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Beginning-of-Year MTSS Setup Checklist

Start the year on paper, not from memory.

A team-level checklist for standing up your MTSS system before day one, and running the first 30 days on purpose. Work through it alone if you're the coordinator, or together in your first team meeting of the year.

Why this exists: the strongest MTSS teams share one habit — they start the year on paper. Team, calendar, decision rules, and carryover plans written down before the first bell. A team that starts the year on paper spends February talking about students. A team that starts from memory spends February reconstructing decisions.

1Before day one

Five sections that stand the system up before students arrive:

Team & roles. Roster named, roles written next to names, standing meeting time claimed before the master schedule fills up.
Screening calendar. Fall, winter, and spring windows with actual dates — not months — cross-checked against testing, holidays, and enrollment churn.
Decision rules. Cut points, entry rule, exit rule. The rules your team already settled, carried forward so they aren't re-debated in October.
Data sources & access. Logins confirmed, last year's records located, this year's documentation location named out loud.
Staff & family communication. New staff oriented, one page for staff, family notification language drafted while there's still time to write it well.

2The first 30 days

The system you set up only counts once students are in front of it:

Carryover students first. They don't wait for fall screening — they were already in intervention in June.
Screening execution. Administered inside the window, entered and cleaned within a week, read for grade-wide patterns before anyone looks at individuals.
First data team meeting. Held within two weeks of screening close, while the data is still true.
Intervention launch. Named provider, start date, frequency, duration, location — and baseline data collected before the first session.
Documentation from day one. Plans documented the week they start; a fidelity check scheduled inside the first four weeks.
Tier 1 gets checked first. If a large share of a grade is below benchmark, the answer is core instruction — not a longer intervention list.

3Pairs with the spring checklist

If you used the End-of-Year MTSS Transition Checklist last spring, this one picks up exactly where that left off. The decision rules your team settled in May get carried forward here, not re-argued.

Most useful August through September, though teams standing up a new system mid-year use it the same way.

⬇ Download the checklist (PDF)
Three pages · About 30 minutes · No email required · Free to share

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This checklist describes the standard multi-tiered framework used by schools across the United States. Specific practices, timelines, screeners, and terminology vary by district and by state. Adapt the items to your building's calendar and your state's requirements.