For Families & Board Members | EdJustice Collective
For Families & Board Members

The people in your school
are building the system
that finds every student.

The educators, coaches, and leaders in your school are building the infrastructure that gets students to support faster. The more every stakeholder understands what that work looks like — the stronger the system becomes for every student it's meant to reach.

46 states have MTSS policy — the infrastructure to deliver it is what most are still building I-MTSS Research Network, 2024 →
67% Students respond positively when Tier 2 support is delivered by trained school personnel · Source Center on PBIS / AIR →
44% New teachers stay — when they work in schools with strong, stable systems behind them — systems have to outlast people Ingersoll / EdWeek, 2018 →
1 in 5 Large districts lost their superintendent in the 2022–23 school year alone ILO Group / EdWeek, 2023 →
For Families

The people in your school
are building a system to reach your child.
Here's what that looks like when it's working.

Educators, coaches, and school leaders are actively building infrastructure to get students like your child from identified to supported — faster and more consistently. The more families understand what that system looks like, the more they can see it working — and ask for it when it isn't.

What the people building this system want families to know

The educators building student support systems work hard to close the gap between when a need is identified and when support arrives. When families understand what that process looks like — the steps, the owners, the timelines — they become partners in it. That partnership makes the system faster for everyone.

What the team in your school is working to build
📋
A clear process — not just "we'll look into it"
A school with strong infrastructure can tell you exactly what happens after a need is identified — who gets notified, what the next step is, and by when.
👤
A named owner — not "the team will discuss"
Someone specific is responsible for your child's support plan. You should know their name, their role, and how to reach them directly.
📅
A timeline — not "these things take time"
You should be able to ask: when will the next step happen? When will we know if the plan is working? A strong system has answers to both.
📊
Progress you can see — not silence after the meeting
A plan that was written is not the same as a plan that's working. A strong system tells you the difference — and tells you before you have to ask.

Questions worth asking at your next meeting

→ "What is the specific next step — and who owns it?"
→ "Who is my primary point of contact for my child's support?"
→ "By what date will we know if this plan is working?"
→ "What happens if the first plan doesn't produce results?"
→ "How will I be notified of changes — and how quickly?"
Families are part of the system the school is building.

The leaders and educators in your school are building the infrastructure that closes the gap between Day 43 and Day 22. When families understand what that system looks like, they become partners in it — not just recipients of it. That shared knowledge is what makes the whole system stronger.

Learn More About What's Being Built →
🏫
Are you one of the leaders building this system?
If a family asked you these five questions right now — could you answer all of them clearly? The educators we support are building systems that can. Start with the free diagnostic to see where your system stands.
Check Your Access Points →
For Board Members

The people in your schools
are doing this work.
The board's job is to make sure they can.

Educators, principals, and district leaders are building the infrastructure that connects students to support. The board's role is to ensure those builders have what they need — the resources, the time, the credentials, and the organizational stability — to build systems that outlast any single person in the room. With 1 in 5 large districts losing their superintendent in a single year and board member tenure declining, only a strong system survives the transitions.

The stakeholder knowledge gap — all five levels
1 State Agencies Tools & expert personnel to support district-level implementation
2 District Leadership Outcome-based training & coaching with tools for implementation
3 School Boards Knowledge & support for using district data to make decisions
4 Families & Community Resources to build knowledge of student progress & how to support
5 School Personnel Expertise in designing and implementing differentiated instruction

When every stakeholder group has the knowledge it needs, the system moves in concert — not in isolation.

What the board needs to know — and can act on
1
Are the educators in your district equipped to build the infrastructure — not just intend it?
The educators in your schools care deeply. The board's job is to make sure they have the systems, tools, and credentials to turn that care into consistent action. Ask for the protocol — not just the mission statement.
2
How long does it take for a student to get from identified to supported?
That gap — between when a student's need is seen and when support actually arrives — is measurable. It should be measured. A board that doesn't know this number doesn't know if the system is working.
3
Are the builders supported when leadership changes?
The educators building student support systems do this work regardless of who's in the superintendent's chair or on the board. The question is whether the infrastructure they've built is documented, credentialed, and protected — or whether it lives in one person's head and walks out the door when they do.
4
Are all five stakeholder groups working from the same information?
State agencies, district leadership, school boards, families, and school personnel all need different kinds of knowledge to do their part. When one group is operating blind, the whole system slows down. The board is responsible for ensuring the information flows.
5
Do your builders have credentials that recognize the complexity of what they're building?
The MTSS Leadership & Systems Certification (MLSC) is built for the educators in your district who are already doing this work. It codifies what they've built, credentials the skills they've developed, and gives the board a visible signal of systems competency across the team. Ask which leaders on your staff have it — and support the ones who are building toward it. Learn about MTSS infrastructure →
The question that supports the people doing the building
"What do the educators in our district need to build and sustain that process — and are we giving it to them?"

When boards ask this question — and act on the answer — the educators building student support systems get what they need to move faster. EJC supports the leaders who are ready to build. The board's role is to make sure they can.

Start the Conversation →

Every stakeholder strengthens
the system being built.

The educators in your schools are building student support infrastructure right now. Families who understand it become partners in it. Boards who fund and protect it make it sustainable. Every stakeholder who knows what strong looks like helps the people doing the building go further.

Check Your Access Points → Talk to EJC →