Find the best evidence-based interventions for your students

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

Collaborative Regional Education (CORE)

8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

The CORE program is a comprehensive, systems-based intervention designed to improve college and career readiness for grades 8-12 students in rural schools. Teachers receive technology resources (MacBook Air laptops, 21 iPads, $2,100 classroom technology funds), intensive professional development in CORE Active Learning Model (CALM) and project-based learning through annual CORE Academy and three follow-up workshops, ongoing support from Education Technology Assistants, participation in online professional learning communities, and change-management support. Principals receive collaboration opportunities and change-management debriefing. Math and English teachers provide college-readiness support using the EdReady assessment tool. The intervention is delivered over two school years, with teachers participating for both years while students participate for one year.

2018

72 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Scholastic READ 180

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

Scholastic READ 180 is a reading intervention program implemented in Community School District 23 (New York City) for students in grades 4-8 who are performing below grade level in reading and language arts. The program targets students who scored in Proficiency Levels 1 and 2 on prior year ELA exams, with the goal of improving their literacy skills to help them reach grade-level proficiency. During the 2001-02 school year, 652 students participated, with the majority in fourth and fifth grades (31% and 29% respectively). The intervention was delivered in regular school settings alongside students' typical instruction.

2005

36 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

North Carolina Transformation Initiative

Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

North Carolina Transformation (NCT) is a state-level school turnaround initiative that provides coaching and support services directly from the state Department of Public Instruction to low-performing schools. The intervention begins with a Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) conducted by state staff through classroom observations, interviews, and focus groups over two days. Following the CNA, schools participate in an "unpacking" session where facilitators review findings with school staff, conduct root-cause analysis, and engage in planning activities. Schools then develop School Improvement Plans based on CNA findings. The core intervention consists of tailored coaching services: school transformation coaches work directly with principals, instructional coaches work with teachers, and district-level coaches serve central office staff in low-performing districts. The intervention was implemented in 75 low-performing schools over two academic years (2015-16 and 2016-17), primarily in rural areas outside the state's 10 largest districts. Unlike prior federal turnaround models, NCT does not require disruption of the status quo (such as replacing principals or staff) and operates without additional federal funding, instead reallocating existing state resources.

2019

72 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Reading Apprenticeship Across the Disciplines (RAAD)

7th Grade, 8th Grade

Reading Apprenticeship Across the Disciplines (RAAD) is a cross-disciplinary blended professional development model for middle school teachers (grades 7-8) in English Language Arts, science, and social studies. The program provides 5 days (32.5 hours) of face-to-face training delivered in two institutes (3-day summer Foundations Institute and 2-day winter Calibration Institute), monthly online Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings (approximately 7 hours per year), and monthly site-based school team meetings (approximately 8 hours per year) facilitated by Teacher Leaders. The professional development teaches teachers to integrate literacy instruction into subject-area teaching using the Reading Apprenticeship framework, which focuses on four dimensions: Social, Personal, Cognitive, and Knowledge-Building, supported by metacognitive conversations and extensive reading. Teachers learn to make reading processes visible, support student collaboration, provide explicit comprehension strategy instruction, and differentiate instruction. The model includes support from Regional Partners (local education organizations) and trained Teacher Leaders who facilitate monthly school team meetings. Teachers receive materials including Reading for Understanding text and online resources through Canvas platform.

2019

Cost per student

N/A

Pre-K Mathematics

Prekindergarten

Pre-K Mathematics is a pre-kindergarten mathematics curriculum designed for 4-year-old children from low-income families to address the socioeconomic gap in early mathematical knowledge. The intervention includes classroom small-group mathematics activities with concrete manipulatives conducted by teachers twice weekly (approximately 15-20 minutes per session) with groups of 4-6 children, covering six curriculum units: Counting and Number, Understanding Arithmetic Operations (Fall), Spatial Sense and Geometry, Patterns, Understanding Arithmetic Operations (Spring), and Measurement and Data. The curriculum also includes 16 home mathematics activities sent to parents throughout the year, a classroom math learning center, and supplemental math software (DLM Express) used at least once per week. Teachers receive intensive professional development including a 2-day introductory workshop, multi-day fall (4 days) and winter (3 days) workshops, and biweekly on-site support from curriculum coaches. The intervention uses a trainer-of-trainers model where internal facilitators are trained to support teachers' implementation with fidelity.

2012

10 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Reading Apprenticeship in High School Biology

9th Grade, 10th Grade

Reading Apprenticeship (RA) is a professional development program designed to help high school biology teachers integrate academic literacy instruction with biology coursework. The intervention involves 10 days of professional development (5 days in summer 2005, 2 follow-up days during the 2005-2006 school year, and 3 days in summer 2006) where teachers learn to integrate metacognitive inquiry into ongoing biology instruction. The approach makes explicit the tacit reasoning processes, strategies, and discourse rules that shape successful readers' and writers' work in science. Teachers learn to engage students in extensive reading, integrate explicit teaching of comprehension strategies, establish relevance and personal connections to reading materials, identify and use text structures to support comprehension, and support collaborative sense-making activities with written materials. The central dynamic is routine metacognitive conversation—talking about the reasoning and problem-solving processes that accompany reading as students carry out learning tasks in the biology curriculum. Teachers receive stipends for participation, travel expenses, and up to $200 for supplemental reading materials (science magazines, trade books, fiction, and non-fiction selections linked to biology topics).

2009

36 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Fusion

1st Grade

Fusion is a 60-lesson, Tier 2 first grade mathematics intervention aimed at building students' proficiency with critical concepts and skills of whole number, specifically for students at risk for mathematics learning disabilities. The intervention addresses mathematical content from two strands of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, and Number and Operations in Base Ten. Fusion is delivered in 30-minute, small group formats (either two or five students per interventionist), five days per week for approximately 12 weeks. The program uses scripted lessons incorporating explicit and systematic instruction, concrete-representational-abstract framework, mathematical models (base-ten blocks, number lines, place value charts), and frequent student practice opportunities with timely academic feedback. All interventionists participated in two 4-hour professional development workshops delivered by project staff prior to implementation, and received on average two coaching visits during implementation.

2022

Low

12 Weeks

Cost per student

$451.61

NURTURES

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

NURTURES is a professional development program for PreK-3 teachers that provides Framework-aligned science instruction training. The program is designed to improve teaching practices in early elementary science education, with the goal of enhancing student outcomes in science, mathematics, and reading. Teachers who participate in NURTURES receive training to deliver high-quality science instruction aligned with current educational frameworks. The program was implemented in 41 elementary schools in the Toledo Public School District and included parent support and community-wide science learning opportunities. Students could have had a NURTURES-trained teacher at any time between kindergarten and 3rd grade, with longitudinal effects measured up to 5 years after exposure.

2024

Cost per student

N/A

Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT)

6th Grade

Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a classroom management strategy for elementary school students that incorporates social skills instruction, group contingencies, praise, points, and group rewards. Teachers explicitly teach social skills (such as 'Follow directions the first time,' 'Get the teacher's attention correctly,' and 'Ignore inappropriate behavior') through repetition, role-plays, and discussions, with posters displayed in the classroom. The class is organized into teams, and during regular instruction, the teacher praises and awards points to groups exhibiting the social skills. A timer beeps every 3-5 minutes to prompt the teacher to award points. At the end of the lesson, groups that exceed a predetermined point goal receive simple rewards (tangible like stickers or nontangible like games). The teacher attended a 1-hour training session that included explanation of rationale, video clips, and practice opportunities, with ongoing support from research staff during initial implementation.

2017

Low

0.4 Weeks

Cost per student

$35.33

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