Feb. 6th-8th, 2023

  • Who: Administrators, District Leaders, School Counselors, Educators, & MTSS Coordinators
  • What: Three days of solution-oriented presentations that identify, analyze, and solve common problems to implementation at each tier of support. Each day we will open up access to the videos so you can watch them at your convenience.
  • Cost: Free

Speakers / Presenters
Click on the images to read their bios

Dr. Kent McIntosh

Philip H. Knight Chair of Special Education, the University of Oregon. Director of Educational and Community Supports in the College of Education, University of Oregon

Dr. Jose Castillo

Associate Professor in the School Psychology Program & Director of the Institute for School-Community Partnerships, Integrated Services, and Child Mental Health and Educational Policy, University of South Florida

Dr. Sharon Hoover

Co-Director, National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH) Director, NCTSN Center for Safe Supportive Schools (CS3)
Professor, University of Maryland

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • Where is the Summit being held?
    - The Not Your Typical MTSS Summit is a free, virtual event. Each day of the summit we'll send you solution-oriented presentations that identify, analyze, and solve common problems to implementation at each tier of support.
  • How do the videos get released?
    - Each morning at 5am you will receive an email with a link to a page that will have all of the videos for that day.
  • Are they available all week?
    - Yes! The videos for the Not Your Typical MTSS Summit will be available the entire week of the summit for you to watch at your convenience.

Summit Overview:

Day 1 - Tier 1 is the support every student receives daily and consistently to produce desired outcomes. Through promoting well-being, belonging, and engagement in a learning environment, students can acquire competencies that enable school and life success.

Each of the presentations will:

  • Explore Tier 1 through a problem-solving lens to identify real issues that undermine implementation of Tier 1
  • Analyze the reasons why those implementation problems are happening
  • Discuss effective solutions leading to more students accessing high-quality experiences that prevent needs from emerging and provide the foundation for more intensive interventions to work

Day 2 - Tier 2 refers to team coordinated, problem-solving that matches some students who have needs beyond those offered in Tier 1 to targeted support.


Through a problem-solving lens, each of the presentations will:

  • Identify and define implementation problems that exist with Tier 2
  • Explore the reasons why those problems exist
  • Discuss solutions that enable more students to access the targeted supports they need to increase success in school

Day 3 - Tier 3 reflects individualized support for a few students who have needs that require intensive intervention.

Each of the presentation will:

  • Define common barriers to Tier 3 implementation
  • Hypothesize the root causes for why those implementation barriers exist
  • Discuss necessary solutions to drive successful implementation of effective Tier 3 supports for students who need intensive intervention

Your Hosts For The Summit

Dr. Clay Cook

Dr. Clay Cook is the Chief Development Officer at CharacterStrong and is an implementation scientist, psychologist, and former paraprofessional and middle school math teacher. He has spent the past 15 years working in partnership with school systems across the country to support the implementation of effective practices that promote better and more equitable outcomes for students. He has been a professor and researcher at three universities (Louisiana State University, University of Washington and University of Minnesota) studying topics such as implementation of evidence-based practices, educator well-being and resilience, social-emotional learning, and youth mental health. He has obtained over 20 million dollars in grant funding for his research and published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles. For his work, he has been invited to the White House and served on expert panels with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Education.

Megan Gruis

Megan Gruis, Ed.S., LSC, was fortunate to serve in a variety of K-12 settings both at the building level and district level for nearly 20 years. During that time, she delivered practices, supported professional development and led team initiatives focused on social, emotional, behavioral and academic integration. During 10 of those years in education, she also consulted for the Minnesota State Implementation Team, providing training, coaching, and evaluation supports to schools and districts working to adopt and integrate PBIS into the fabric of their schools. Megan currently serves as the Executive Director of Customized Implementation Supports where she leads the CIS Team focused on supporting schools and districts with the strategic implementation of social, emotional, behavioral, and academic frameworks to enhance student outcomes.

Cory Notestine

Cory Notestine spent the last 14 years working in rural and urban school settings across North Carolina and Colorado as a school counselor and district leader. Over the past 7 years he's led successful district-wide SEL curriculum adoption and implementation; redesigned and integrated MTSS teaming, protocols, and service delivery; and created a behavioral matrix that was student centered and restorative in nature. He is passionate about thoughtful and timely change management, the intersection of politics and education, and how to identify high leverage action items to increase successful implementation.

Felisha Santiago

Felisha Santiago recently served in public education overseeing PBIS, Restorative Practices and Social Emotional Learning under the MTSS Framework as a District Climate and Culture Coordinator. Her 14 year expertise ranges from a district secretary, special education aide, teacher at all grade levels, site administrator designee, Department Lead, District Specialist and District Administrator. She led over 25 schools in her district to obtain state of CA PBIS recognition that ranged from Bronze to Platinum. She has a passion for rooting for the whole child work, training staff in effective practices and giving a voice back to our students.

Madeline Larson

Madeline is a school psychologist by training and oversees the research agenda at CharacterStrong. She has a background in community-engaged research and implementation science involving the integration of mental health services in schools. Madeline brings expertise in mixed method, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, rigorous evaluation of programs and products, and implementation science. Madeline has served as a principal investigator on projects focused on school mental health funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). In addition to her research, Madeline has over ten years of practice-based experience as an implementation intermediary and school psychologist supporting the implementation of evidence-based practices in schools. Madeline is also a certified Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) practitioner and specializes in the delivery of cognitive-behavioral services in schools.