Loving Like Christ Through a Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS)
April 1, 2025
I was recently challenged with two questions from the author, Alan Fadling, who is also a trusted mentor in my life. He asked, “What if love, rather than success, status or achievement, was the truest measure of who God really made us? What if our worth was determined not by our accomplishment but by how we love and allow ourselves to be loved by God and others?”
As I reflected on these two questions, it made me truly stop and to think deeply about our DMC value of loving like Christ and how this impacts our academic priority areas and decisions. In fact, it is this value of loving like Christ that has us committed to the continual refining and strengthening of our student support services across the school.
We know that God has created each child on purpose for a purpose; that He loves each child deeply and values each one of them. We want to come alongside each child to model His love. We do this by emphasizing that one’s identity is in Christ alone and by providing each child with the intentional support and accountability to foster growth with Christ in becoming a whole fully-developed disciple.
Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS)
One way that we, as a system, continue to grow in our love for students is by designing our student support system to be cohesive as students progress through DMC elementary, middle school, and high school. Our Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS) guides the way we work with students, across all divisions, allowing for a cohesive framework.
DMC supports students within the classroom setting and also provides individual support, depending on the tier of service needed. Tier I provides access to essential grade level standards; supports can include differentiation in learning through co-teaching. Tier II provides additional time and support to understand essential learnings. Tier III utilizes targeted interventions within small group settings to fill remedial gaps from previous years.
In addition to a cohesive MTSS framework, we are truly grateful for the Lord’s provision in providing us the resources needed to make student support staffing cohesive across all divisions for the 25-26 school year.
Reading Support Teacher, Math Support Teacher, and Educational Support Facilitator in Each School Level
The math and reading support teachers provide quality instruction and targeted skill intervention to maximize each student's potential. Through co-teaching and small group instruction, these two support positions provide expertise, intentional time and research-based strategies to students needing an additional system of support.
The Educational Support Facilitator, who has a background in special education, focuses on working directly with students who have executive functioning, behavioral and/or academic needs. This includes direct delivery of instruction and research-based interventions in individual or small groups both within the classroom environment and individualized settings. The Educational Support Facilitator also coaches and equips other teachers to provide the necessary accommodations and differentiated instruction within Tier I and Tier II instruction.
Certified Dyslexia Specialist - New for 25-26
We will also be hiring a Certified Dyslexia Specialist for next school year. This teacher provides direct specialized instruction for students who are in need of dyslexia therapy and provides consulting, coaching, and professional development training to other DMC interventionists and teachers to ensure strong Tier I and II instruction for students with dyslexia.
If you want to learn more about all of our services, please visit our website!
Circling back to the questions posed by Alan Fadling, my prayer is that our community continues to grow in true Christ-like love, in how we walk alongside each child and each other. True love that does not measure, count or demand recognition but love that simply flows and transforms each of us. May we be a school that lives out 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 (NIV), “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”