How can schools turn self-assessment feedback into meaningful change?

Heather Bushelman, Boone County MTSS Coordinator, explored this question in a recent Kentucky Multi-Tiered System of Supports (KyMTSS) virtual session, highlighting Boone County Schools’ intentional use of the KyMTSS Self-Assessment Tool to strengthen alignment and drive systemic improvement.

Serving more than 21,000 students across 28 schools in Northern Kentucky, Boone County Schools is currently in year two of K-12 MTSS implementation. Rather than viewing the KyMTSS Self-Assessment Tool as a compliance measure, district leaders use it to foster collaborative conversations, inform MTSS action planning and guide responsive district-to-school support.

How has Boone County used the KyMTSS Self-Assessment Tool to guide implementation support?

1. Establishing a Clear MTSS Baseline

Boone County began using the KyMTSS Self-Assessment Tool to better understand where each school was on its MTSS journey. With schools operating under varying understandings of MTSS, the self-assessment process helped build a shared understanding of what MTSS looks like in practice. Additionally, the process helped identify strengths, gaps and growth opportunities across the district.

Leadership teams, including principals, assistant principals, counselors, instructional coaches, psychologists, interventionists and district leaders, completed the self-assessment collaboratively. Results were treated as conversation starters rather than final judgments, helping teams reflect honestly on current practice.

Reflecting on the year one of implementation, Bushelman stated, “It really gave us a good baseline score that first year of where that team thought their school was.”

Key Takeaway: Use the self-assessment results to establish a clear, shared MTSS baseline before determining next steps.

Graphic with gears and quotation marks highlighting the message: “Use digital tools to make MTSS data accessible and actionable.”

2. Prioritizing Action Planning and Alignment

Boone County also intentionally used the KyMTSS Self-Assessment results to guide school action planning in June of the first year, allowing leadership teams to plan for the upcoming school year while the current year was still fresh. Rather than creating new or separate MTSS plans, schools aligned MTSS goals with existing improvement efforts, such as Comprehensive School Improvement Plans (CSIPs) and Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) plans.

This cohesive approach helped reduce initiative overload and ensured MTSS goals remained visible and relevant throughout the year. Action plans became a regular reference point for MTSS team meetings, allowing schools to monitor progress, celebrate accomplishments and adjust goals as needed. The district continues this process each June to help reflect on the current year and prepare for the upcoming year.

Key Takeaway: Align MTSS action planning with existing school and district priorities to create one cohesive system rather than multiple siloed plans.

Graphic with gears and quotation marks emphasizing: “Review self‑assessment data annually to guide professional learning and sustain MTSS implementation.”

3. Differentiating District-to-School Implementation Support

One of Boone County’s most impactful practices has been applying MTSS principles to how the district supports schools. Rather than labeling schools or making compliance-based determinations, Boone County uses multiple sources of information, including the KyMTSS Self-Assessment Tool, district and school data, walkthroughs, observations and school input to adjust the level of MTSS implementation support provided to each school over time.

These levels reflect implementation support needs, not school quality or performance. The supports are revisited regularly as systems evolve, staffing changes occur or new priorities emerge. Schools may move in and out of different levels of support as MTSS systems are developed, refined or strengthened.

Foundational Support: Periodic intentional check-ins and walkthroughs; coaching or assistance provided as needed; support sustainability and capacity building.

Targeted Support: Planned regular cadence check-ins, collaborative review of action plans and focused coaching aligned to identified growth areas.

Intensive Support: Ongoing collaboration, coaching, walkthroughs and job-embedded professional learning to strengthen MTSS systems.

This approach allows the district to focus support where it is most helpful while maintaining a collaborative, strength-based partnership with schools.

“I always want it to be collaborative and ongoing, not just compliance. We’re here to support, not just check a box,” emphasized Bushelman.

Key Takeaway: Differentiate implementation support based on multiple data sources to ensure schools receive the right support at the right time.

Graphic with gears and quotation marks stating: “Differentiate implementation support using multiple data sources to provide the right help at the right time.”

4. Leveraging Technology to Make Data Actionable

Boone County leverages technology, including Google Forms, spreadsheets and artificial intelligence (AI) tools, to streamline data collection and analysis. These tools allow the district to quickly identify trends across grade levels and MTSS components, compare year-to-year and share meaningful visual summaries with district leaders and principals.

By reducing time spent on manual scoring and lengthy reports, the district has been able to focus more intentionally on coaching, reflection and planning.

Key Takeaway: Use digital tools to make MTSS data accessible and actionable, freeing up time for reflection and decision-making.

Graphic with gears and quotation marks conveying: “Align MTSS action planning with existing school and district priorities to create one cohesive system.”

5. Supporting Continuous Reflection and Professional Learning

Self-assessment data continues to inform districtwide professional learning and next steps. Boone County uses trends from multiple data sources to identify training priorities, plan targeted learning and provide follow-up coaching aligned to school needs.

This consistent, longitudinal use of data allows the district to track progress over time while maintaining flexibility as systems grow and change.

“Every year it’s getting better, and we can see growth across schools while keeping consistent data across the district,” said Heather Bushelman.

Key Takeaway: Review self-assessment data annually to guide professional learning and sustain MTSS implementation over time.

Graphic with gears and quotation marks noting: “Use self‑assessment results to establish a shared MTSS baseline before determining next steps.”

Bringing It All Together

Boone County’s experience demonstrates how the KyMTSS Self‑Assessment Tool can support meaningful systems change when it is used intentionally across planning, differentiation of support and professional learning rather than as a stand‑alone task.

By grounding decisions in multiple data sources, aligning MTSS work with existing priorities and adjusting implementation support based on evolving needs, the district has created a structure that supports schools while honoring context, capacity and continuous growth. This approach can be adapted to dikystricts of any size, showing that intentional use of the tool is effective across diverse settings.

As districts move from winter reflection into spring and summer planning, Boone County’s work reinforces a critical MTSS message: Self-assessments most powerful when it strengthens conversations, guides action and supports adult practice, not simply when it documents implementation.

Spring MTSS Team Reflection: How might your district or school team use the KyMTSS Self-Assessment Tool results now to streamline planning, strengthen Tier 1 systems and ensure a strong start to the next school year?

Tag: District Spotlight; mtss