Throughout history, there have been a variety of circumstances that have forced students to be away from traditional school setting for an extended period. Natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics, or simply summer breaks cause students to spend time away from in person learning that may impact their academic growth momentum. Each time a school disruption occurs, educators find themselves reflecting on the best means to quickly close student achievement gaps and ensure any learning lost during extended time away from school is quickly recovered. Various approaches have been attempted to quickly close student achievement gaps. The Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) utilizes a system of tiered instruction to meet the needs of students and close achievement gaps quickly. This study contributes to the current body of research regarding the effectiveness of the MTSS system. This study was conducted in 2023 gathering qualitative data and archival quantitative data from the 2020-2021 school year, following the COVID-19 pandemic school closures in the Spring of 2020. This study, conducted in a rural Missouri school district, included participants in kindergarten through third grade following their return to school after extended time away due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study found that while all grade levels had significant reading growth from their fall to spring reading scaled scores, first-and second-graders achieved normal annual growth while kindergarten and third grade students achieved slightly below average growth. This study also found that Tier II interventions were most effective at the second and third grade levels. Teachers also perceived that MTSS interventions yielded positive results and many of them have kept various instructional adjustments in place overtime. The recommendations for future studies include exploring the effectiveness of the MTSS structure in other content areas, in other grade levels, as well as the various components that make tiered instruction effective. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]