Whats the role of the Teacher Support Team in the problem-solving approach?
First, the role of a school’s Teacher Support Team (TST) depends on what type of function it has customarily carried out, and schools vary widely in this regard. In some schools they have long been a genuine opportunity for teachers to come together as colleagues to brainstorm strategies to support student learning – and teams like this have a valuable role to play in the problem-solving approach. In other schools, TSTs have only served to pass through referrals for special education evaluation. And in others, they really don’t exist at all. Second, state law requires a “student intervention team” that carries out functions beyond those incorporated in the original design, training, and practice of what became known as TSTs. A major difference is that a student intervention team (a.k.a. Expanded Support Team, Building Level Support Team, etc.) needs to bring a variety of people into meetings depending on the needs of the student to be discussed, and the complexity of the interventions
