The Student Support Team Model

A Student Support Team (SST) is a formalized structure for a group of school staff to meet regularly to discuss student needs. When a student is facing difficulties or challenges in their education, it is crucial for teachers to assess the situation and collaborate with parents, peers, and the Student Support Team (SST) to ensure that the student receives the necessary support. By involving multiple stakeholders, educators can gather valuable insights, perspectives, and expertise to develop strategies that address the student's specific needs. This collaborative approach helps create a supportive and inclusive educational environment, promoting the best possible learning experience for the struggling student.

Some examples of student needs that SSTs discuss include academic struggles, poor attendance, disciplinary occurrences, physical and mental health-related concerns, substance abuse, lack of engagement and a need for enrichment opportunities.

SSTs are not only designed to identify interventions and/or resources to address these needs, but also to prevent issues before they occur. Part of the conversation should also include resources to develop student strengths and interests. “Focusing on student strengths and growth is motivating for students. It can also help them develop a growth mindset, where they see themselves as having the ability to grow and improve across all areas, rather than seeing their skills and abilities as fixed traits”. Sutton, E. (2021,September 8). The Power of Strength-Based instruction. Branching Minds.

Benefits of a Student Support Team

In addition to helping students to achieve behavioral, academic and personal success, research has shown SSTs to have the following benefits for schools:

SSTs can provide immediate assistance to teachers and students, focused on both prevention and intervention.
SSTs can assist teachers with problem-solving for individual cases and at the same time, build capacity for new strategies which can be generalized to support other students.
Through having a formalized team that meets regularly instead of “ad hoc”, SSTs can lead to improved teacher retention rates and higher job satisfaction.
Administrators can identify trends from referrals that are discussed and develop professional development opportunities for staff based on the information.
SSTs can promote stronger, more collaborative relationships among school staff, creating shared expectations and a sense of responsibility for the success of all students.

The Purpose of the Student Support Team

The SST develops individualized plans for students that include action steps aligned to the identified interventions/resources. Best practice is for teams to reconvene and review the plans in 6-8 week cycles to assess their effectiveness, and revise as necessary.

The Student Support Team:

Provides a forum for school personnel to discuss student needs as well as strengths and interests
Assists teachers in determining solutions to address student needs using the collective expertise of other school personnel
Enhances communication between staff members and between the school and home
Identifies instructional needs through systematic measurement of student progress
Documents student progress and adjusts instructional approaches

Common Elements of Effective Student Support Teams

According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the following are common elements of effective SSTs:

The primary goal of SST interventions is increased success of students in the general education curriculum and within the general education classroom.
SSTs are tasked with looking at the whole child, taking into consideration a student’s academic and non-academic needs, including family needs and medical needs where applicable.
SSTs collect and consider both academic and non-academic data.
Anyone can submit a problem to or ask for input from SSTs, including school staff, family members or legal guardians, and students.
There are no parameters for the issues that can be brought before SSTs.
In addition to suggesting classroom-based strategies and interventions, SSTs may recommend school- or community-based supplemental support.
SSTs may propose student/family-focused or school-focused interventions.
The intensity of all supports and/or interventions recommended by SSTs will vary depending on an individual student’s or group of students’ needs.
SSTs have regular communication with students’ families and engage them in the problem-solving process.
SSTs have regularly scheduled meetings, generally weekly or bi-weekly, to discuss concerns that are brought forth regarding a student (or a group of students facing similar challenges) or to follow up on earlier cases.
SSTs are action oriented, and meetings result in assigned next steps.
Sending teachers attend SST meetings prepared to share data on the student(s) being discussed, including data collected through the various support strategies already tried.
SSTs monitor the progress of students and the effectiveness of interventions over multiple meetings.
SST meetings do not automatically result in a referral to special education, though SSTs may recommend a special education evaluation in some cases.