Find the best evidence-based interventions for your students

Word Learning Strategies (WLS)

4th Grade

Word Learning Strategies (WLS) is a supplementary curriculum designed to develop upper-elementary students' vocabulary acquisition skills to improve reading comprehension, particularly for English learners and students from low-income backgrounds. The program teaches students to use context clues, word parts, and dictionaries to learn the meanings of unknown words, with Spanish-speaking English learners receiving additional instruction in using cognates and all English learners receiving instruction in recognizing idioms. WLS provides 15 weeks of whole-class instruction delivered three days per week for about 30 minutes per day, plus additional web-based remedial lessons for students who need more practice, three web-based lessons on Spanish cognates for Spanish-speaking English learner students, and three web-based lessons on idioms for all English learners. The program uses teacher-led direct explanation with constructivist elements and includes online tutorials and videos to prepare teachers, a detailed teacher manual with day-by-day lesson plans, presentation materials, student activity books, quizzes, and tests. Teachers participated in approximately 3 hours of professional development provided by WestEd before implementation.

2019

Low

9 Weeks

Cost per student

$119.12

Targeted Intensive School Support (TISS) Program

3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

Targeted Intensive School Support (TISS) is a team-based leadership development and coaching intervention designed for struggling NYC Department of Education schools. The program draws principals from NYC Leadership Academy's Aspiring Principals Program (APP) and assistant principals from the Leadership Advancement Program (LAP), matching them as like-minded partners during preservice training. TISS aims to coplace these principal-AP teams into high-needs schools and provide 328 hours of coaching over three years (compared to the typical 72 hours in year one). The coaching is team-based, with at least 30% of hours supporting the broader leadership team beyond just the principal. A diagnostic process helps leaders identify school priorities through data review and evidence analysis, which then informs goal-setting and coaching focus. Coaches receive specialized training in team-based coaching strategies. The program targets elementary, middle, and high schools serving predominantly minority and economically disadvantaged student populations.

2020

Cost per student

N/A

Science Notebook in a Universal Design for Learning Environment

4th Grade

The Science Notebook in a Universal Design for Learning Environment (SNUDLE) is a digital notebook designed for fourth-grade elementary school students, particularly those who struggle with reading and writing or are unmotivated to learn science. SNUDLE uses the Universal Design for Learning framework to support active science learning through built-in accessibility features including text-to-speech technology with real-time highlighting, word-by-word English-to-Spanish translation, keyboard-accessible actions, and a multimedia glossary. The digital platform provides students space to collect, organize, and display observations and data; reflect on inquiry experiences; and demonstrate understanding through text answers, data tables, photo uploads, and drawing tools. Teachers provide formative, interactive feedback on student work through the platform. The intervention is implemented in inclusive general education science classrooms using the district's STEMscopes curriculum. Teachers received training on using SNUDLE before implementation.

2019

36 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Higher Achievement

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

Higher Achievement is an intensive summer and after-school program for students in grades 5-8 in under-resourced schools. Students enter during the summer before fifth or sixth grade and commit to attending through eighth grade. The program offers more than 500 hours of academic enrichment annually through Achievement Centers hosted in select middle schools. During the school year, the Afterschool Academy operates three days a week (3:30-7:30 p.m.) for 25 weeks, providing homework help/study hall, dinner, enrichment activities, and 75-minute English Language Arts (ELA) or math lessons delivered by trained volunteer mentors to small groups of 3-4 scholars. The six-week Summer Academy offers eight-hour days with morning academic instruction in ELA, math, science, and sometimes social studies delivered by certified or student teachers, followed by afternoon enrichment electives and field trips. The program is overseen by a full-time center director and assistant director at each center. Higher Achievement uses detailed, scripted lesson plans aligned with Common Core standards and focuses on four social justice themes: freedom, voice, solidarity, and justice.

2020

21 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Rural Math Innovation Network (RMIN)

8th Grade, 9th Grade

Rural Math Innovation Network (RMIN) is a professional development intervention for Pre-Algebra and Algebra I teachers in rural Virginia school districts. The program uses a networked improvement community (NIC) model where teachers collaborate to incorporate social-emotional learning (SEL) factors—specifically academic self-efficacy and growth mindset—into lesson plans for teaching career-readiness math competencies. Teachers participate in the NIC to innovate and implement SEL-integrated math lessons. The intervention was implemented over multiple years (2017-2019) with cohorts of middle and high school math teachers across rural school divisions in southwest and southside Virginia. Teachers received supports to develop SEL math lessons and establish technology capacity for lesson development and implementation.

2020

Cost per student

N/A

Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC)

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

Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) is a professional development program that supports teachers in implementing Common Core State Standards by integrating literacy skill development throughout content areas. The program focuses on developing teacher competencies through job-embedded professional development and professional learning communities (PLCs). Teachers work collaboratively with coaches to design standards-driven, literacy-rich writing assignments within their existing curricula across all content areas. The intervention targets K-12 teachers and students, with implementation occurring through regular PLC meetings (typically weekly or biweekly for 45-60 minutes), where teachers learn to create and adapt LDC modules—instructional units that include a culminating writing assignment. Teachers access online resources through the CoreTools platform, receive virtual coaching support via Zoom meetings and written feedback, and participate in in-person professional development sessions. The program expects teachers to adapt two existing modules and create one module from scratch during the school year, then implement at least two modules in their classrooms.

2019

36 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC)

3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) is a professional development program created in 2009 to support teachers in implementing Common Core State Standards by integrating literacy skill development throughout content areas. The program uses a teacher-designed framework with online tools and resources for creating literacy-rich assignments and courses across content areas. Implementation involves teachers participating in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) that meet regularly with coach support, where they engage with online course content (LEARN modules), create or adapt LDC modules (standards-embedded performance tasks with instructional plans), and implement these modules in their classrooms. Teachers receive both synchronous support through PLC meetings and asynchronous support through written feedback on their work in the CoreTools platform. The program requires substantial time commitment including weekly PLC meetings typically lasting 45-60 minutes, engagement with online professional development content, module creation/adaptation, and classroom implementation of modules. School administrators and teacher leaders also participate in quarterly in-person meetings and monthly planning calls with coaches.

2020

36 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Get the Picture?! Guiding and Engaging Exceptional Teens

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

Get the Picture?! is a multi-layered initiative designed to build capacity in both adults and students within schools to increase college and career readiness for students with disabilities. Each student with disabilities in treatment schools receives one-on-one support through a school-based Career Strategist, meeting at least weekly to monitor the student's Individual Learning Plan, which focuses on college and/or career readiness with realistic goals and action steps for life after high school. The Career Strategist works with the student to ensure the student's aspirations and aptitudes inform their personalized career pathways, and that coursework supports and aligns to their career plan. Each treatment school also has a school-based Support Team—including College/Career Readiness (CCR) Coaches, Lead Career Strategist, Career Strategist, special education teachers, and counselors—that coordinates and monitors one-on-one work and student-to-strategist matches. The school-based Support Team meets at least four times per academic year to make data-driven decisions to support college and career readiness for all students with disabilities. CCR Coaches provide CCR-focused instruction to students while supporting strategists and other educators, working directly in participating schools providing ongoing, embedded support and modeling.

2020

144 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

Making Sense of SCIENCE

4th Grade, 5th Grade

Making Sense of SCIENCE is a professional learning model for elementary school teachers (grades 4-5) aimed at raising students' science achievement in Earth and space science and physical science through improving science instruction. The model focuses on connections between science understanding, classroom practice, and literacy integration to support implementation of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The professional learning consists of six components delivered over two years: site coordinator professional learning, Leadership Cadre professional learning, administrator professional learning, and teacher professional learning (including 35-hour summer courses each year and 12 hours of school-year Professional Learning Community meetings each year). Teachers participate in courses focused on Dynamic Earth (Year 1) and Planet Earth (Year 2), which emphasize three-dimensional learning (Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, and Crosscutting Concepts) aligned with NGSS. The model requires building leadership capacity at school and district levels, with site coordinators, Leadership Cadre members (including teacher leaders and district staff), and administrators receiving targeted professional development to support teachers and implementation.

2020

Cost per student

N/A

Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR)

9th Grade

The Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) model is a comprehensive, strength-based approach for ninth-grade students that aims to improve achievement by improving a school's effectiveness at building relationships, leveraging real-time student data, and capitalizing on student strengths. BARR divides incoming ninth graders into distinct blocks who share the same teachers for at least three core subjects (English language arts, mathematics, science, and/or social studies). Teachers work together as teams in weekly block meetings to promote student success, building on student assets and addressing academic and nonacademic risks. The model includes eight strategies: focusing on the whole student, providing professional development for teachers/counselors/administrators, using I-Time curriculum for social-emotional learning, creating student cohorts, holding regular teacher team meetings, conducting risk review meetings, engaging families, and engaging administrators. Implementation is supported by a BARR coordinator (50-100% time commitment) and includes in-situation coaching, phone support, quarterly mentoring visits, and semiannual program meetings.

2018

36 Weeks

Cost per student

N/A

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