Practice Recommendations for 

Academic-Educational Interventions

Academic-educational interventions focus on improving school performance, school engagement, and 

academically-oriented behavior, which may yield collateral benefits on other outcomes by promotion of positive 

youth development.

Our recommendations are specific to the outcomes that your program is targeting. Below, we present our 

recommendations for reducing externalizing behaviors, improving social competence, and improving 

self-regulation.

Is your program focused on reducing externalizing behaviors reducing externalizing behaviors?

Externalizing behaviors are maladaptive behaviors directed toward others or one’s environment. Examples 

include fighting, threatening others, bullying, disruptiveness, breaking rules at school or at home, and temper 

tantrums.

Is your program focused on improving social competence?

Social competence refers to the social skills and social adjustment necessary to successfully navigate 

interpersonal relationships and one’s social environment. Examples include cooperation, assertive 

communication, helping others, social awareness, peer acceptance, adaptability, and a sense of belonging.

Emphasize school structure

Academic-educational interventions focused on school structure showed greater 

reductions in externalizing behavior than those focused on tutoring and academic 

supports or career and vocational topics.

Increase program length

Academic-educational interventions whose length was greater than 30 weeks 

showed greater improvement in social competence than those of shorter duration.

Focus on classroom behavior

Academic-educational interventions with content focused on appropriate classroom 

behavior showed greater reductions in participants’ externalizing behavior than those 

that did not have these elements.

Examples of Academic-Educational Interventions

• Tutoring and enrichment intervention

• Schools-within-schools and other

alternative school structures

• Remedial or developmental instruction

• Individualized academic instruction

• After-school academic intervention

• Training in self-regulated learning strategies

• Reciprocal peer tutoring

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Visit youth.gov/epi to find evidence-based practice guidelines for youth using a core 

components approach.
Is your program focused on improving self-regulation?

Self-regulation is an individual’s ability to manage one’s emotions and behavior in accordance with the needs 

of the situation. Examples include the ability to calm oneself when upset, to pay attention and persist on a task, 

control impulses, “switch gears” in response to changing demands, and engage in planning prioritizing, and 

juggling multiple tasks toward a goal.

Deliver program in dedicated school setting

Academic-educational interventions that were based in a school resource room

showed greater improvements in self-regulation than those held in students’ 

regular classrooms.

Focus directly on student behavior

Academic-educational interventions with content focused directly on student 

behavior showed greater improvements in participants’ self-regulation than 

those that did not.

Evidence for Program Improvement was established by The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation 

(ASPE) to develop evidence-based practice guidelines for youth programs using a core components 

approach. Our goal is to better understand the characteristics of effective programs for youth and share 

guidelines about how to make those programs more effective with those who design, support, and 

implement them. 

Visit our website (https://youth.gov/epi) to learn more about the core components approach and to view our 

practice recommendations.

This document was prepared by Abt Associates under contract number HHSP233201500069I Order No. 

HHSP23337013T from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary 

for Planning and Evaluation. Any statements expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily 

reflect the views of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, or the U.S. Department 

of Health and Human Services.

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