Collaboration Among Cheatham County, Lebanon Special School District, and White County

Tennessee Tiered Supports Center’s RTI²-A+B Model of Demonstration Program recognizes outstanding school districts in Tennessee that have worked diligently to align their academic and non-academic tiered support systems. The 2024-25 award-winning districts include: Bedford County Schools, Bristol Tennessee City Schools, Cleveland City Schools, Grainger County Schools, Hamblen County Schools, Lake County Schools, Lebanon Special School District, Marion County Schools, Maury County Schools, Washington County Schools, and White County Schools

As Model of Demonstration Award recipients, both Lebanon Special School District and White County Schools share their knowledge and experiences with other districts across the state. Lebanon Special School District shares about their integrated data system, district resource map, and school-level supports with other districts. This spring, the district coordinators, Melissa Reynolds and Candice Love, hosted Cheatham County Schools, one of our newer partnering districts, at their district office, where they discussed the key components of an effective Tier I system, including acknowledgement systems, schoolwide expectations, and how to use behavior screening data to inform Tier I and Tier II supports.

White County Schools also mentors other districts by opening its doors to visitors and presenting at statewide conferences. At the Statewide Special Education and Student Support Conference in October and the Coordinated School Health Institute in March, the district coordinators, Richard Bumbalough and Farrah Griffith, shared the steps they are taking to align academic and behavioral tiered supports, including implementing fidelity self-assessments, creating teams with teaming structures, enhancing their screening process to identify needs in both academics and behavior, providing professional learning on Tier I behavior practices, and developing a data management plan for behavior.

When asked about their experience mentoring other districts, both Lebanon Special School District and White County Schools indicated that they remember what it was like to get started in aligning their academic and behavioral supports and enjoy being able to serve as a resource to other districts as they begin to build their RTI²-A+B framework.