How Maine-Endwell Central School District Built District-Wide MTSS Adoption by Making MTSSEdge® Its Student Data Hub

“Having that progress monitoring in the system allows for conversation in real time…it allows everybody to look at the same data at the same time.”

Vanessa DuBrava

Director of Special Education

Maine-Endwell Central School District

Opportunity

The Challenge: Moving MTSS Beyond a Few Users to Consistent Practice

• MTSS was a process used by a few individuals rather than a consistent, district-wide practice.
• Staff had varying levels of comfort with data systems.
• Many teachers handled referrals only infrequently.
• There was a natural tendency to fall back on familiar paper-based processes.
• The district needed to centralize student data, support staff through a gradual transition, and create a sustainable process that could be used consistently across buildings and teams.

Mindex Approach

The Solution: Building District-Wide MTSS Adoption With MTSSEdge®

Maine-Endwell’s approach to district-wide MTSS adoption was deliberate: rather than switching everything on at once, the district layered in capability over time.

• Gradual rollout: Maine-Endwell began putting data into the system (then called RTI Edge) roughly ten years ago, starting with a universal screener across both elementary buildings. Referrals came next, and within the last three years the district added interventions, progress monitoring, and attendance.
• A consistent facilitator in every building: Facilitator Alison Quick serves as the consistent, go-to person for the process, removing the friction that stalls adoption for teachers who only touch a referral occasionally.
• Meeting staff where they are: Instead of all-staff meetings, Alison ran small, 20-minute grade-level sessions, built screenshot walkthroughs of each screen, recorded real-time videos of creating a referral, and still sat one-on-one with staff when needed.
• Making the system the hub for data: All screening data was loaded into MTSSEdge®, along with synced behavior, suspension, and attendance information.
• Leadership holding the line: When staff wanted to revert to paper, district leadership took a clear stance, paired with in-house support rather than a top-down mandate.

“We started with just having a few students that they would put in, and we gradually got there…it was gradual and we didn’t just force it on people, but then eventually we just had to say, this is what we’re doing.”
— Vanessa DuBrava, Director of Special Education

“Every district has their rockstars. You just have to figure out who your rockstar is, that can get it off the ground.”
— Michele Osterhout, Director of Instructional Programs

Outcomes

The Results: One Student Data Hub Across Both Elementary Schools

• MTSSEdge® now serves as a central hub for student information across Maine-Endwell’s elementary schools, bringing together screening, intervention, progress monitoring, attendance, and behavioral data in one place.
• Staff can read years of a student’s history at a glance; a fourth-grade teacher can see a child’s trajectory back to kindergarten.
• Data-team meetings are grounded in shared, real-time evidence.
• Psychologists pull progress-monitoring charts straight into new evaluations as evidence of limited or lacking progress.
• Adoption is pulling itself forward: the sixth-grade team asked to be part of it, and the district is actively planning expansion into grades six through eight.

“We don’t want this to just go away at fifth grade — we should be doing our part too.”
— Sixth-grade team, as relayed by Vanessa DuBrava

The recipe, in their words:

• Start where it makes sense: Maine-Endwell began with both elementary buildings so no one felt singled out, then grew from there.
• Get the data loaded first: They treat this as the crucial, non-negotiable first step.
• Find your champion: A consistent, accessible facilitator in each building matters more than any single feature.
• Teach in small groups: Short, 20-minute, grade-level sessions beat large faculty meetings.
• Stay the course: Steady, persistent leadership that won’t let it drift back to paper.

MTSSEdge®

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