Explore · I4I

Non-Academic Area

Key Communities: Supporting Student Success by Mitigating the Negative Effects of Lower Academic Preparation and At-Risk Attributes on Graduation and Retention

Key Communities is a program designed to restructure the first-year experience for students from historically underrepresented populations at Colorado State University. The program creates a community with frequent and rewarding contact among faculty, staff, and students in a variety of settings, both inside and outside the classroom, to foster academic integration, personal and social integration, and cultural integration. Key Communities has five communities: Key Academic; Key Culture, Communication, and Sport; Key Explore; Key Health Professions; and Key Service, each with 75-150 students, and is further organized into smaller clusters of 19 students. The program also employs strategies such as a comprehensive recruitment process, a two-day orientation, a shared residential experience, integrated course clusters, and a leadership and staffing model that includes undergraduate Key mentors, full-time Key coordinators, and Key seminar faculty.

Postsecondary

Published: 2014

Problem Based Economics: Teaching High School Students Economic Content and Problem-Solving Skills

Problem Based Economics is a curriculum that integrates problem-based learning with economics instruction to strengthen both content knowledge and problem-solving skills in high school students. The curriculum includes five modules that each take up a particular problem or challenge requiring economic exploration and analysis. The modules are designed to be used with a specific pedagogical strategy that involves a structured approach to problem-solving, including entry, problem framing, knowledge inventory, problem research and resources, problem twist, problem log, problem exit, and problem debriefing. Teachers are provided with professional development and ongoing support to implement the curriculum, including a five-day workshop and follow-up conference calls. The curriculum is designed to be used in a high school economics class, and the study tested its effectiveness in improving student content knowledge and problem-solving skills in economics.

Eleventh Grade Twelfth Grade

Published: 2010

Math

Building Blocks software: Improving Mathematics Learning of Kindergarten Students Through Computer-Assisted Instruction

The Building Blocks mathematics program is a comprehensive program that includes a teacher's edition, assessment and resource guides, manipulatives, "big books," and a software suite. It is intended to target the development of mathematical understanding and skills in young children, particularly those from low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Kindergarten

Published: 2016

Art & Music

Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT): Improving Student Behavior in Elementary School Music Classrooms

Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a classroom management strategy that incorporates social skills instruction, group contingencies, praise, points, and group rewards to target student behavior in an elementary school music classroom. CW-FIT involves organizing the class into groups or teams, praising and awarding points to groups that exhibit social skills and participate appropriately in class lessons, and providing rewards to groups that meet a predetermined point goal. The teacher introduces one social skill per class period, reviews the skills with the students at the beginning of each class, and displays social skills posters in the room for reference.

Sixth Grade

Published: 2017

Non-Academic Area

Double Check Coaching of Classroom Teachers: Reducing Exclusionary Disciplinary Practices and Promoting Cultural Responsivity and Student Engagement

Double Check Coaching

Sixth Grade Seventh Grade Eighth Grade

Published: 2018

Non-Academic Area

ALAS: Providing Support and Follow-up to Students at Risk of Dropping Out

ALAS (Achievement for Latinos through Academic Success) is a program intended to target students identified as at risk of dropping out of school due to low academic performance and behavior problems. ALAS provides students with support and follow-up across multiple years of program participation. The program consists of six related strategies: monitoring attendance, improving student social and task-related problem-solving skills, connecting students and families with community services, providing follow-up instruction on behavior change, and delivering the ALAS Resilience Builder curriculum. ALAS is delivered on the school campus by a team of supervisors, counselors/mentors, volunteers, and clerical staff.