Continuum of Services for Advanced Learning

The Department, with support from Northwestern University's Center for Talent Development, has developed the Continuum of Services for Advanced Learning document which provides district and school leaders guidance on how to utilize the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) framework and talent development principals to serve all students, including students with advanced learning needs. The Continuum of Service document is a working document that will be updated periodically to highlight best practices for serving the needs of advanced learners and to highlight what districts in Massachusetts are already doing to serve advanced learners.

Why a Continuum of Services?

The Department has chosen to pursue an MTSS model to support talent development and advanced learning for several reasons:

It allows schools to build on earlier efforts at MTSS implementation to leverage prior professional learning, capitalize on assessment and support infrastructure schools have developed around MTSS to date, and build on an emerging common vocabulary regarding services and supports.
It helps avoid developing "one size fits all" approaches to serving students because students are different from one another in their past experiences, cultural identities, relative strengths, academic and creative interests, learning modality preferences, and more. Students who are advanced in one or a few academic areas may also be performing at or below grade level benchmarks in other areas. Many students may have BOTH needs for advanced learning in one or more areas and accommodations or supports related to disabilities or English language acquisition. The MTSS framework encourages schools to view each student as a unique individual and supports flexibility in mixing and matching intervention and support strategies to provide the best "fit" possible for learners, maximizing their potential.
The MTSS framework supports thinking about academic, social-emotional, and behavioral development in an integrated and holistic way. Talent development research recognizes that cognitive and academic development does not occur separately from social-emotional and behavioral development.
The MTSS model, versus traditional approaches to gifted education, affords ALL students access to opportunities to discover and cultivate their individual interests and strengths versus reserving opportunities for talent development and advanced learning only for students already demonstrating exceptional achievement or unusually high cognitive or creative ability. This approach helps lessen the impact of "opportunity gaps" on access to advanced learning for students from lower income backgrounds and students from minoritized cultural subgroups who are almost universally underrepresented in traditional gifted education program models around the nation.
The MTSS model emphasizes, and is compatible with, the state's accountability framework that values and expects growth for all students, including those who are already "meeting expectations" and beyond.

Last Updated: June 27, 2024