Mike Mattos
Mike Mattos is a globally recognized author and presenter who transforms schools through Response to Intervention (RTI) and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). In 2024, Global Gurus named him one of the top 30 educational thought leaders worldwide.
Mike Mattos
Mike Mattos is an internationally recognized author, presenter, and practitioner. He co-created the RTI at Work™ model, which builds on the foundation of the PLC at Work™ process by using team structures and a focus on learning, collaboration, and results to drive successful outcomes. Mike is also a thought leader in professional learning communities and the PLC at Work® process, advancing the work of his mentors Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker. In 2024, the Global Gurus organization recognized him as one of the thirty most influential educational thought leaders in the world.
Mike is proud of the twenty-three years he served on-site as a history teacher and, later, an administrator. He is the former principal of Marjorie Veeh Elementary School and Pioneer Middle School in Tustin, California. At both schools, Mike helped create powerful PLCs, improving learning for all students. In 2004, Marjorie Veeh, an elementary school with a large population of youth at risk, won the California Distinguished School and National Title I Achieving School awards.
A National Blue Ribbon School, Pioneer is among only 13 schools in the US selected by the GE Foundation as a Best-Practice Partner and is one of eight schools chosen by Dr. Richard DuFour to be featured in the video series The Power of Professional Learning Communities at Work™: Bringing the Big Ideas to Life. Based on standardized test scores, Pioneer ranks among the top 1 percent of California secondary schools and, in 2009 and 2011, was named Orange County's top middle school. For his leadership, Mike was named the Orange County Middle School Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators.
Mike has coauthored many best-selling books focused on multitiered systems of supports (MTSS) and PLCs, including Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work; Concise Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Professional Learning Communities at Work; Simplifying Response to Intervention: Four Essential Guiding Principles; Pyramid Response to Intervention: RTI, Professional Learning Communities, and How to Respond When Kids Don’t Learn; Uniting Academic and Behavior Interventions: Solving the Skill or Will Dilemma; It’s About Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Secondary School; It’s About Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Elementary School; Best Practices at Tier 1: Daily Differentiation for Effective Instruction, Secondary; Best Practices at Tier 1: Daily Differentiation for Effective Instruction, Elementary; and The Collaborative Administrator: Working Together as a Professional Learning Community.
PLC at Work®
PLC at Work® experts have proven success in leading the PLC at Work process in a school or district. Work with them to implement a focus on learning, build a collaborative culture, and create a results orientation that leads to sustained, substantive school improvement.
RTI at Work™
RTI at Work experts focus on learning for all students and will empower you to build your own timely, targeted, and systematic intervention program. Work with them to implement a results-driven program that provides targeted instruction at all tiers of intervention.
Presentations by Mike Mattos
- Endless Possibilities
- Beyond Buy-In: Creating Consensus and Ownership in a PLC
- PLCs and RTI: How to Build the Foundation for Effective Systematic Interventions
- Convergent Assessment: Universal Screening, Formative Assessment, and Progress Monitoring in a Secondary RTI Program
- Filling the Cracks: How to Create a Systematic Intervention Program
- Putting It All Together: Examining a Model Secondary RTI Program
- Learning CPR: Creating Powerful Responses When Students Don’t Learn
- Where the Rubber Hits the Road
- It’s Just “Ed”: A Practical Look at Response to Intervention
- Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going?
- On Solid Ground: How PLC Practices Create the Foundation for a Successful RTI Program
White Papers
“That was the best PD day I have experienced in 40 years of teaching. There was no magic bullet, no forms to fill out, just an ongoing plan to make things better! Wow, I can do that!”
“I just wanted to follow up on behalf of my fellow principals and thank you for your work with us last week here in Orem, Utah. Our day with you was a home run. This day led to changes in attitude, conversions if you will, and laid the groundwork for some open and honest discussions back in our buildings. My staff ate it up, and they are all over it—in fact we spent Friday having discussions around the 5 Essential Elements. Thanks for your work in laying that foundation as we move forward. Best wishes in your continued work, and I hope our paths will cross many more times.”
“Here is a testament to the ‘power of Mike.’ I had a principal who heard Mike at the Pyramid Response to Intervention 2-Day Workshop (in Vancouver). Within 24 hours of returning home, he emailed me the first semester of the grade 8 Carrier language essential learning outcomes, including the standard examples of rigor, prior skills required, common assessment, and an appropriate timeline. The ball is rolling! Mike has made an impact already in some of our schools, and I have received overwhelmingly positive feedback on his two-day workshops.”
“Mike gives substance to PLCs and RTI. He gives simple, hands-on instruction. He is connected to schools and students. He knows our real-life challenges and gives us a variety of ideas to help us solve problems and overcome obstacles. He inspires our teacher hearts. He is practical. He takes us to higher-level thinking and gives us tools to improve.”