Explore · I4I

INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament

2014

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.

Kindergarten, 1st Grade

Dual-Language Immersion Programs

2017

Dual-language immersion programs provide native English speakers and English learners with general academic instruction in two languages from kindergarten onward. In Portland Public Schools, the programs operate in 11 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 5 high schools, offering instruction in Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, and Russian. Two-way programs follow a 90/10 model (90% partner language in kindergarten, decreasing by 10 percentage points per grade), while one-way programs follow a 50/50 model in elementary grades. Students are admitted through a district-wide lottery system. The study tracks seven cohorts of lottery applicants from kindergarten through eighth grade, examining effects on reading, mathematics, and science test scores, as well as English learner reclassification.

Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

Instructional Conversation (IC)

2018

Instructional Conversation (IC) is a pedagogical intervention that is part of the Center for Research on Excellence and Diversity in Education (CREDE) framework. The IC model uses small group discussions (3-7 students) lasting about 20 minutes with clear instructional goals. Teachers lead through topic control while students regulate their own speaking turns. The intervention integrates five CREDE standards: joint productive activity, language and literacy development, contextualization, teaching complex thinking, and teaching through instructional conversations. Teachers implement IC discussions 1-2 times weekly, averaging 30 minutes per session, across content areas including reading, science, math, social studies, and English language arts. The model is designed for all students, particularly English language learners, and requires teachers to complete a 100-hour professional development program before implementation.

3rd Grade, 5th Grade

Robust Academic Vocabulary Encounters (RAVE)

2018

Robust Academic Vocabulary Encounters (RAVE) is an academic vocabulary intervention designed for sixth and seventh grade students. The program teaches general academic words from the Academic Word List through scripted daily lessons delivered in 10-20 minute sessions over approximately 22 weeks. RAVE provides instruction on 99 words in sixth grade and 96 words in seventh grade. Each word is introduced through two authentic contexts displaying multiple senses, a core-meaning definition, and prompts to integrate word meaning with context. Follow-up activities promote active processing through varied contexts, semantic feature analysis, rapid recognition tasks, and writing. The program includes morphology instruction focused on Latin roots, with lessons teaching 18 roots in sixth grade and 16 in seventh grade. Teachers receive notebooks with all scripted lessons and suggested language. Students receive notebooks with contexts, definitions, activity pages, and a glossary. The program was implemented by classroom reading teachers as part of their 90-minute (sixth grade) or 50-minute (seventh grade) reading/language arts block.

6th Grade, 7th Grade

Double Check

2018

Double Check is a professional development and coaching intervention designed to promote culturally responsive classroom management and student engagement in elementary and middle schools. The model includes three core components: (1) augmentations to Tier 1 School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SW-PBIS), (2) five 60-minute professional development trainings addressing five core domains of culturally responsive practices (CARES: connection to curriculum, authentic relationships, reflective thinking, effective communication, and sensitivity to students' culture), and (3) individual classroom coaching using an adapted version of the Classroom Check-Up (CCU). The coaching involves a structured five-step process including initial rapport building through interviews, data collection via teacher surveys and classroom observations, feedback to teachers, collaborative goal setting, and implementation with progress monitoring and follow-up. The intervention uses motivational interviewing techniques throughout the coaching process. All school staff participate in the professional development, while a subset of teachers receive individualized coaching support. The model aims to reduce disproportionality in office discipline referrals, suspensions, and special education referrals among students of color, particularly Black students, while improving overall classroom management practices and student engagement.

1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

Team-Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS)

2018

Team-Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) is a professional development intervention designed for elementary school positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) teams. The program consists of a 6-hour workshop coupled with two coached meetings that teach teams to use evidence-based meeting foundations and problem-solving processes. Teams learn to assign roles and responsibilities, use structured meeting minutes, identify problems with precision using data from the School-Wide Information System (SWIS), develop actionable goal-oriented solutions, define action plans, assess implementation fidelity, and assess impact on student outcomes. The intervention is delivered to school teams (averaging 9 members including teachers, administrators, and related services professionals) who meet at least monthly. Prior to the workshop, district PBIS coaches receive 3 hours of coaching training. Following the workshop, coaches provide technical assistance during the team's first two post-TIPS meetings.

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

e-Book Vocabulary Instruction

2018

e-Book Vocabulary Instruction is an intensive vocabulary intervention embedded in e-books designed for kindergarten and first-grade Spanish-English speaking English learners from low-socioeconomic status backgrounds. The intervention includes scaffolding through explanations in Spanish, repetition in English, checks for understanding, and highlighted morphology. Students receive e-book readings approximately 3 times a week for 10-20 weeks using the same books. The intervention targets four English words per book through multiple exposures with consistent components: preview of target words in English and Spanish, expansion with bridging provided in Spanish and English, visual representation of the target word's function, a word map with tiered support including visuals, nonexamples, and morphology highlights, and a final review. Treatment sessions are approximately 25 minutes in length. The intervention is delivered via computer-assisted technology, allowing monolingual English-speaking educational personnel to implement it using prerecorded audio files in e-books. Implementation can occur in small groups within or outside the classroom during a 15-20 minute dosage across 20 weeks.

Kindergarten, 1st Grade

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

2018

Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a multitiered classroom behavior management intervention for elementary students, implemented in art classrooms in this study. The intervention targets students exhibiting disruptive behavior and aims to improve on-task behavior. CW-FIT is delivered through face-to-face instruction in art classes meeting 1-2 times per week for 30-60 minutes. Tier 1 includes: (1) teaching three social skills (following directions the first time, getting the teacher's attention the right way, ignoring others' inappropriate behavior) through 10-15 minute lessons with direct instruction, discussion, and role-play over 3 weeks; (2) organizing students into teams of 3-4 members; (3) using a timer set at 3-5 minute intervals; (4) awarding points and behavior-specific praise to teams displaying social skills; and (5) providing group rewards (tangible items like candy/pencils/toys or experiential activities) to teams meeting daily point goals. Tier 2 adds self-management charts for students not responding to Tier 1. Teachers received a 2-hour initial training session with a 30-minute booster session, plus brief consultation (10-15 minutes total) during implementation. Social skills posters are displayed throughout implementation.

3rd Grade, 5th Grade

ROOTS

2017

ROOTS is a 50-lesson Tier 2 kindergarten mathematics intervention curriculum designed to support students' conceptual understanding of and procedural fluency with critical whole number concepts. The intervention targets kindergarten students at risk for mathematics difficulties and is fully aligned to the kindergarten Common Core State Standards in the area of number and operations. ROOTS is delivered in 20-minute small group sessions (two or five students) 5 days per week for approximately 10 weeks. The instruction emphasizes concepts from the Counting & Cardinality and Operations & Algebraic Thinking domains and employs explicit and systematic mathematics instruction principles, including explicit teacher modeling, deliberate practice, visual representations of mathematics, and academic feedback. All interventionists participated in two 5-hour professional development workshops and received between two and four coaching visits during implementation.

Kindergarten

ASSISTments

2016

ASSISTments is a web-based online mathematics homework platform for seventh-grade students that provides timely feedback and hints to students as they complete homework problems and gives teachers organized information about students' work. The platform includes two types of content: (1) homework problems from textbooks that teachers already use, and (2) skill builders for mastery-oriented practice covering over 300 middle school math topics. Students work on assigned problem sets online, receiving immediate correctness feedback and guidance when available. Teachers receive reports showing student performance on each problem, including common wrong answers, displayed in a color-coded grid format. The intervention requires teachers to participate in professional development training (3 days in the summer before implementation, approximately 6 hours across three classroom visits from a coach during the first year, and 2 days in the summer between years one and two). Teachers use the platform throughout a full school year with all seventh-grade students, assigning homework in accordance with existing school policies.

7th Grade