Administrator Support of Social-Emotional and Academic Needs of Students at a Selective Enrollment High School

As an administrator at a selective enrollment high school in an urban district, I experienced firsthand the lack of differentiation for students experiencing social-emotional learning (SEL) issues, which in turn affects academic learning. This self-study examines what strategies and interventions assist administrators in targeting the social-emotional and academic needs of students. School leadership is obligated to facilitate increasing and implementing supports that address the SEL and diverse-learning needs of all students. One way in which leadership can promote addressing differentiated learning is through ensuring Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) are implemented with fidelity. MTSS formerly known as response to intervention (RtI) is a whole-school, data-driven, prevention-based initiative for improving social emotional, and academic outcomes for all students through a layered continuum of evidence-based strategies and systems. Many districts implement the use of MTSS, a framework used to assess individual needs of students and the supports needed to meet those needs. This study is relevant because it addresses complexities of forming a team and implementing the MTSS structures at a large selective high school. Reliable planning and execution of MTSS is critical to identifying and assessing individual student needs. Meeting needs of all students is central to the mission of a successful school. The mission should be driven by school leadership. School leadership must have the best interest of the entire child at the forefront their mission and the day-to-day operations. Educational leaders need to purposefully provide for the care of students\u27 academic and SEL needs. The purpose of this research is to study the implementation a MTSS with emphasis on how school leadership facilitates change. This is a self-study designed to research the development of educational leadership and implementation of interventions for MTSS. Additionally, the effect that facilitating change has on the development of school leadership will be addressed