Top 5 Elementary School Models in America

One of the best things about elementary schools in America is the flexibility with which they can be run. For example, parents and educators have the opportunity to work together to create schools that fill well into their communities, while school districts can create schools from the ground up using a charter.

Researchers from John Hopkins University have created a list of elementary school programs that have been proven to work. These researchers collected data from the Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education, and other sources, and they have posted their findings on the Best Evidence Encyclopedia.

The five models below have been earmarked by the Best Evidence Encyclopedia as being the most effective learning models for elementary schools in America.

National Institute of Direct Instruction

National Institute of Direct Instruction relies on carefully developed lesson plans for its success. These lesson plans present information in small increments, and they prescribe almost exactly what the teacher should say and do in each lesson.

Teachers who move from a traditional setting to a direct instruction setting should be prepared to give up some of their creativity and autonomy. This model is based on the idea that students can learn more when misinterpretations are eliminated from the classroom.

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Success for All

The Success for All instruction program focuses on cooperation in learning among both students and teachers. Students are encouraged to work together in ways that make them feel more engaged, and teachers must have constant training that aligns with the teaching materials they are using.

The two facets of this program work together to create a cohesive learning environment where students are almost guaranteed to succeed. This model has been integrated into several elementary schools in America, and it has taken some schools from failing to succeeding in only one year.

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Accelerated Schools PLUS (ASPLUS)

In the Accelerated Schools PLUS program, parents, students, and educators take charge of their own schools. They work with the Accelerated Schools PLUS program to find the pedagogical methods that are right for their community. Through this program, students and educators have the opportunity to feel involved and responsible for their own schools.

This sense of engagement is the cornerstone for academic progress. ASPLUS offers six essential services to help schools on their journey toward success. These essential services include creating Accelerated Plus schools on all levels of education, but they also include teacher development courses.

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Core Knowledge

The Core Knowledge model is a answer to the question as to whether students need to memorize facts or not. It is an answer to the theory that students only need to learn thinking skills. The Core Knowledge model rejects those ideas, and claims that students need a strong core of shared information.

This program gives teachers a set number of topics to cover in the fields of language arts, geography, math, science, and the arts. These topics are covered systematically in ways that prevent repetition from year to year. Students take the knowledge they gain from Core Knowledge schools, and they use it as a foundation to which they can add new information as they encounter it.

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Literacy Collaborative

This program was designed to solve early reading problems. It works to improve the reading and writing skills of every student in the school. It works with research-based instruction models that focus on language, processes, and outcomes.

Literacy Collaborative encourages leadership in the school through the coaching and development of teachers, administrators, and community literacy coaches. It also helps to track the progress of each student in the school so that any problems can be quickly noticed and solved.

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