Find the best evidence-based interventions for your students

Relational Scaffolding

3rd Grade

Relational Scaffolding is an instructional approach that enhances children's understanding of scientific models through systematic, guided comparisons between observable phenomena and corresponding modeled events. Designed for 3rd-grade students learning about the day-night cycle, the intervention uses split-screen video footage showing both Earth-based observations (e.g., sunrise, sunset) and space-based models of Earth rotation simultaneously. A trained researcher guides students through these videos, pointing at and between perspectives to clarify temporal, spatial, and causal correspondences. The intervention progresses from an embodied simulation where students physically enact Earth's rotation, to relational scaffolding using video of their embodied experience, then to a 3D physical model simulation, and finally to relational scaffolding comparing both simulations. Sessions last 20-30 minutes each, delivered one-on-one in a quiet room at the student's school during after-school hours, twice weekly for three weeks (total of 5 instructional sessions). The approach requires video recording equipment (GoPro camera, tripod, videorecorder), video editing capabilities, a computer for displaying split-screen videos, and physical materials including a 3D Earth-Sun model. One trained researcher delivers the intervention to one student at a time.

2019

Cost per student

N/A

Arts Access Initiative (AAI)

3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

Arts Access Initiative (AAI) is a school-community partnership program that provides substantial increases in arts educational experiences to elementary and middle school students in Houston Independent School District. The program serves students in grades 3-8, particularly those in schools with the lowest levels of arts resources. AAI provides arts experiences through teaching-artist residencies (33% of experiences), in-school professional artist performances (31%), field trips to cultural institutions (27%), and afterschool programs (9%). The arts disciplines include theatre (54% of experiences), music (18%), visual arts (16%), and dance (12%). Schools commit to a monetary match ($1-$10 per student), which is matched 1:1 by the Houston Endowment, resulting in an average annual budget of $14.67 per student. Participating schools must designate a campus arts liaison, engage in strategic arts planning, participate in teacher and principal arts-integration professional development, and attend peer-network mentoring sessions. The AAI director and staff work with principals to select diverse arts programs aligned with school goals.

2019

36 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Talent Search

9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

Talent Search aims to help low-income and first-generation college students (those whose parents do not have four-year college degrees) complete high school and gain access to college. The program serves both middle and high school students and provides a combination of services including test taking and study skills assistance, academic advising, tutoring, career development, college campus visits, and financial aid application assistance. Most participants received services in their junior and senior years of high school. According to a 2000 survey of project directors, nearly half of Talent Search participants received 10 or fewer hours of services a year. Participants were either recruited to participate or volunteered to be in the program.

2006

Cost per student

N/A

Number Line Approach Combined With Cognitive Learning Strategies

6th Grade

This intervention uses a number line-centered approach combined with cognitive learning strategies to teach fraction concepts to sixth graders struggling with mathematics. Delivered in small groups of 3-4 students, the intervention consists of 27 lessons over 6 weeks (approximately 45 minutes per lesson, totaling about 20.25 hours). Each lesson includes warm-up practice, multiplication fact practice, counting fractions aloud, 15-20 minutes of explicit instruction focused on the number line, fast-paced card games for fraction magnitude practice, and independent cool-down worksheets. The intervention covers halves, fourths, eighths, thirds, sixths, and twelfths, teaching students to partition number lines, locate fractions, understand equivalencies, compare magnitudes, and perform basic operations. Instruction incorporates explicit teaching, representational gestures, dual coding (visual and verbal), spaced and interleaved practice, and immediate feedback. Trained research assistants deliver the intervention, requiring prior training (16+ hours) on gestures, feedback strategies, and behavior management.

2019

Low

6 Weeks

Cost per student

$254.14

System 44

4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

System 44 is a foundational reading program for older struggling readers in grades 4-8 who have not mastered basic phonics and decoding skills. The program combines research-based phonics instruction with adaptive technology to improve word reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Students receive approximately 20-25 minutes of computer-delivered adaptive instruction, 25-30 minutes of small group and individual work using high-interest leveled materials, and 5-10 minutes of whole class instruction daily. The program includes 25 series covering 160 topics across four strands: The Code (decoding), Sight Words (high-frequency words), Word Strategies (syllable types and word parts), and Success (reading connected text). Materials include the System 44 software, 44Book, Decodable Digest, 36-title paperback book and audiobook library, SAM practice worksheets, letter tiles, posters, flip chart lessons, and Sound and Articulation DVD. Teachers received a 1-day training in August 2010 plus 3 coaching visits from Scholastic staff during the school year.

2011

36 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Stepping Stones to Literacy

Kindergarten

Stepping Stones to Literacy (SSL) is a supplemental curriculum designed to promote listening, print conventions, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and serial processing/rapid naming for kindergarten and older preschool students who are underachieving readers. Students participate in 10- to 20-minute daily lessons delivered in small groups or individually. The curriculum consists of 25 lessons totaling 9-15 hours of instructional time. Teachers use a model-lead-test instructional format, guiding students through four to six sequenced activities per lesson. The curriculum includes a lesson book with a section on serial rapid automatic naming activities and instructional prompts in English and Spanish.

2007

Low

5 Weeks

Cost per student

$434.67

Growing, Learning, and Living With Autism (GoriLLA) Group

1st Grade, 2nd Grade

The Growing, Learning, and Living With Autism (GoriLLA) Group is a parent-assisted intervention that blends Structured TEACCHing and Social Thinking components to teach social communication and self-regulation skills to first and second grade students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are included 80-100% of the time in regular education classrooms and read on grade level or above. The program consists of 12 weekly 90-minute sessions with parent-child large and small group activities, plus 20-30 minute parent breakout sessions. Sessions teach concepts including the Zones of Regulation for emotion identification, Social Thinking vocabulary (Expected vs. Unexpected Behaviors, The Group Plan, Thinking With Your Eyes, Body in the Group, Whole Body Listening), self-regulation strategies (deep breathing, chair yoga, stress balls, progressive relaxation), and social communication skills (SENSE: Space, Eye contact, Nodding, Statements, Expressions). Parents actively participate in sessions and complete weekly homework activities with their children. The intervention uses visual supports, environmental structure, and incorporates children's special interests. Two trained clinicians with master's degrees deliver the program, assisted by a clinical psychology doctoral student or postdoctoral fellow.

2019

Low

2 Weeks

Cost per student

$451.81

In-District After-School Tutoring Program

8th Grade

In-District After-School Tutoring Program is an after-school academic intervention for eighth grade students who scored in the near-passing range (180-199) on seventh grade standardized tests in language arts or mathematics. The program provides small-group tutoring (4:1 student-teacher ratio) delivered by district teachers who are familiar with students and curriculum. Students attend tutoring sessions two afternoons per week for 90 minutes each day, from October through March, for a total of 48 hours. Tutors use test preparation materials (Preparing for the New Jersey GEPA booklets) and Standard Solutions test-taking strategies. District teachers serving as tutors attend four meetings during the program and provide weekly progress reports to classroom teachers. Students receive rewards including pizza parties and bowling parties for perfect attendance.

2011

6 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

P-TECH 9-14 Schools

9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

P-TECH 9-14 (Pathways in Technology Early College High School, Grades 9-14) is a six-year integrated education model that creates a partnership between a high school, a local community college (CUNY), and one or more employer partners in STEM fields. The program targets students entering ninth grade, with open enrollment and no academic or attendance criteria for admission. Students work toward earning both a high school diploma (within four years) and a cost-free, industry-recognized associate's degree. The model features accelerated high school coursework with early Regents exam taking, career and technical education (CTE) classes aligned with STEM careers, and work-based learning activities including workplace visits, job shadowing, mentoring, and paid internships. College coursework begins largely in tenth grade after students pass Regents exams at CUNY-qualifying levels. Students take CTE courses in areas such as engineering, technology, health care, and architecture that complement their college degree pathways. The program includes soft skills instruction, advising support, and in some schools a summer bridge experience before ninth grade. Staff includes high school teachers, college liaisons who split time between campuses, and WBL coordinators. The NYC DOE Office of Postsecondary Readiness and CUNY Early College Initiative provide ongoing support and professional development.

2020

144 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

English Language and Literacy Acquisition-Validation (ELLA-V)

Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade

ELLA-V is a professional development and instructional support program designed for K-3 teachers of English learners (ELs) in Texas. The program provides bimonthly virtual professional development sessions (18 sessions from September to May, approximately 90 minutes each), virtual mentoring and coaching (up to three observation rounds with feedback between January and May), and EL-relevant curricula materials aligned with content-area standards. The intervention was implemented with a backwards design across four school years: grade 3 in 2013-14, grade 2 in 2014-15, grade 1 in 2015-16, and kindergarten in 2016-17. Teachers received the intervention for a single year dependent on grade-level implementation. The program focuses on literacy and science content, as well as cognitive-academic language proficiency to enhance EL students' English language acquisition. Two treatment conditions (Treatment 1 and Treatment 2) received equivalent professional development and coaching, but curricula materials differed across treatments and grade levels according to student development. Treatment 1 curricula focused on oral language and phonemic awareness in grade K, oral language and learning to read in grade 1, learning to read in grade 2, and reading to learn (content-area reading) in grade 3. Treatment 2 curricula largely focused on students' oral language development across all grades, with a writing component added in grades 2-3.

2018

28 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

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