Explore · I4I

Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills (HOPS) and Completing Homework by Improving Efficiency and Focus (CHIEF)

2017

Two brief school-based interventions targeting homework problems in middle school students with ADHD. HOPS focuses on organization and planning skills including materials organization (bookbag, binder, locker systems), homework recording in a planner, and time-management/planning for projects and tests. CHIEF focuses on improving focus and efficiency during homework completion through structured work sessions with behavioral monitoring, work completion goals, and a token/points system. Both interventions consist of 16 individual sessions (20 minutes or less each) delivered twice weekly for the first 10 sessions, then once weekly for the final 6 sessions, completed over 11 weeks. Students are pulled from elective periods during the school day. Both include two 1-hour parent meetings to teach parents monitoring and reward strategies. School mental health providers with master's degrees in counseling deliver the interventions after receiving manuals and two 1-hour training meetings, with no ongoing supervision.

Rural Math Excel Partnership (RMEP) Project

2016

The Rural Math Excel Partnership (RMEP) Project is a model of shared responsibility among families, teachers, and communities in rural Virginia areas designed to prepare students for success in advanced high school and postsecondary STEM studies. The program targets students in Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Algebra Functions and Data Analysis (AFDA) courses across 14 schools in six rural Local Education Agencies. Core components include: (1) a gap analysis and development of a Math Advanced Study (MAS) guide that identifies essential math competencies for STEM workforce readiness, (2) professional development and ongoing coaching for participating teachers, (3) Family Math Nights conducted by teachers to engage parents, (4) a project website and social media presence providing resources, (5) community-based STEM career events, and (6) technology access including tablets and broadband internet for students to complete online video homework assignments through Khan Academy via the MARi platform. The intervention was implemented from 2013-2015, with full implementation occurring in fall 2015 when the project focused on 24 high-implementing teachers. Teachers assign instructional videos as homework to help students master foundational math competencies needed for STEM careers.

7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade

Ethnic Studies Curriculum

2016

The Ethnic Studies curriculum is a year-long, ninth-grade course implemented in San Francisco Unified School District high schools. The course focuses on the experiences, perspectives, and histories of traditionally underrepresented ethnic and racial groups, emphasizing themes of social justice, discrimination, stereotypes, and social movements from U.S. history spanning the late 18th century until the 1970s. Students explore their individual identity, family history, and community history, and are required to design and implement service-learning projects based on their study of their local community. The course uses culturally relevant pedagogy to engage students who have previously felt marginalized by traditional curriculum. Students with eighth-grade GPAs below 2.0 were automatically enrolled in the course when they received their course schedule at the start of their ninth-grade year, though they could opt out after consulting with their academic counselor. The curriculum was developed over two years (2007-2009) by ten SFUSD social studies teachers forming the "Ethnic Studies Curriculum Collective" with support from faculty at San Francisco State University's College of Ethnic Studies.

9th Grade

Multi-Component Consultation

2017

Multi-Component Consultation is a consultation package designed for elementary school teachers to improve their classroom management skills and implementation of behavioral interventions, specifically targeting teachers with lower baseline levels of knowledge, skills, and intervention-supportive beliefs. Teachers receive up to eight biweekly consultation sessions (averaging 38 minutes each) focused on general classroom management strategies (labeled praise, use of rules, effective instructions, appropriate response to rule violations) and implementation of a daily report card (DRC) intervention with one target student with or at-risk for ADHD. The intervention is delivered through face-to-face consultation sessions conducted during, before, or after school. The multi-component package includes: (1) an initial 3-hour workshop on ADHD, general classroom management, and DRC; (2) a knowledge component with fact sheets titled 'News You Can Use' provided one week prior to each session; (3) a skills component involving role plays, skills practice, observation of video models, and enhanced performance feedback with graphs of student progress and implementation procedures; and (4) a beliefs component using motivational interviewing techniques and cognitive behavioral strategies to identify and modify teacher beliefs that may serve as barriers to implementation. Facilitators are post-doctoral fellows, master's level clinicians, or graduate students in psychology who attend a 3-day training and receive ongoing supervision.

Kindergarten 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade

Building Blocks Software Suite

2016

Building Blocks is a mathematics software program designed to develop understanding and skill fluency in numeracy and geometry for children ages 4-9. The software includes more than 200 activities organized into topical learning trajectories based on research. For this study, only numeracy games were used, targeting skills like counting, comparing and ordering numbers, subitizing, composing numbers, and arithmetic operations. Students worked individually on computers during designated computer lab time, receiving 90 minutes of computer-assisted instruction per week for 21 weeks (spread across 30 calendar weeks). The software is adaptive, adjusting difficulty levels based on individual student performance, and allows students to move between games independently. Three research assistants supervised sessions to provide technical assistance and behavioral support.

Kindergarten

Parent Engagement Project (PEP)

2017

The Parent Engagement Project (PEP) is a school-based intervention designed to improve pupil outcomes by engaging parents in their children's learning through text messages. The intervention targets secondary school students in Years 7, 9, and 11 (ages 11-16) across English, mathematics, and science subjects. Text messages are sent to parents via existing school communication systems (such as Schoolcomms) to inform them about upcoming tests (4 days and 1 day in advance), missing homework (automated alerts), and what their child learned in lessons (conversational prompts sent on a three-weekly rotation between subjects). Parents receive approximately 30 texts over the academic year (intended to be 65). The program is delivered universally to all students within the selected Key Stage group. Teachers attend 1.5 days of training (one full day in September and half-day in January). During the trial, research assistants from the project delivery team coordinated text sending by liaising with school project liaison officers, obtaining test dates and conversation prompts from heads of department, and encouraging use of missing homework texting tools.

7th Grade 9th Grade 11th Grade

Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy and Xtreme Reading

2008

Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy (designed by WestEd) and Xtreme Reading (designed by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning) are supplemental literacy programs designed as full-year courses for ninth-grade students reading two or more years below grade level. Both programs replace a ninth-grade elective class and aim to help students adopt strategies used by proficient readers, improve comprehension skills, and increase motivation to read. The programs meet for a minimum of 225 minutes per week in classes of 12-15 students. Reading Apprenticeship uses 'flexible fidelity' with teachers adapting lessons to student needs while maintaining program themes. Xtreme Reading follows prescribed daily lesson plans with structured activities. Both programs received five-day summer training institutes, booster training sessions during the school year, and minimum two one-day coaching visits. Teachers were experienced English/language arts or social studies teachers with an average of over 11 years of teaching experience.

9th Grade

Passport to Literacy

2017

Passport to Literacy is a year-long supplemental reading intervention for fourth-grade students with reading comprehension difficulties (scoring at or below the 30th percentile). The program provides multi-component reading instruction delivered in small groups of 4-7 students for 30-minute sessions, 4 days per week throughout the school year (up to 120 lessons). Each lesson includes an Adventure Starter activity (3-5 minutes) to build background knowledge, followed by two major components: Word Works (word study teaching students to decode multisyllabic words using affixes, roots, and syllabication strategies, with more intensive instruction in the first six weeks) and Read to Understand (teaching vocabulary, comprehension skills and strategies for fiction and non-fiction texts, including previewing, text structure, making inferences, summarizing, and questioning). Interventionists require approximately 8 hours of training over two days, with ongoing twice-monthly coaching visits and monthly meetings to ensure fidelity.

4th Grade

Achieve3000

2016

Achieve3000 is an early literacy program that differentiates non-fiction reading passages based on individual students' Lexile scores. The program uses computer-based applications (including KidBiz3000 for elementary students) that administer assessments to establish baseline Lexile levels, then expose students to adaptive reading passages aligned to their Lexile levels that adjust based on end-of-lesson assessments. Students follow a five-step procedure for each activity: (1) take a poll and respond through email; (2) read a non-fiction article aligned with their Lexile level; (3) complete multiple choice questions; (4) vote in a post-reading poll; and (5) answer a "Thought Question." The program was implemented in 16 elementary schools in Wake County Public School System for grades 2-5, with students using the program twice weekly for 30 minutes, aiming to complete 80 activities annually. The intervention targets students receiving core instruction to help increase reading proficiency.

2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade

Four Reading Interventions: Corrective Reading, Failure Free Reading, Spell Read P.A.T., and Wilson Reading

2006

This study evaluates four widely used remedial reading programs for struggling readers in grades 3 and 5: Corrective Reading, Failure Free Reading, Spell Read P.A.T., and Wilson Reading. The interventions were delivered as pull-out programs in small groups of three students, meeting five days per week for approximately 50-minute sessions from November 2003 through May 2004, totaling about 90 hours of instruction on average. Three interventions (Corrective Reading, Spell Read P.A.T., and Wilson Reading) focus primarily on word-level skills including phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, and reading fluency through systematic and explicit instruction. Failure Free Reading focuses on building sight vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension through computer-based lessons, workbook exercises, and teacher-led instruction. Teachers were recruited from participating schools and received approximately 70 hours of professional development and support during the implementation year, including 30 hours of initial intensive training, 24 hours during a practice period, and 14 hours of supervision during the intervention phase.

3rd Grade 5th Grade