MTSS Integrated Conference 25

Learning about Restorative Practices is important, but experiencing them firsthand
is transformative. The impact of proactive community-building Restorative Practices work is
powerful, impactful, and accessible to everyone in the school community. Successfully
supporting youth needs means first supporting adult needs. We want to move quickly to directly
supporting youth, yet slowing down enough to take care of ourselves, our staff, and one another
will increase our overall impact.

Implementing Restorative Practices is about more than sitting in a circle. Successful
installation starts with both systems & implementation leaders understanding the roots of the
work, the principles that drive it, and the practices that bring it to life. For implementation to be
sustainable over time, however, it must be anchored and aligned to other work taking place
and cannot exist in a silo. A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework provides the
structures necessary to support the use of data for decision-making, to progress-monitor
implementation over time, and to evaluate student and staff outcomes.

Traditional MTSS approaches rely heavily on academic, attendance, and discipline data—focusing supports around crisis and points of failure, rarely incorporating meaningful mental health data. This session highlights a partnership between King County and the Tahoma School District implementing universal mental health and substance use screening as part of a wider holistic wellness strategy in middle and high school, transforming a reactive, deficit-based model into one rooted in proactive wellness, student strengths, and authentic engagement.