Middle School Support Programs

In Middle School we offer a variety of support programs to enrich our core academic curriculum.  These programs  include the RAD Program, Check-In/Check-Out, and Study Skills Courses.
 
The Reinventing Achievement and Development Program (RAD) was developed in 2016 by Principal Kathleen Conklin. The program was created in response to an increasing number of students demonstrating that they would benefit from additional support in academics, executive functioning, and social/emotional skills during the difficult transition to middle school. 
 
The Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) Program was also started in 2016 and is yet another tool we offer to support students in grades 6th-8th. This program is aimed to improve executive functioning skill development, but also supports academics and social/emotional functioning. The one-on-one, twice-daily connection with a supportive adult provided by CICO provides students with highly individualized coaching on their strengths and needs, and is required for all transfer student into middle school. For more information on our CICO Program, please see below.
 
The Study Skills courses are offered in both 6th and 8th grade. The 6th grade course is strategically poised to help our students make the significant jump from primary education, to a middle school educational program. The 8th grade course is designed to hone leadership potential and styles through the application of executive functioning and social/emotional skill sets.
 

Reinventing Achievement and Development Program

RAD serves as our primary Tier 2 intervention for middle school students who require an additional level of support. This support program provides students with systematic academic, executive functioning, and social/emotional support in a small group setting. Students learn to successfully navigate the increasing demands of middle school education, and prepare for their upcoming transition to high school.  Students that participate in the RAD program do so in lieu of Spanish for their entire middle school experience. RAD occurs three times per week for 45 minutes per class. This small-group support will have a maximum of 6 students per class.

As is true in our general education courses, the RAD Program is progressive in nature, intentionally building foundational skills in 6th grade, spending more time on the application of skills to general education studies in 7th grade, and finally, understanding the purpose and making use of more advanced skill sets in 8th grades. Over the course of the multi-year RAD program, students who participate will be coached to:

  • Understand their strengths and weaknesses as learners, including any documented disabilities
  • Work to improve upon all areas of executive functioning
  • Develop “toolbox” of best practice strategies that can be used in any academic setting
  • Communicate, in both speaking and writing, in a more effective way
  • Cope with stress and challenge in productive ways
  • Navigate partner and group work successfully
  • Identify and access resource and support when necessary
  • Self-advocate with teachers, peers, and parents
  • Become confident learners who demonstrate leadership in the classroom and school community
  • Believe in themselves as capable individuals who have the skills, knowledge, and abilities to have successful high school experiences
 

Students enrolled in the RAD program meet three times per week, in addition to twice-daily participation in our Check-In/Check Out Program (CICO). The CICO program allows students to receive consistent support needed to facilitate new skill development and habit formation.  The ultimate goal is for student to have independence and confidence in themselves as learners and community members.

The activities that students do with their time in RAD class are tailored to the strengths and needs of each particular group of students and their corresponding academic demands, but may include the following:

Examples of Explicit Lesson Topics: Examples of Learning Activities:

  Executive functioning skills

  Study strategies

  Long-term planning

  Communicating with teachers

  Learning styles

  Organizational strategies

  Social skills for working in groups

  Presentation skills

  Test-taking strategies

  Face-to-face self-advocacy

  Grade checks

  Test review sessions

  Monthly responsibility/event calendars

  Mock presentations with peer feedback

  Collaborative problem-solving tasks

  Reteaching of academic concept

  Additional practice problem sets

  Creativity challenges

  Binder/locker/planner checks

  Mindfulness and stress-reduction

 

How students are selected to be in the RAD Program

Teachers work together with members of the Student Success Team to determine which students would benefit from inclusion in the RAD program.  The team uses student assessment data, report cards, work samples, classroom observations, and Student Support Plans to decide the level of tiered support that each student will need upon making the transition to middle school.  There is an option to create one or two sections of RAD class, serving a maximum of 12 new students per year into the program.  Students typically are selected to be in the RAD program in 5th grade.  However, students may enter the program anytime during their 6-8th grade years as long as they demonstrate a need for additional support and the team determines that the student would be best served by inclusion in this comprehensive support program.

Check-In/Check-Out (CICO)

This program is an effective, research-based intervention program designed to proactively and positively address low-level academic, behavioral, executive functioning, or social/emotional concerns. The program allows each participating student to receive increased:

  • positive, one-on-one adult connections at school
  • structure, especially when transitioning to and from school
  • opportunities for individualized coaching on specific executive functioning skills
  • constructive adult feedback
  • prompts for appropriate behavior
  • collaborative problem-solving with concerns
  • reinforcement for effort and positive changes

Although our CICO program begins with increased attention, oversight, coaching, and structure, the ultimate goal is to gradually release responsibility to participating students to facilitate independence and achievement in the areas of academics, executive functioning, and social/emotional.

Students Recommended for CICO

 

This unique program provides an opportunity to address low-level concerns in all areas: academics, executive functioning, and social/emotional development. If your child was recommended to participate in this program, he or she must be demonstrating over a period of time a need for additional support in one or more of those areas. Students who benefit from CICO often display such concerns as:

  • struggles with academic content
  • does not understand homework
  • shows difficulty staying organized
  • is unsure about what to do for homework
  • can’t remember due dates, deadlines, and test dates
  • struggles with performance on tests or quizzes
  • often misplaces work and/or doesn’t turn it in
  • forgets materials at school/home
  • feels lost or disconnected at school
  • is shy or nervous around teachers

Because the program is designed as a one-on-one educational opportunity with a trained teacher, the format and content of the meetings can be specifically tailored to the unique needs of the student.  If your child was recommended for Check-In/Check-Out, this is a great opportunity for him or her to begin improving their academic performance, managing their responsibilities as students, and feeling more confident and comfortable in the school environment. 

Study Skills Courses

Students in 6th grade have the additional bonus of participating in our 6th Grade Study Skills course. This course is strategically poised to help our students make the significant jump from primary education, to a middle school educational program. This advancement brings with it a step up in academic rigor, student responsibilities, transitions and interactions with more teachers, and all executive functioning skills. At this crucial time, this course provides students with an additional lesson each week promoting executive functioning skills in relation to classroom behavior, management of responsibilities, homework completion, and test-taking skills.
 
As a capstone to our leadership programming, our 8th grade students also participate in our 8th Grade Leadership Course. This course is designed to hone leadership potential and styles through the application of executive functioning and social/emotional skill sets. Students are expected to graduate from ASB motivated to use their executive functioning and social/emotional skills to fulfill future leadership roles in academics, clubs, sports, service, and the arts. This enrichment course provides them with instruction, activities, discussion, and reflection prompts to encourage student contemplation of why and how they want to showcase and use their strengths in the wide world beyond ASB.