Instruction
Mount Airy City Schools employs a research-based multi-tiered support system in every classroom for every child, every day. This approach integrates academic and behavioral instruction practices that support the development of the whole child.
![infographic about how Multi-tier System of Supports works](https://www.acps.k12.va.us/cms/lib/VA01918616/Centricity/Domain/1125/MTSS-Graphic.png)
Underpinning this model, are specific core instructional practices in which we believe. The most prevalent is a strong focus on the design process through Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL), which requires students to use design, inquiry and creativity. There are two types of IBL, Problem and Project-Based Learning (PBL). Many of our Mount Airy City Schools teachers have been fully trained to facilitate learning in the inquiry-based learning environment. These instructional practices take problem solving to a deeper level because students become problem identifiers, as well as problem solvers.
The 5 Standards to Support Inquiry-based Learning include the following:
- Thinking skills
- Depth of Knowledge
- Connectedness to the World Beyond the Classroom
- Substantive Conversation
- Social Support for Student Achievement
When our teachers design learning experiences that include these 5 standards they are ensuring that our students engage and learn at a deeper level. These standards and the IBL framework can occur in any content area and any grade level.