teacher to assistant superintendent. Brandy’s knowledge base spans general education, special education, mental health support, and school turnaround. She has experience working in charter, rural, suburban, urban, and virtual school settings. Brandy currently serves as the Director of Mental Health and Related Services at eLuma.
Brandy earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Texas Tech University in 1989 and a Master of Education in School Counseling from Texas Christian University in 2002. She has completed Post-Master’s work in Educational Diagnostics and Educational Leadership from the University of the Southwest. In addition, Brandy is certified in Critical Incident Stress Management; she has managed multiple school-related crises and provided crisis management and crisis response training for school staff and community-based first responders.
While Brandy has a broad range of knowledge and interests, the majority of her career has been dedicated to supporting students’ emotional and behavioral needs and to managing, coaching, and developing staff.
Dr. Alexander Kurz serves as an Associate Research Professor at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and as a Senior Fellow at the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE). In the past decade, he has secured over $50 million in federal funding from agencies such as IES, OSEP, USAID, and NSF to advance outcomes for diverse learners through research on instructional coaching, educational technology, and opportunity-to-learn for students with disabilities. A former special education teacher and behavior analyst, Dr. Kurz co-developed the Data-Driven Instructional Coaching Model (DDICM), recognized for improving teacher practice and student outcomes, and ReadyCoach, a technology platform that enables coaches to translate student data into targeted interventions within Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). He has led numerous researcher-practitioner partnership (RPP) projects nationally and internationally, collaborating with experts and practitioners to operationalize instructional effectiveness in complex educational systems. His research informs the practice of thousands of educators across the United States.