Considerations for BTAM and MTSS/PBIS Working in Conjunction

The above sections illustrate that BTAM and PBIS align in several ways.

Both are behavior-based and emphasize student behavior as a form of communication and an indicator of well-being.

Each also focuses on proactive and preventative supports and utilizes multidisciplinary teams to identify students in need, assess their behaviors in context, and provide appropriate interventions and supports.

Moreover, both accentuate the value of supportive, trusted, caring relationships between students and staff and the importance of a safe, healthy school climate and culture.

In schools, the PBIS framework provides the opportunity for a BTAM team to utilize existing school resources and work cooperatively with a broader system of prevention designed to provide equitable access to proactive, early intervention for students in

Focuses on an individual student and their risk for engaging in violence or other harmful activities while delivering intervention strategies to manage that risk and support the student

Based on observable behavior • Prioritizes proactive prevention • Uses multidisciplinary teams for decision-making • Seeks to identify, assess, and provide interventions and supports • Emphasizes supportive, caring relationships between students and staff • Promotes safe and healthy school climates and cultures

Focuses on building a continuum of supports to promote all students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health

Relatedly, BTAM supports PBIS implementation by expanding the continuum of interventions and supports available for students who are engaging in concerning or threatening behavior.

A collaborative approach such as this serves to strengthen a positive school climate and promote student emotional and physical well-being.

Responsibility for student safety, preventions, and supports may be shared across multiple school teams (e.g., school safety teams, MTSS/PBIS, student/teacher assistance teams, BTAM).

School leadership should determine how teams will address, support, and align aspects such as school safety and climate; clarify goals and roles to avoid duplication; and efficiently attend to matters of prevention, safety, and student support needs.

The intent of this section is to illustrate how BTAM and MTSS/PBIS can work together to enrich supports for students and staff and enhance implementation efficiency and effectiveness.

Systems represent the infrastructure and operational supports necessary to help adults successfully implement and sustain practices designed to support students and aid achievement of valued outcomes.

Teaming is essential for implementing BTAM and multi-tiered frameworks such as PBIS (Eber et al., 2019).

In PBIS, the leadership team guides implementation, monitors effectiveness, and provides continuity across contexts (Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, 2023).

Similarly, a school’s BTAM team guides implementation by receiving reports about concerning behaviors and situations, gathering additional information, assessing the risk of harm posed and to whom, and developing intervention and management strategies to reduce risk.

Both MTSS/PBIS and BTAM emphasize the multidisciplinary representation of skill sets among team members to ensure that varying points of view are represented and that access to information and resources is broad (see Table 1).

A multidisciplinary team including, but not limited to, representation from: | A multidisciplinary team including, but not limited to, representation from: • General education | • General education • Special education | • Special education • Administration | • Administration • Individuals with SEB expertise (e.g., school counselors, school psychologists) | • Individuals with SEB expertise (e.g., school counselors, school psychologists) • Individuals with mental health expertise | • Individuals with coaching and training expertise • School nurses or health room coordinators | • Members from underserved groups • School safety specialists (e.g., school resource officer) | • Family and student representation • Community partners • Community partners

INTEGRATED REPRESENTATION | INTEGRATED REPRESENTATION • Individuals with detailed knowledge about the school’s current MTSS/PBIS initiative | • Individuals with detailed knowledge about the school’s current BTAM initiative

One promising approach for aligning BTAM and MTSS/PBIS is to expand team membership for both by integrating membership across the teams and then defining roles and expectations for collaboration.

Adding partners across teams can provide an expanded view of the two frameworks, the practices implemented to support students to better outcomes, and the data available to inform support strategies.

For example, integrating a member of the PBIS leadership team onto the BTAM team can help provide a greater level of awareness of the available behavioral data and the full menu of universal (Tier 1), targeted (Tier 2), and intensive (Tier 3) supports available to layer and match to student needs during the behavioral threat assessment and management process.

As well, integrating a member of the BTAM team onto the PBIS leadership team can help promote early identification of concerning and/or threatening behaviors and early intervention.

Clearly defined teaming procedures can support efficient and effective team functioning and decision-making and are particularly important when dealing with stressful high-pressure situations.

For more information on effective teaming, see Enhancing Team Functioning in Schools’ Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (Splett et al., 2023)

A school is implementing BTAM and MTSS/PBIS and wants to ensure that both teams are actively aligned in their shared missions of prevention and support. The school’s administration works collaboratively with the leaders of the BTAM team, the MTSS/PBIS Tier 1 team, and the MTSS/PBIS Tier 2 and 3 combined team to review each team’s composition and identify opportunities for crossover membership.

Having BTAM representation present at the Tier 1 team meetings helps to enhance awareness of additional support systems and interventions for students with intensive needs.

Likewise, having BTAM representation and expertise present at the Tier 2 and 3 combined team meetings helps to build capacity for early identification and early intervention for students in distress or who may be displaying concerning and/or threatening behavior.

Similarly, having MTSS/PBIS representation present at the BTAM team meetings helps to enhance knowledge and expertise in the school’s larger SEB support framework and leverage existing school resources for students receiving individualized management and support plans or individualized safety plans (e.g., BTAM interventions explicitly linked to existing Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 supports).

A district has an established leadership team focused on current initiatives regarding the prevention of unwanted outcomes and which addresses matters regarding school climate, school safety, and students’ SEB well-being.

The district’s BTAM coordinator is an active member of the team to enhance awareness and connection to the work of the school-based BTAM teams across the district.

The district’s MTSS/PBIS coordinator is an active member of the team to provide knowledge about current SEB programming across the district and campus-level efforts to enhance school climate.

Having the district’s BTAM coordinator and MTSS/PBIS coordinator both serve on this leadership team helps build capacity to identify natural points of alignment and opportunities to work in conjunction.

The PBIS leadership team and the BTAM team purposefully support students in unique yet complementary ways. Because of this, schools should consider establishing systems to facilitate two-way communication regarding implementation processes, progress, and outcomes as a means to enhance alignment and integration.

Regular, two-way communication allows important information about students in need or distress to be shared with the team best suited to provide support.

Regular team communication also helps safeguard against siloed information and promotes group cooperation for enhanced student support.

Professional development and training are core features of the successful implementation of any program or practice.

Because school safety is everyone’s responsibility, teams working to align BTAM with the PBIS framework should consider the training needs of faculty, staff, administrators, school resource officers, and local law enforcement.

To set all members of the school community up for success, teams should provide professional development and training opportunities to acquire new knowledge and build new skills.

All staff should receive training on core, universal (Tier 1) PBIS elements to better understand schoolwide and classroom expectations, acknowledgment and appreciation systems, and response to behaviors that do not align with established expectations and values.

Training topics can include recognizing concerning and/or threatening behavior or communications, as well as what information should be brought forward and the multiple methods to do so (e.g., direct communication, phone line, email or online form, text or mobile application).

Training on other topics such as suicide awareness and prevention, conflict resolution, bullying prevention, developmental disabilities, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma, and mental health first aid can also support universal prevention efforts and assist school faculty, staff, and administrators with fostering positive school climates.

Relatedly, a comprehensive dissemination plan around awareness and prevention efforts that includes how to access systems of support should be included for non-staff members of the school community such as families and students and staff who are unable to attend training due to contractual or logistical barriers (e.g., transportation, teacher assistants, food service).

While not every campus will have a school resource officer, all schools can develop positive, proactive relationships with local law enforcement agencies and personnel who may be asked to respond when highly concerning, threatening, or violent behavior emerges.

Some schools proactively build partnerships by encouraging officers to coteach classes, serve as coaches or assistant coaches of sports teams, and/or work with parents and teachers at after-school events.

When assigning a dedicated school resource officer is not possible, some local law enforcement agencies have encouraged officers to “adopt a school” and regularly visit the school to greet and become familiar with students and teachers, eat lunch on

Like faculty, staff, and administrators, school resource officers and local law enforcement need training to increase their awareness of the school’s behavioral threat assessment and management process and their role in it.

Moreover, training on additional topics, such as child development, conflict resolution, bullying prevention, students with disabilities, unintentional assumptions of student backgrounds, ACEs and trauma, mental health first aid, and specific schoolwide programs and practices can better position all officers to promote positive school climates and support the school’s Tier 1 prevention efforts.

Table 2 summarizes important systems-level considerations for each of the three tiers within the MTSS/PBIS framework.

Multidisciplinary team with integrated membership and expertise (i.e., BTAM and MTSS/PBIS representation)

Clearly defined team processes for meetings, decision-making, and action planning

Two-way communication between BTAM and MTSS/PBIS teams

Core Tier 1 practices and data systems | • Core Tier 1 and Tier 2 practices and data systems | • Core Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 practices and data systems

Recognizing concerning and/or threatening behavior | • Mental health first aid • De-escalation techniques | • Functional behavioral assessment and behavior intervention planning • Reporting mechanisms • Understanding adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) | • Trauma-informed care | • Behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM)

District-wide/Schoolwide supports for responding to behavior • Assessment systems for early identification

Continuum of interventions matched to student needs (e.g., social skills instruction)

Process for assessing individual student needs and level of support

District-wide access to external agency supports (e.g., mental health)

Practices represent the evidence-based interventions and supports educators implement to positively impact student behavior and address desired outcomes (Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, 2023).

Within a continuum of support aligned with MTSS/PBIS, educators implement universal practices to proactively support all student SEB needs (Tier 1), provide targeted practices to small groups of students identified as needing supplemental support (Tier 2), and individualize and intensify select practices to support students with more significant SEB needs (Tier 3).

By working in conjunction with a school’s MTSS/PBIS team, a BTAM team can leverage the full continuum of practices, supports, and interventions to enhance their supports for students in distress.

Likewise, by collaborating with the school’s BTAM team, an MTSS/PBIS team can amplify its efforts for prevention and intervention across the tiers.

Individual practices should be evidence-based, aligned to documented needs, layered, and aligned across tiers.

For example, in a layered approach a student receiving Tier 3 supports would also have access to supports at Tiers 1 and 2 (see Figure 3).

Language and intervention approaches should be aligned and complementary across tiers, meaning Tier 2 and 3 interventions should use similar language and support Tier 1 and 2 practices.

Within a multi-tiered framework such as this, practitioners may wonder how students with disabilities are meaningfully included (McIntosh & Goodman, 2016).

Common misperceptions and “myths” include (a) believing that Tier 3 is special education and (b) that students in special education need only Tier 3 supports to be successful (Simonsen et al., 2020).

In actuality, students with disabilities are best supported when they are meaningfully included and receive supports across all tiers (Cheney et al., 2004; Grasley-Boy et al., 2019; Tobin et al., 2012).

FIGURE 3 | SAMPLE ALIGNED PRACTICES TO SUPPORT STUDENTS

INTENSIVE INTERVENTION AND REPORTING • Comprehensive assessments (including functional behavioral assessments) • Individualized management and support plans • Individualized safety plans • Wraparound supports

EARLY IDENTIFICATION, ASSESSMENT, & TARGETED INTERVENTION • SEB skill development • Small groups (e.g., anger management, conflict resolution, social skills, trauma) • School-based mental health supports • Targeted supports for internalizing behaviors • Check-In/Check-Out • Triage • Safety checks • Bullying and harassment prevention

AWARENESS AND PREVENTION • Cultivate positive, connected, encouraging, unconditional relationships • Teach prosocial behavior • Enhanced SEB learning • Teach students how to recognize concerns in peers • Teach families how to recognize concerning behavior • Teach students and families how to report concerns as an act of caring • Bullying and harassment prevention • Suicide prevention • Mental health first aid

For more information on the various supports across the tiers, see the Center on PBIS’s Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3, topic pages.

For more guidance on intensive and individualized supports, see the Tier 3 Student-level Systems Guide, Tier 3 School-level Systems Guide, and Tier 3 District-level Systems Guide.

For strategies and guidance on creating and enhancing a central reporting system, see Improving School Safety Through Bystander Reporting: A Toolkit for Strengthening K-12 Reporting Programs (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency & U.S. Secret Service, 2023).

A BTAM team is developing an individualized management and support plan for a student who poses a risk of harm to themselves or others. As part of the planning process, the team reviews an inventory of existing school-based resources that can be leveraged across tiers (e.g., counselor-led groups, targeted interventions, functional behavioral assessment and planning, scheduling changes).

By working to link the management and support plan to current Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 supports based upon the student’s behaviors, needs, strengths, and stressors, the BTAM team enhances efficiency in its development of an individualized plan.

As well, because the MTSS/PBIS teams have worked to document evidence of effectiveness for all interventions and supports, the BTAM team is better positioned to select effective practices as it tailors the plan to the student.

A district is implementing the targeted intervention Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) as part of its Tier 2 supports. The district’s coordinator for MTSS/PBIS partners with the district’s director of district safety and security to have all of the school safety specialists on staff across the district trained in de-escalation techniques and as CICO implementers.

In this capacity, they check in with students with targeted needs at the start of the day to provide encouragement before class and again at the end of the day to provide a positive touchpoint before the student leaves.

Through this process of regular feedback, the school safety specialists build rapport and relationships with students which helps increase engagement, decrease isolation, and promote a system for the student to proactively seek support from an adult.

The collection and use of data for decision-making are critical to multi-tiered prevention efforts.

At all tiers, teams should consider two primary sources of information. The first is fidelity data. That is, to what extent were the plans or interventions implemented as intended?

The second is outcome data. That is, to what extent are students benefiting from the interventions or plans?

Together, these data sources can guide a continuous improvement model (see Table 3).

This process begins with teams using data to understand the current context and identify goals and objectives for improvement and specific evidence-based practices aligned with those goals. Next, teams use data to identify supports and barriers to improvement and develop systems to support the implementation of selected practices.

Then, the team implements the plans and monitors the extent to which they are implemented as intended. This ensures that all students can access the intervention before determining its effectiveness.

Finally, teams evaluate the effectiveness of the plans and ensure all students are benefiting as expected. New goals and objectives are identified as needed, and the process continues.

All data must be used to promote improved student outcomes and not punish educators or students for failed implementation or outcomes.

If implementation goals or student outcomes are not realized, teams should return to the process of evaluating strengths and barriers in the system and adjust the plans by increasing implementation supports or increasing the intensity of the plan’s components.

Using data for decision-making within this framework can support BTAM teams by facilitating access to a range of data sources that can be used to fully understand the context of any concerning behaviors and systems for monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of support and management plans when needed.

Team assessment of MTSS/PBIS implementation (e.g., Tiered Fidelity Inventory [TFI]) | • Team assessment of MTSS/PBIS implementation (e.g., TFI) • Fidelity measures for specific interventions | • Team assessment of MTSS/PBIS implementation (e.g., TFI) • Individual management and support plan fidelity monitoring

Fidelity measures for specific practices | • BTAM and other MTSS/PBIS teams

School climate surveys • Community data • Behavior referrals

Universal SEB screeners • Intervention-specific progress monitoring and outcome data • Individual management and support plan progress monitoring toward individualized goals and objectives

A BTAM team is building a management and support plan for a student whose motivation is grievance-based due to experiences with bullying and harassment.

The team connects with the MTSS/PBIS Tier 1 team to get information on the reported bullying and harassment events so that it can use the data regarding locations, times, others involved, bullying behaviors, etc. to guide its decision-making and more effectively address factors of concern for the student, direct resources to address the student’s motives, and create an environment in which violence is less likely.

The BTAM team uses the information to guide modifications to the student’s daily schedule to reduce the likelihood it will have contact with the students perpetrating the bullying and harassment.

As well, the BTAM team works collaboratively with the MTSS/PBIS Tier 2 team to include the student in an existing social skills group led by the counselor to receive additional instruction and support their identified SEB needs (e.g., anger management, conflict resolution, social skills).

Following implementation of a management and support plan, the MTSS/PBIS Tier 1 team continues to share data on new reports of bullying and harassment with the BTAM team so that it can stay aware and informed as they work to support the student.

The MTSS/PBIS Tier 2 team shares both fidelity and outcome data for the social skills group which the BTAM team uses during its meeting to progress monitor implementation of the management and support plan and the student’s level of success.

The BTAM team and the MTSS/PBIS teams all play an active role in creating and sustaining a safe and positive school climate with a culture of respect, trust, and support for students’ social-emotional well-being.

Leaders from the respective teams work collaboratively with school administrators to review data from the current school climate survey. Together, they analyze data on students’ perceptions of feeling connected to the school, supported by adults in the school, their own safety at school, and their perceptions regarding order and discipline at school.

Additionally, they analyze data from staff on their perceptions of their own safety at school and examines data on parents’ perceptions of their student’s safety at school as well as their perceptions of the degree to which their student is supported and treated fairly by adults within the school.

The group knows that a positive school climate is directly related to student willingness to share and report concerning and/or threatening behaviors.

Collectively, the group establishes an action plan designed to support all staff with building positive, trusting relationships with students and which outlines practices and resources that can foster an environment where students feel seen, heard, connected, and respected.