Find the best evidence-based interventions for your students

Working Memory Training With and Without Strategy Instruction

1st Grade

Working Memory Training With and Without Strategy Instruction is a verbal working memory training program designed for first-grade students at risk for learning difficulties. The intervention involves one-on-one sessions where students complete four verbal working memory tasks (Counting Figures, Calculation Span, Operation Span, and Puzzles) in 35-minute daily sessions over 10 consecutive school days (totaling 5.8 hours). Two versions exist: one with explicit rehearsal strategy instruction where students are taught to verbally rehearse information aloud repeatedly, and one without strategy instruction where students simply practice the tasks. The training uses adaptive difficulty matched to students' performance and includes points and small prizes for engagement. Research assistants deliver the intervention following scripted protocols.

2017

Moderate

2 Weeks

Cost per student

$522.09

Literacy Learning Cohorts

3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade

Literacy Learning Cohorts (LLC) is a professional development innovation designed to improve special education teachers' content and pedagogical knowledge for providing reading instruction to upper elementary students with learning disabilities. The LLC targets students in grades 3-5 with learning disabilities and focuses on word study (decoding and structural analysis) and fluency instruction. The intervention is delivered through a comprehensive professional development model that includes a 2-day initial institute, six monthly cohort meetings (small groups of 5-6 teachers led by expert coaches), four classroom observations with individualized coaching and video self-reflection, and resource materials including a manual and book. Teachers receive support in implementing evidence-based strategies for teaching syllable types, decoding rules for multisyllabic words, structural analysis, and fluency strategies such as repeated reading. The PD model emphasizes active learning, collective participation, content focus, sufficient duration, coherence with teachers' curriculum and goals, and individualized support based on teacher need.

2017

36 Weeks

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

Peer-Mediated Incremental Rehearsal (PMIR)

2nd Grade, 3rd Grade

Peer-Mediated Incremental Rehearsal (PMIR) is an intervention designed to teach high-frequency words to English Language Learner (ELL) students in second and third grade who need additional reading support. PMIR uses peer tutors (high-achieving third-grade students with well-developed English proficiency) to deliver incremental rehearsal instruction in small groups (1:1 peer tutor to target student ratio). The intervention involves teaching unknown words interspersed with known words using flashcards. Each session teaches three unknown words, with each unknown word rehearsed alongside seven known words following a specific sequence. Peer tutors provide direct instruction by introducing unknown words, prompting students to read them, and providing immediate corrective feedback when errors occur. Sessions occur approximately three times per week and last about 10 minutes per student. Before implementation, peer tutors receive three to four 20-minute training sessions from graduate assistants to learn the intervention procedures, including how to introduce words, provide corrective feedback, and manage the interspersal sequence. The intervention uses 3×5-inch index cards with words written in black marker on the front and color-coded on the back (red for unknown, green for known words). Graduate assistants also assess students' oral reading fluency at the start of each session using AIMSweb reading curriculum-based measures.

2017

Cost per student

N/A

Twelve Together

8th Grade

Twelve Together is a one-year peer support and mentoring program for middle and early high school students. The program offers weekly after-school discussion groups led by two trained volunteer adult facilitators. Each peer discussion group consists of about 12 participants, who are a mix of students at high risk of academic failure and others at lower academic risk. Group discussions are based on student interest, usually focusing on personal, family, and social issues. The program also offers homework assistance, trips to college campuses, and an annual weekend retreat. To promote group cohesion and develop teamwork skills, the program begins with a weekend camping outing. Facilitators are usually college students who volunteer their time.

2007

36 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament

Kindergarten, 1st Grade

INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament is a comprehensive temperament-based intervention for kindergarten and first-grade students, particularly those at risk for academic and behavioral difficulties in low-income urban schools. The program includes three integrated components: teacher sessions, parent sessions, and classroom sessions. Teachers and parents attend 10 two-hour facilitated sessions (one joint session, others separate) where they learn to recognize children's temperament based on four empirically derived typologies (including 'Coretta the Cautious' for shy children), reframe perceptions positively, and select temperament-responsive strategies like the scaffold-and-stretch approach. The classroom component consists of 10 weekly 45-minute lessons delivered to students, using puppets representing the four temperament types, workbooks, flash cards, and videotaped vignettes to teach empathy and problem-solving skills. Students learn to understand their own temperamental strengths and challenges and practice resolving dilemmas. The intervention aims to enhance goodness of fit between children's temperaments and their classroom environments.

2014

10 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

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

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

Reading Recovery

1st Grade

Reading Recovery is a supplemental pull-out intervention for struggling first-grade readers, delivered during the regular school day (but not during regular classroom literacy instruction). The program consists of daily, 30-minute, one-to-one instructional sessions delivered by highly trained teachers for 12 to 20 weeks. Reading Recovery teachers participate in a yearlong graduate course taught by a teacher leader, receive on-site coaching, and participate in "behind-the-glass" training sessions where observers offer feedback on lessons taught in real time behind a two-way mirror. During sessions, teachers carefully observe students' literacy behaviors, identify specific learning needs, and tailor instruction in response to students' progress. Each lesson follows a prescribed structure: students reread familiar books, work on letter/word recognition activities, compose a brief story, assemble a cut-up story, and practice reading a new book. The goal is to equip students with literacy strategies applicable in the regular classroom, allowing them to continue developing as readers after the intervention ends.

2018

High

12 Weeks

Cost per student

$1,506.02

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