CONVERGENT SYSTEMS INSTITUTE
Build the MTSS and Special Populations Systems That Hold
When your intervention systems break down the moment a coordinator leaves or the calendar fills up, the problem is not your people. It is the architecture underneath, and whether it was ever built to carry the weight of the work you are asking it to hold.
I build MTSS and special populations systems that stay standing year after year, for students in special education, multilingual learners, students on 504 plans, and every learner who needs more to grow.
I have spent nearly twenty years in this work, from Teacher of the Year to leading special education and academic intervention across large urban and charter networks in Texas, with results proven across more than 79 campuses.
THE CHALLENGE
The Investment Is There.
The Infrastructure Is Not.
Districts across the country invest heavily in MTSS and Special Populations training, intervention platforms, and coordinator positions. Yet implementation remains inconsistent, and the systems meant to catch students early break down at the points where they matter most. The research tells us why.
Only 35%
"of districts report having a well-established MTSS, despite over 70% reporting they use the framework."
MTSS Center, American Institutes for Research
#1 Gap
Progress monitoring is consistently rated among the lowest-implemented components of MTSS in national fidelity data. Without it, teams cannot tell whether interventions are working, and students move through the tiers on perception instead of data.
MTSS Center, American Institutes for Research
1 in 6
About 15 percent of all public school students, roughly 7.5 million children, receive special education and related services under IDEA. They are the ones who feel it first when the systems meant to catch them break down.
National Center for Education Statistics, 2024
The problem is not effort, funding, or intent. It is systems architecture. When MTSS and Special Populations operate as separate intervention systems, neither one works the way it should.
THE MIND BEHIND IT
Brandy Washington
I spent nearly twenty years inside schools and districts, and I have sat in almost every seat that matters. I started in the classroom as a teacher's assistant, I was named Teacher of the Year, and I went on to lead special education and academic intervention across large urban and charter networks here in Texas. I know what it feels like to hold a system together with your own two hands and hope students don't slip through the cracks it was built to catch.
What I learned in all those seats is that MTSS and Special Populations are almost always run as two separate operations, and neither one holds that way. So I build the architecture that coordinates them, grounded in evidence and designed to survive the turnover, the leadership changes, and the hard years, so the support keeps reaching the students it was always meant to reach.
OUR APPROACH
Four Frameworks, One Clear Progression
The work moves in a clear order, and you can step into it wherever your district actually is. I start by finding out where your systems truly stand today. From there I put what works into place across your campuses, and I coach the people who carry the work every day, so it does not walk out the door when a key person leaves.
Then I build the tools and structures that keep the whole thing standing for years, through the turnover and the leadership changes. Each phase carries its own name and stands on its own when you have one targeted gap to close, and the four together form the full system when you are ready to build it all.
ProgressMonitorED, Diagnose
Data & Assessment
This is where every partnership begins. Before I build anything, I find out exactly where your MTSS and Special Populations systems truly stand right now, campus by campus. Then I build the data and assessment backbone the rest of the work depends on, the protocols, the decision rules, and the progress monitoring rhythm that let you see, right there in the data, whether your interventions are actually working.
AdoptED & ScalED, Implement
Implementation
Once I know where you stand and the data backbone is in place, this is where the work moves into your buildings. AdoptED is how I bring a system onto a campus and get it running the way it is supposed to. ScalED is how I take what is working on one campus and make it run the same way across your whole network, so every campus reaches the same standard.
CultivatED & EquippED, Coach
Coaching & Development
A system is only as strong as the people running it. CultivatED is the ongoing coaching I give your leaders and interventionists, and EquippED is the professional development that builds real technical knowledge across your staff. This is the phase that matters most to me, because it is what keeps the work standing long after I walk out the door.
AnchorED, Sustain
Sustainability & Tools
This is the layer that keeps everything standing for the long haul. AnchorED holds the tools, the infrastructure, and the ongoing support that keep your MTSS and Special Populations coordination working across the years, through the turnover and the leadership changes. InformED, my behavior documentation and analysis tool, is the first product I built under AnchorED.
Four frameworks. One progression. Built to be purchased individually for a targeted gap, or together for the full scope of results.
Evaluate & Strategize
One Month
This ProgressMonitorED assessment is a standalone initiative. Districts receive clear scoring across the six pillars of MTSS and Special Populations frameworks, alongside a detailed gap analysis. This serves as the foundation for all CSI partnerships, providing a clear path forward for educational leaders.
What you receive: a comprehensive Systemic Review with benchmarks for your MTSS and Special Populations teams, a strategic timeline for the year, and an executive briefing for your leadership team.
I take on a limited number of district and network partnerships at a time, because this is hands-on systems work and I stay until your own people can run it without me. The methodology holds steady across every partnership. What changes is the depth, which we set together by where your systems are today and how far you want to take them.
The partners who get the most from this come ready to build something that holds for years and to put their own staff at the center of the work. Every partnership begins with the ProgressMonitorED diagnostic, so we both know exactly where your systems stand before we commit to the larger build.
Engagement Levels for System Implementation
Bespoke Service Packages are Available
Build and Deploy
One Year
Our frameworks are integrated into a comprehensive year-long construction phase. We transition from evaluation to campus-wide deployment, ensuring your local staff has the internal capacity to lead the work.
What you receive: a modernized organizational structure, a certified group of internal coaches, a comprehensive digital playbook, and the first campus wave launched — complete with monthly performance tracking and a data portal for visibility.
OUR PROCESS
Visionary Leadership
Recurring
A complete systemic overhaul spanning multiple years. This level offers intense campus-level guidance, train-the-trainer certification, and the permanent AnchorED infrastructure that ensures the work continues long after our contract ends.
What you receive: district-wide execution across every site, permanent coaching structures, and a proprietary methodology your staff manages autonomously — including third-party impact audits for your community and board stakeholders.
SYSTEM SUCCESS
Evidence Rooted in Real Implementation
98.2%
State Standard Met
Serving as Director of Special Ed for 55 urban schools in Texas, I engineered the operational frameworks that turned legacy deficiencies into a model of continuous high achievement.
83%
Intervention Deployment Speed
In the role of Director of Academic Intervention for 24 charter sites, I pioneered a multi-tier structure that ensured almost every location met rigorous fidelity standards for student aid.
Teacher of the Year 2015
ISTE/ACSD Faculty Member
Keynote Panelist and Presenter
This impact is not incidental. This is the architecture.
Who I Partner With
I partner with four types of leaders and in the end they all want the same thing, which is for the students who need the most help to actually get it. Whether you run a district, build edtech, fund this work, or bring leaders together to learn, here is where I fit alongside what you are already doing.
CSI collaborates with four sectors to develop resilient educational frameworks. Convergent Systems Institute structures MTSS and Special Populations for districts aiming to transition from regulation to real results via guidance, training, and specialized tools.
School Districts and Networks
If you lead a district or a charter network, I build the coordinated MTSS and Special Populations systems your campuses can actually run, the kind that hold steady across every site and keep working after my contract ends.
EdTech Creators
If you build education technology, I bring the practitioner's eye your product needs, with honest feedback and strategic guidance from someone who ran these systems inside districts and knows what it takes for a tool to earn its place in a teacher's day.
Philanthropies
If you fund this work, I help you back intervention models that are proven and built to last, so your investment shows up as real systems on the ground and real results you can stand behind.
Keynotes and Events
If you bring leaders together to learn, I speak from the district seat on building MTSS and Special Populations systems that hold, the real architecture underneath the framework, told by someone who has actually done the work.