Education Development Center

Building an effective framework to improve school and student outcomes requires more than good intentions. It requires time to reflect, prioritize, and plan.

To support that work, EDC has developed a free Multi-Tiered System of Support Needs Assessment & Planning Process.

The four-step tool helps teams:
• Assess current strengths and opportunities
• Prioritize areas for improvement
• Develop actionable goals
• Identify opportunities to align existing initiatives and teams

Whether you're strengthening an established MTSS framework or just getting started, the process is designed to support thoughtful planning and continuous improvement.

Download the resource: https://go.edc.org/MTSS_Needs_Assessment

How youths use tech like AI, mobile phones, and social media impacts their and . But we can help them develop the skills they need to thrive in our high-tech world. EDC recently engaged youths, community members, educators, and parents in co-creating innovative solutions to promote youths' healthy tech habits and mental wellbeing: https://go.edc.org/MDWC26f

Led by experts Shari Kessel Schneider, Athi Myint-U, Shai Fuxman, and Tori Todd, our workshop guided participants in exploring challenges and co-designing seven community-tailored solutions. EDC colleagues Wendy Rivenburgh, Bonnie Lipton, and Burt Granofsky provided facilitation support.

A few of the solutions:
💡 A regional awareness campaign
💡 Peer mentoring to foster healthy technology use
💡 Education and communication initiatives for parents, youth, and the community

Next up: We’ll support partners as they turn a few of these solutions into initiatives and scale the initiatives to improve youths' digital wellbeing.

One of the most common challenges in school improvement efforts isn't a lack of programs.

It's a lack of coordination.

Many districts have multiple teams, committees, and initiatives working toward similar goals. Taking time to map those efforts can reveal opportunities to reduce duplication, strengthen collaboration, and better support students.

Sometimes the most valuable improvement strategy isn't launching something new. It's creating greater alignment among what's already in place.

That’s where EDC’s free MTSS Needs Assessment & Planning Process comes into play. It’s a four-step tool to help your team reflect, prioritize, and plan together this summer.

Learn more and download the assessment to get started: https://go.edc.org/MTSS_Needs_Assessment

In a new Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands blog post, EDC’s Sheila Rodriguez and Anne Huntington share insights from piloting a promising research-based family engagement model in Puerto Rico. They also discuss key supports needed to scale the model.

The model, Academic Parent-Teacher Teams, is a new approach to parent-teacher conferences. Meetings between teachers and families are more interactive, collaborative, and focused. The results have been positive. Sheila and Anne note that one regional leader observed, “Families left meetings knowing exactly what their child needed to work on and how to help them at home.”

Read the blog post: https://go.edc.org/APTTPR

Are you a soccer fan? During the , take a quick break and join EDC and our GLOBE Implementation Office team in helping NASA gather Earth science data everywhere soccer is played!⚽

Whether you’re a fan, play the game, coach a team, or live near a field, head outside and take a few photos & temperature measurements at your local field or park. The Goal: You’ll add your data to GLOBE’s open-source Earth science database that scientists and students use and that is available to everyone.

To get started, go to: https://go.edc.org/GlobeCupSci

In a recent Time Magazine interview, Melinda French Gates shares the importance of investing in women’s . She notes, “…when you lift up women, they lift up everyone else, including their families.”

She reflects on gaps in medical knowledge that halt progress in meeting women’s unique health needs across their lifespans. And she spotlights how new medical research can help ensure all women can pursue education and work goals, raise a family, and care for loved ones.

Comprehensive approaches to improving health, education, workplace success, and family wellbeing are the only way to create lasting change. They drive our work with partners to advance every person’s journey to learn, work, and be well.

Read the article:

Melinda French Gates Is Donating $215 Million to Women’s Health Her investments will focus on improving health in women's reproductive and midlife years.

When it comes to school improvement, academic interventions, behavior supports, student services, attendance efforts, and family engagement strategies all play important roles. When these efforts operate independently, opportunities can be missed.

That’s where the Multi-Tiered System of Support framework can be helpful to ensure these existing programs and systems work together.

When they are aligned around shared goals and clear processes, schools are better positioned to respond to student needs effectively.

Strong MTSS implementation is often less about adding new initiatives and more about connecting existing ones.
EDC’s free MTSS Needs Assessment & Planning Process is built for that conversation. A four-step tool to help your team reflect, prioritize, and plan together this summer.

Learn more: https://go.edc.org/MTSS_Needs_Assessment

Register now to join a 6/25 National Center on Early Learning webinar that will feature EDC’s David Jacobson as a guest speaker. David will share insights from our successful First 10 initiative during a discussion of how schools, districts, and states can better support children and families during children’s early education journey from preschool through Grade 3.

The webinar will highlight a new publication by the National Center on Early Learning, “Kindergarten Transitions and Beyond,” that includes EDC’s First 10 initiative as a “Bright Spot” for its work to support school-community partnerships in improving outcomes for children and families. In addition to David’s remarks, during the webinar:

🔹The authors of “Kindergarten Transitions and Beyond” will provide an overview of the new publication
🔹State and district leaders will share innovative practices

Register here: https://go.edc.org/PK3625

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day calls attention to the nearly one in ten older adults in the United States who experience physical, sexual, emotional, and financial abuse, as well as neglect and exploitation. In this video: https://youtube.com/shorts/Ni1u8GAmZqs EDC’s Kristin Lees Haggerty shares a toolkit that supports health care providers in effectively screening and referring older adults for mistreatment.

Learn more about the Elder Mistreatment Emergency Department Toolkit, developed with funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation.
https://www.johnahartford.org/resources/view/gedc-webinar-implementing-the-emed-toolkit-in-the-geriatric-ed

Addressing Elder Mistreatment Each year, around 5 million—or 1 in 10—older Americans experience s...

Summer gives school leadership something they rarely have during the school year: space to step back and look at the whole system.

What's working? Where are students thriving? Where are gaps emerging? And how can schools better coordinate the supports already in place?

That's where a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) comes in.

MTSS helps schools organize academic, behavioral, attendance, and well-being supports into one coordinated framework, making it easier to identify student needs early and provide the right level of aligned support at the right time.

When implemented well, MTSS helps ensure every student has access to the support they need to succeed.

Over the next few weeks, we'll share practical insights and resources to help school and district leaders strengthen their MTSS efforts before the new school year begins.

Download our free needs assessment to get started: https://go.edc.org/MTSS_Needs_Assessment