This article is about a school‐district‐initiated partnership with university faculty and their effort to implement a mathematics multi‐tiered system of support (MTSS). In addition to reporting research about MTSS implementation, we describe how this district translated research into practice. We also share the perceptions of key stakeholders about implementing mathematics MTSS in their district. We found that stakeholders identified time and human capacity as barriers to implementation, while the primary facilitator to implementation was identified as the acquisition of concrete strategies and tools supporting instruction. These stakeholder perceptions have implications for other districts with limited resources attempting to implement mathematics MTSS in their buildings through professional development and coaching.

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Some elementary students may exhibit challenging externalizing or internalizing behaviors in addition to difficulty with mathematics. In this study, we explored the behavioral patterns of 441 third-grade students with and without mathematics difficulty (MD). Compared with students without MD, students with MD demonstrated higher rates of externalizing and internalizing behaviors. We then randomly assigned 162 third-grade students with MD to receive a 10-week word-problem intervention or to be in a business-as-usual comparison group. Within the word-problem intervention, students with MD who exhibited higher occurrences of externalizing behaviors performed significantly lower on a word-problem measure than students without as many occurrences of externalizing behaviors. Response to the word-problem intervention did not differ based on internalizing behavior patterns.

We report findings from multiple baseline design studies examining the effects of a program ("Data Mountain") to improve the oral reading fluency (ORF) performance of 12 third-grade students with significant reading difficulties. The Data Mountain program guided students through self-monitoring, goal setting, and motivation training related to their reading performance. In the pilot study, these components were introduced across two experimental phases (self-monitoring and goal setting, followed by motivation training) to observe potential additive effects. In the replication study, the full Data Mountain program was introduced in one experimental phase. Between-case standardized mean difference effect sizes yielded moderate effects across studies (ES = 0.53, 0.63). Visual analyses of data revealed that students demonstrated increased levels of words read correctly per minute (wpm). In the pilot study, students' fluency increased to an average of 22 wpm in the self-monitoring and goal-setting phase, and to a further 9 wpm in the motivation training phase. In the replication study, students increased an average of 18 wpm with the Data Mountain program. These results provide evidence to suggest that self-determination and motivation training have the potential to support the ORF performance of students with significant reading difficulties in the elementary grades. Students with or at-risk for reading disabilities (RD) have difficulties with reading fluency, a foundational reading skill interconnected with other skills (e.g., comprehension) essential to reading proficiency (National Reading Panel [NRP], 2000). Given the value placed on reading as one of the key indicators of school success, it is not surprising that there are a host of negative long-term consequences associated with poor reading skills, including dropout, unemployment or underemployment, and involvement in the criminal justice system (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014). Students with RD have difficulties with naming speed, sight word recognition, decoding, and phrase reading, all of which leads to deficits in reading fluency (Chard, Vaughn, & Tyler, 2002). Additionally, students who struggle with reading demonstrate low levels of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Lee & Zentall, 2012), making efforts to improve reading outcomes especially challenging. Methods to improve students' willingness to engage in reading tasks through psychosocial behavior skills, such as self-determined learning and motivation training, show promise for students with persistent reading difficulties (Solís, Scammacca, Barth, & Requests for reprints should be sent to Lisa Didion, University of Iowa.