Opportunities that enable students to practice new knowledge and skills in real-life, relevant ways.

A teaching and learning approach that can take many forms as it blends Internet and digital media with in-person teacher facilitation; most variations give students some control of learning pace, time and path.

Ongoing review and adjustment of program activities to refine delivery and improve outcomes. Continuous improvement models present a cyclical process with steps for planning, implementing, assessing, and revising activity design and delivery, as needed.

Applying a learning approach, targeted intervention or process faithfully and consistently with its design to create an environment that supports student success. Checking for fidelity of implementation is part of assessment in the continuous improvement process.

The process of assessing student needs; designing a set of delivery strategies, interventions and activities that will engage those students while helping them build skills and knowledge they need to succeed; and recruiting the targeted students for which the activities were designed.

Planning and management areas that lay the foundation for running a successful program. These include the schedule, the space/facility, materials and resources, budget and staff.

A learning environment that provides opportunities for students to coach each other as they solve problems, decode text or otherwise go deeper into content. 

Intentionally designed, high-quality summer experiences that support building skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors that promote academic achievement and healthy development.

The loss of skills, especially in reading and math, that can happen if students don’t use the skills during the summer academic break. Students can also lose self-management skills such as following directions and working with others. These losses can accumulate over time if they aren’t addressed, and can result in achievement gaps that disproportionately affect students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Carefully considered and constructed learning activities or approaches, often research based, that are designed to help struggling students master specific skills and knowledge.