The students will maintain journals to document their involvement and the progress of the project, and a scrapbook of related student work will also be kept. Throughout the life of the project, the construction and connecting activities will be videotaped. Staff development that focuses on how to use the area as a learning center will be evaluated by the teachers. The community will be invited to help construct and then use the center as a recreational site. Cleveland Road Elementary School has a growing population of children who have fallen two or more grade levels below their age group, and who are not qualified for special education programs.
RISE encourages parents to be an integral part of planning for their child's success.
Students chosen for the pilot will be second through fourth-graders who read two or more grade levels below their age group. A team consisting of a school counselor, school social worker, the student's classroom teacher, the physical education teacher, the principal, and the student's parents will review the child's status and design an ISP for academic success. This will lead to improvement of overall academic achievement with a knowledge of the connection between school and work. RISE will be deemed successful if the selected students gain in reading skills to at or above grade level by Spring, 1999. Students will receive a combination of direct instruction with specialized materials within the classroom, as well as computer-assisted instruction in the computer lab.