Tier 1: What It Is and How We Do It

Effective Tier 1 initiatives provide high quality, preventative supports to all students, increase equity, and result in improved educational outcomes. This session will review best practices for implementing high-quality, universal social-emotional learning programs in a multi-tiered intervention framework.

This presentation will discuss the basic elements of a MTSS Framework, help distinguish between academic MTSS and mental/behavioral health MTSS, and the benefits of using a MTSS Framework to structure mental health supports in schools.

Shawna Rader Kelly is a nationally certified school psychologist in Bozeman, Montana where she serves as the school psychologist at Bozeman High School and leads the district’s crisis response team. In her daily work she is actively involved in providing direct and indirect services to students, implementing multi-tiered systems of support, and supporting program evaluation in her building and district. In addition to her full-time work as a school psychologist, Shawna has worked as an adjunct professor at Montana State University and as a consultant for the Montana Office of Public Instruction, providing training to schools implementing multi-tiered systems of support. She serves as her state’s Credentialing Resource Specialist and chairs the state’s Credentialing and Professional Standards Board. With colleagues, she has worked to secure annual grants to support supervision of school psychology students and interns, support recruitment and retention efforts in the state of Montana, and to provide an annual training institute for prospective supervisors. Shawna is a frequent presenter at the state and national levels on topics such as mental and behavioral health services, MTSS implementation, threat assessment, school safety and crisis response, and professional supervision. An active volunteer leader, Shawna is a past-president and current committee chair for her state association, past Delegate to NASP, and former NASP Delegate Representative. She currently serves on the NASP Board of Directors as the Strategic Liaison for Professional Advocacy. In 2017, Shawna was recognized as the NASP School Psychologist of the Year.