Student Support Services

Our Philosophy

The UNIS school-wide Student Support Team (SST) provides assistance and support to UNIS students and families from Pre-K through 12.

Members of the SST serve as a liaison between UNIS and institutions of higher education, health, and psychological agencies, educational specialists, summer programs, and other schools. Our support program aims to promote students’ social, emotional, physical, and intellectual well-being so that each student can take purposeful action toward academic progress and success.

The services offered at UNIS are intended to be proactive and responsive to students’ individual needs and differences while providing core preventive and educational programs for all students in the areas of social and emotional competency, general health and wellness, safety and risk prevention, learning support, and college preparation. Particular attention is taken to ensure a smooth orientation for families entering UNIS as well as to support students’ transitions between grades and divisions. 

Multi-Tiered System of Support Model (MTSS)

Students learn in different ways and at different paces. Students may receive support from homeroom and subject teachers as part of regular class instruction with differentiated and/ or additional work in order to provide a pathway to learning for the student. This work is related to the regular instruction being taught to all students within a class and is considered to be “Tier 1 instruction.”

In some cases, teachers may work within the classroom with small groups of students to provide additional information or instruction. A learning support professional may work with the teacher to plan the group lessons or may provide specific material to support the students experiencing some challenges. On occasion, the learning specialist may also join the classroom for instruction. This is support at the “Tier 2” level.

For students with more serious academic challenges, Tier 3 support may be necessary. In these cases, students will be assigned to the learning lab for targeted instruction. The learning lab classes will replace a modern language course for the student. For that reason, the need for a student to be placed in learning lab needs to be carefully weighed against the loss of the language class and so the academic need for scheduled support for the students becomes the priority. Once all the information is considered, a recommendation is made.