Introduction
The purpose of a multi-tiered model of educational service delivery is to maximize student achievement outcomes for all students. This result is accomplished by applying sound logic and good science to fundamental reengineering of the educational service delivery system. In 1990, Heartland Area Education Agency (AEA) developed a four-tiered model of special education service delivery to address serious iatrogenic effects of the traditional (1975-1990) special education system. Heartland AEA is an intermediate educational agency in central Iowa serving roughly 24% of the children in Iowa. Heartland's four-tiered model, initially titled "Heartland AEA's Problem Solving Model" is described in detail in a number of sources and has been implemented in approximately 87 public school districts and accredited nonpublic schools for over a decade (see Grimes & Kurns, this conference proceeding; Tilly, 2002; Reschly & Ysseldyke, 2002). At the core of Heartland's model was reexamination and alteration the fundamental assumptions undergirding service delivery, reengineering of system structures to promote prevention and early intervention and increased use of the scientific method and science-based practices throughout our service delivery model.
This paper provides an overview of the
- conceptual foundations of Heartland's system,
- the initial engineering of the system,
- the importation of science into practice, and
- the ongoing migration of Heartland's service delivery system from a four-tier to a three-tier model.
Evaluation data associated with implementing a Three-Tiered model of service delivery are presented at the end of this paper.
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Acknowledgements | Assumptions
