School Connectedness and Academic Engagement: Evidence-Based Programs
The following program descriptions were compiled from various sources including
government databases (Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration,
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Education), the
websites of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, the
Prevention Research Center at Penn State, promisingpractices.net, and individual
program websites. Program information was also drawn from two books:
1) Osher, D., Dwyer, K., Jackson, S. (2003). Safe, Supportive, and Successful Schools:
Step by Step. Longmont, CO: Sopris West and 2) National Research Council and the
Institute of Medicine. (2004). Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students'
Motivation to Learn. Committee on Increasing High School Students' Engagments and
Motivation to Learn. Board on Children, Youth, and Families, Division of Behavioral and
Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Aggression Replacement Training
Aggression Replacement Training® (ART®) is a psychoeducational intervention
designed to alter the behavior of chronically aggressive adolescents and young children
and improve classroom management. The program incorporates three specific
interventions: skill-streaming, anger-control training, and training in moral reasoning.
Skill-streaming uses modeling, role-playing, performance feedback, and transfer training
to teach prosocial skills. In anger-control training, participating youths must bring to each
session one or more descriptions of recent anger-arousing experiences (hassles), and over
the duration of the program they are trained in how to respond to their hassles. Training
in moral reasoning is designed to enhance youths’ sense of fairness and justice regarding
the needs and rights of others and to train youths to imagine the perspectives of others
when they confront various moral problem situations. The program consists of a 10week, 30-hour intervention administered to groups of 8 to 12 juvenile offenders thrice
weekly. The program relies on repetitive learning techniques to teach participants to
control impulsiveness and anger and use more appropriate behaviors. In addition, guided
group discussion is used to correct antisocial thinking. ART® has been implemented in
school, delinquency, and mental health settings. The ART® program has been evaluated
in several studies, on a special population – incarcerated youth. The findings reveal
ART® to be an effective intervention – it enhanced prosocial skill competency and overt
prosocial behavior, reduced the level of rated impulsiveness, improved in-community
functioning, and reduced re-arrest and felony recidivism.
http://artgang0.tripod.com/prod01.htm
America’s Choice
America’s choice is a school reform model with the goal to achieve international
benchmarks in English, language arts and math. The program has designs for elementary,
K-8, middle, and high schools and has been implemented in 500 schools in 15 states.
The program focuses on several key areas: Standards and Assessments: America's Choice
schools have high expectations for all students and communicate those expectations
through explicit performance standards that are carefully aligned to assessments. All
students take college-prep classes. Schools have a School-to-Career Coach and a
Community Coordinator. Aligned Instructional Systems: Students use powerful
standards-based curriculum and instructional strategies/pedagogical techniques that build
key skills, convey core concepts and enable all students to apply what they know. There
are many levels of safety nets for students who are struggling academically, such as
tutoring and increased coursework in the areas of deficiency. Teachers use rituals and
routines to manage classrooms. High-Performance Management, Leadership and
Organization: School leadership teams build the capacity of faculty to implement every
component of the design. The teams also learn how to think strategically, use data
effectively, build strong faculty teams, and create small, supportive learning communities
for students. Teachers receive extensive training and ongoing assistance in implementing
the design. At the secondary level, there are interdisciplinary faculty groups.
Parent/Guardian and Community Involvement: America's Choice schools use a variety of
strategies to draw parents/guardians and communities into the educational lives of
children. One method involves a school-home notebook to communicate with parents.
Small learning communities: At the high-school level the school is divided into two. The
Lower Division (9th-10th gd.) is further divided into houses of 200-400 students, and then
divided into classes. Students take all the required programs within each house, class
teachers follow the students for the two years, and serve as their faculty advisors. In the
Upper Division students have the opportunity to choose from several programs to match
their career and academic goals. All students are expected to have the skills required to
attend college. In Kentucky, 74% of America’s Choice schools met/exceeded state
performance goals. In Chicago, 80% of participating schools showed a significant
increase in standardized exam scores and between 25% and 50% of students improved
from the lowest category of achievement into a higher one.
http://www.ncee.org/acsd/index.jsp?setProtocol=true
ATLAS Communities
The Authentic Teaching, Learning, and Assessment for All Students (ATLAS), a
comprehensive school reform design, was formed in 1992 as a partnership of school
reform organizations: the Education Development Center in Boston, the Coalition of
Essential Schools at Brown, Project Zero at Harvard, and the School Development
Program at Yale. It draws from the research base of each organization, on student
assessments, professional development, curriculum development, multiple intelligences
and authentic assessments, family involvement, school climate, and management and
decision making. ATLAS works to coordinate the “pathway,” or feeder patterns of
elementary, middle, and high schools to provide continuity: each ATLAS community can
be thought of as a single school housed on several campuses. Some features of the design
include: innovative, challenging learning experiences from PreK-12 aligned with state
and local standards, students master skills and content by completing meaningful
individual and team projects, and gain a deep understanding of their world. Assessment is
directly linked to the type of teaching and learning taking place in the classroom and to
state content and performance standards. ATLAS promotes multiple student assessment
measures: state assessments, standardized tests, diagnostic tests, and examination of
student work through internal assessments such as portfolios and exhibitions. Teachers
and administrators are trained to look at a variety of assessment data in order to develop
teaching objectives with measurable benchmarks that are linked to each school’s target
goals for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Studies have shown increased academic
achievement on standardized tests.
http://www.atlascommunities.org/
Classwide Peer Tutoring
The Class-Wide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) Program can be used at any grade level although
it has been primarily evaluated on younger children. Each Monday for the duration of the
program, all participating students are individually pre-tested on that week’s classroom
material. After pre-testing, students are paired up, and each set of partners is assigned to
one of two teams. Partners take turns tutoring each other on their spelling, math, and
reading passages and test each other’s learning comprehension. For every correct answer,
a tutee is awarded two points. If an incorrect answer is given, the tutor corrects his or her
partner. The partner then receives one point for writing the correct answer three times on
a tutoring worksheet. After ten minutes, the partners switch roles. At the end of the daily
tutoring session, students report their point totals to the teacher, and scores are posted on
a Team Point Chart. The team with the most points is announced daily, with a reward
event on Fridays. CWPT has been successfully implemented with learning disabled and
mentally retarded students. The program can be implemented at little or no cost to a
school district, so it can be a very useful program for school districts with little funding
for extra programs, and has been extensively evaluated.
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgibin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=instruction&section=main&subsection=cwpt/standa
rdprogram
Community of Caring (Growing up caring)
Community of Caring/Growing up Caring is a comprehensive K-12, research-based
character education program with a unique focus on students with disabilities. In
Community of Caring schools, teachers integrate the five core values of caring, respect,
responsibility, trust and family into their regular classroom lessons, activities and
discipline, and into the life of the classroom as a whole. Values are intentional in every
aspect of school life, and in every area of the school: the classroom, hallway, cafeteria,
and on the playing field. Students experience class meetings, buddy partners, friendship
groups, cross-age groups, Learning Circles, Teen Forums, and other leadership
experiences. Students have opportunities to help one another, to problem solve, and to
think about how their choices can reflect caring and respect for self and others and for the
rights of all. In Teen Forums, students discuss important issues. The Forums provide
unique opportunities to hear from all members of the school community, including
parents and students with disabilities. Service learning/community service helps students
grow intellectually, ethically, socially, and emotionally, strengthening their character
through opportunities to give service to others. Students with disabilities, who are often
the recipients of service, instead are encouraged to provide it and, like their classmates,
grow by contributing to the community in real ways. As part of the school’s curriculum,
students identify and solve problems utilizing the five values and their academic learning
to develop in ways that will benefit them as students, citizens, workers, and human
beings. Many Community of Caring schools sponsor school-wide activities for parents,
curriculum activities that link the classroom and home, and special parent events. An
evaluation study found positive behavioral outcomes: students who participated in the
program reported greater abstinence from alcohol, lower unexcused school absences, and
higher grade point averages.
www.communityofcaring.org
Expeditionary Learning/Outward Bound (ELOB)
ELOB is based on two central precepts: students learn better by doing than by listening,
and developing character, high expectations, and a sense of community is as important as
academic skills. Students engage in long-term (most of the day for 8-12 weeks), in depth
“expeditions”: investigations of a theme or topic through challenging projects that
integrate state and local standards. Expeditions involve academic work, adventure, and
field work, and are completed with a performance or presentation to an audience.
Students stay with the same teacher for 2 or more years. Schools use the Expeditionary
Learning benchmarks to conduct an annual self-review, and have a periodic peer review
from colleagues outside the school. In 2004, ELOB was implemented in 35 high schools.
www.elob.org
Good Behavior Game
The Good Behavior Game is implemented in early elementary grades to provide students
with the skills to respond to later, possibly negative, school and other life experiences and
societal influences. It is an easy and effective universal classroom behavior management
strategy – it can be adapted and expanded beyond the class to involve other personnel and
other parts of the school day. Children are assigned to behaviorally heterogeneous groups
that earn rewards by following class rules and avoiding precisely defined misbehaviors
during specified class times. Eventually, the teacher begins the game with no warning
and at different periods during the day so that students are always monitoring their
behavior and conforming to expectations. GBG is a low-cost behavior modification
program that enhances teachers’ ability to definite tasks, set rules, and discipline students,
and it allows students to work in teams in which each individual is responsible to the rest
of the group. Evaluations of the program have demonstrated beneficial effects for
children at the end of the first grade – less aggressive and shy behaviors –and decreases
in levels of aggression at grade 6 for males who were rated highest
for aggression in the first grade.
www.hazelden.org (contact rschladweiler@hazelden.org (Contact Roxanne Schladweiler
for training)
High Schools that Work (or Making Schools Work)
The goals of High Schools That Work are to raise the achievement level of career-bound
high-schoolers by combining the content of traditional college preparatory studies with
vocational studies. Key practices for student achievement include: high expectations,
vocational and academic studies, a specific program of study or “major,” active student
engagement, work-based learning, teacher collaboration, guidance, and ongoing student
evaluations. HTSW encourages school collaboration on many levels – high schools align
with middle schools, postsecondary institutions, and businesses to decide on the
curriculum, and teachers are given more time to collaborate during planning periods to
integrate academic and vocational studies. All students are required to take college prep
classes as well as vocational courses. An extensive guidance and counseling system of
both school counselors and trained teacher-advisors work with groups of students to
support them. Teachers receive intensive training and the program uses nationally
recognized benchmarks (NAEP) for measuring program effectiveness. Evidence showed
improvement in academic achievement, attendance, graduation, retention and postsecondary attendance rates. This program has been implemented in over 1000 schools.
www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/tstwindex.asp
High/Scope Educational Approach for Preschool & Primary Grades
The High/Scope Perry Preschool Program (High/Scope) utilizes an active learning
approach to educating young children, imparting skills that will support their
development through school and into young adulthood. Based on more than 40 years of
scientific research, it provides teachers and caregivers with a blueprint for daily routine,
classroom and playground organization, and teacher-child interaction, all designed to
create a warm, supportive learning environment. High/Scope's goals are for young
children to: learn through active involvement with people, materials, events, and ideas;
become independent, responsible, and confident, ready for school and ready for life; learn
to plan and execute activities, then talk with other children and teachers about what they
have done and what they have learned (Plan-Do-Review); gain knowledge and skills in
important content areas including language and literacy, social relationships, creative
representation, movement, music, mathematics, and logical thinking. Every day, the
program offers one-on-one adult attention, assures children that they can choose
interesting things to do, and gives children a sense of control over themselves and their
surroundings. A longitudinal study of over 20 years has shown that by age 27, adults born
into poverty who participated in a high-quality, active learning preschool program at ages
3 and 4 have a greater chance of experiencing a more positive adulthood than individuals
who do not: they have a lower likelihood of arrest and fewer arrests, had achieved higher
earning and property wealth, and had greater commitment to marriage, as well as
significantly higher achievement and literacy scores.
http://www.highscope.org/EducationalPrograms/EarlyChildhood/homepage.htm
Modern Red Schoolhouse
Modern Red Schoolhouse, a whole school design was developed by the Hudson Institute,
led by William Bennet, Secretary of Education during the Reagan Administration. MRSH
is a capacity-building design that develops the strengths of a school, using a detailed
analysis of the school’s characteristics and student achievement data as a starting point.
MRSH then develops a customized implementation program that provides the school
with tools and strategies to: design standards-driven curriculum, instruction, and
assessment using state and district standards, based on a schoolwide scope and sequence
that creates coherence across grade levels and content areas; use best instructional
practices in all content areas; differentiate instructional strategies to meet the needs of all
students in all classrooms; establish effective organizational practices, including a school
leadership team and task forces; use technology to improve communication between
teachers and parents, develop standards-based instructional units, and enhance
instruction; and develop parent and community partnerships. Data for various studies
showed increased achievement compared to other schools/districts, and significant
differences in school climate dimensions including order, leadership, environment,
involvement, instruction, expectation, and collaboration.
www.mrsh.org
Paideia
The goal of the Paideia program is to provide a rigorous liberal arts education in grades
K-12 that will develop in all students the skills needed to earn a living, to think and act
critically as responsible citizens, and to become lifelong learners. Instructional goals are
based on the acquisition of knowledge, development of intellectual skills, and deeper
understanding of ideas and values. These are addressed through three instructional
approaches: didactic/Socratic instruction, coaching, and small group seminars.
Schoolwide restructuring is necessary to fully implement all three instructional pieces, as
Socratic seminars often require longer class periods, while coaching may call for smaller
classes enabling teachers to spend more time with individual students. This program,
outlined by Mortimer Adler, is supported at center at the University of North Carolina
through networks, staff development, and newsletters and publications.
www.paideia.org
Positive Action (PA)
Positive Action (PA) is a comprehensive program that has been shown to improve
academic achievement and behaviors of children and adolescents (5 to 18 years old) in
multiple domains. It is intensive, with lessons at each grade level (from kindergarten to
12th) that are reinforced all day, schoolwide, as well as at home and in the community.
These components can work together or stand alone. Positive Action improves students’
individual self-concept, academic achievement and learning skills, decision-making,
problem solving, social/interpersonal skills, physical and mental health, and behavior,
character, and responsibility. PA improves school climate, attendance, achievement
scores, disciplinary referrals/suspensions, parent and community involvement, and
services for special-need and high-risk students. Positive Action positively affects school
personnel’s instruction and the classroom/school management skills through improved
self-concept, professionalism, and interpersonal/social skills. Finally, Positive Action
helps families by improving parent-child relations and overall family attitudes toward,
and involvement in, school and the community. The principal, a PA Coordinator, and PA
Committee guide the program. Classroom teachers teach the curriculum, using a gradeappropriate kit containing prepared materials and a manual with lesson plans. Materials
for the counselor and special education staff are also included. Parents receive a Family
Kit that contains lessons and materials that correlate with the school program. The
Community Kit is used to organize a steering committee that guides community partners
to develop and coordinate positive community initiatives and activities. Positive Action
offers an Implementation Plan, with an interactive Web site, to achieve implementation
fidelity, and a program evaluation plan that schools are strongly encouraged to use. Over
the past 30 years, PA has been researched and evaluated in a wide variety of schools,
including schools with high mobility rates. Data from various comparison group designs
involving more than 100 elementary schools that used PA demonstrate the program's
consistent positive effects on student behavior (i.e., discipline, suspensions, crime,
violence, drug use), performance (i.e., attendance, achievement), and self-concept.
Results were often better in more disadvantaged schools.
www.positiveaction.net
SAFE Children: Schools and Families Educating Children
SAFE Children is a school- and based program that helps families manage educational
and child development in communities where children are at high risk for substance
abuse and other problem behaviors. The program aims to help children 5 to 6 years old
make the transition into elementary school, have a successful first year, and set a strong
base for the future. It is based on a developmental-ecological model that looks at how
neighborhood and school characteristics affect children's school achievement, their social
adjustment, and their maturation. Families with children entering first grade and living in
inner-city, high-risk neighborhoods are enrolled in a 20-week family program that aims
to develop parenting skills and knowledge of child development, build support networks
among parents, give parents a better understanding of how their schools work, and ensure
that children have the preparation to master basic reading skills. Twice-weekly individual
tutoring sessions that include direct instruction, sound and word activities, and time for
reading practice are also provided. The program is offered in Spanish and English, and
family group meetings are typically held in rented space in neighborhood locations to
make the program easily accessible to families. An evaluation project showed that
children in the program showed steeper growth in academic achievement over a 24month period than did children in the control group. At the beginning of second grade,
the reading scores of children in the intervention group were at a level approximate to the
national average and "4 months ahead" of those in the control group. Parents in the
program were still maintaining their involvement in their children’s school life at followup in the second grade, instead of showing the typical pattern of a severe drop-off. In
addition, parents reported using more effective parenting practices including home rules
and family organization strategies, and as a result of the improved “emotional cohesion”,
the children’s social competence increased.
http://www.psych.uic.edu/fcrg/safe.html
Contact: Patrick Tolan, Ph.D., Institute for Juvenile Research, 840 South Wood Street,
Department of Psychiatry, Chicago, IL 60612–7347, Tel#:: (312) 413-1893, E-mail:
Tolan@uic.edu
Success for All
Success for All is an achievement-oriented program for disadvantaged students in grades
pre-K through five designed to prevent or intervene in the development of learning
problems. To do so, it organizes instructional and family support resources within the
regular classroom. The program is intended to ensure that every student will perform at
grade level in reading by the end of the third grade; reduce the number of students
referred to special education classes; reduce the number of students who are held back to
repeat a grade; increase attendance; address family needs for food, housing, and medical
care to enable the family to support its children's education. The program includes: 1)
Preschool and kindergarten program: A half-day preschool program to enhance
children’s language development, school readiness, and positive self-concept; a full-day
kindergarten program continues the emphasis on language, using children's literature and
thematically related activities. 2) Reading program: During daily 90-minute reading
periods, students are regrouped by reading level across age lines. 3) Tutors: Specially
trained teachers work individually with all students in grades one through three who are
not yet reading at grade level. Priority is given to first grade students as a means of
preventing the need for remediation. 4) Special education: Student's learning problems
are addressed within the mainstream classroom whenever possible. 5) Regular reading
assessments: Students’ reading skills assessed every 8 weeks to determine how to assign
students to tutoring, to suggest alternative teaching strategies in the regular classroom,
and to make changes in reading group placement or family support interventions. 5)
Family support team: The team focuses on promoting parent involvement, developing
plans to meet the needs of individual students who are having difficulty, implementing
attendance plans, and integrating community and school resources. Some family support
teams provide community and mental health services at the schools. Evaluation studies of
the Success for All participants indicate significant improvement in test scores, especially
for those students whose pretest scores placed them in the lowest quarter of their grade.
Special education placements also declined significantly since the program was
implemented.
www.successforall.net
Talent Development High School with Career Academy
The goal of Talent Development High Schools is to improve achievement, behavior,
attendance, and discipline, and to reduce drop out by raising expectations for all students
and providing the mechanisms to help them meet these expectations. The model divides a
large school into a series of academies. A 9th grade Success Academy helps students
transition smoothly into high school through a freshman seminar course on study and
social skills needed to succeed and an academic curriculum developed by the Johns
Hopkins University Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk
(CRESPAR). The Career Academies (for grades 10-12) are thematic, self-contained
“small learning communities” or “schools within a school” that integrate career and
college prep academic coursework. Each academy has its own faculty, management team,
and section/entrance to the building. Program elements include: a demanding common
core curriculum based on high standards for all students, a supportive learning
environment that fosters close teacher-student relations, and an orderly academic climate,
career focused schoolwork, a college bound orientation, no tracking, flexible uses of time
and resources, team teaching, and a special “academy” or after school program for
students with behavioral problems with extensive guidance. Students have a block
schedule with 4 class periods of 80-90 minutes each day. There is ongoing staff
development regarding school design, curriculum, and teaching methods. Evaluation of
the model showed increased achievement, improved school climate, improved attendance
and promotion rates, and decreased drug use, violence, and apathy.
http://www.csos.jhu.edu/tdhs/
The Think Time Strategy
The Think Time strategy is designed to deliver a stable response to problem behavior
across all staff; provide the student a quiet period to enable the child to save face and
regain control; provide the child with feedback and an opportunity to plan for subsequent
performance; and enable the teacher and student to cut off a negative social exchange and
initiate a positive one. The strategy, which requires minimal investment since training can
be done by video, can be used as a school wide program, an early intervention, or as part
of an intensive intervention for children in grades K-9. By designating a quiet location in
another classroom where a disruptive student can be sent, and by eliminating threats and
ultimatums, Think Time serves as a response to disruptive behavior. The teacher initiates
a debriefing process after the student has had "thinking time." Evidence of efficacy was
presented only for seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) populations. Evaluation results
showed that the average number of verbal and physical aggression incidents decreased by
77%. In addition, the average estimated on-task time spent by the students increased.
Contact program developer: J. Ron Nelson, University of Nebraska, Lincoln Center for
At Risk Student Services, Barklay Center, Lincoln, NE 68583-0738 rnelson8@unl.edu
To purchase:
http://store.cambiumlearning.com/ProductPage.aspx?parentId=019000369&functionID=
009000008&site=sw
Tribes TLC: A New Way of Learning and Being Together
Tribes TLC® aims to promote learning and human development by creating a positive
school and classroom learning environment. The program is designed to help students
feel included, respected for their differences, involved in their own learning, and
confident in their ability to succeed. There is no formal curriculum. Instead, teachers
learn about the stages of group development and select strategies from the materials
appropriate to the developmental stage of their cooperative learning groups, called
“tribes.” The strategies focus on SEL skills important to group work, including
understanding and respecting others’ perspectives, active listening, being reliable and
helpful, setting goals, making decisions, and negotiating solutions to conflicts. Students
also have numerous opportunities to reflect on their feelings, values, and interests.
Academic material is taught using a variety of approaches that appeal to different student
learning styles. Cooperative learning groups are intended to enhance academic
motivation and achievement and reduce disciplinary problems. The program includes
tools (e.g., surveys, forms to use in collecting relevant data) and extensive instructions for
monitoring implementation. One published study found that compared to students in
classrooms in which Tribes was only partially implemented, those in classrooms that
fully implemented the program scored bigger increases in the California Test of Basic
Skills-5 social studies test and in reading comprehension.
www.tribes.com
Voices: A Comprehensive Reading, Writing, and Character Education Program
Voices is an integrated, multicultural, literature-based, comprehensive reading and
character education curriculum for students in grades K-6. It focuses on six core social
skills and values: identity awareness; perspective taking; conflict resolution; social
awareness; love and freedom; and democracy. The program provides broad coverage of
violence prevention and citizenship, and is sensitive to diversity – materials include
books depicting multicultural characters with varied family structures. Daily workshops
provide students with consistent opportunities across grades to practice being respectful
of others. For example, in kindergarten, children identify what they can do in the
classroom to help each other and describe how they care for someone who is hurt or is
having a hard day. Language arts lessons draw on multicultural literature. They include
social skills and values development activities, speaking and listening activities, reading
aloud and shared reading, whole-class discussions, drama, and role-plays. In several
grades, students read and discuss situations involving teasing and bullying and describe
in their journals their own feelings, the feelings of all participants, and what they would
do in such situations. Students also participate in many projects that help them become
involved in their schools and communities. The Voices team works with the school
district to align the curriculum with district standards. The scope and sequence of the
program has been aligned with national and state English language arts standards. The
program may also be appropriate for special education students. A separate product
called the Voices School Design Program, requires extensive onsite training for school
counselors and nurses to reinforce program concepts through various school-wide
activities, interactive activities involving family members, occasional invitations to
family members to participate in school activities, letters that inform families about each
theme, and service-learning projects that offer students the chance to apply program
values and skills in their communities. An unpublished evaluation study measured the
impact of a variety of school-reform model programs on third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders
who had participated in programming for at least two years. Compared to the rest of the
sample, students participating in Voices made significantly greater gains in reading and
math achievement at post-test. A significantly higher percentage of Voices students
scored at or above the 50th percentile in math (fourth grade) and reading (fifth grade) as
compared with all students in the district.
http://www.voicespublishing.com/