Tiered Interventions Insights from the Second Step® ARC (Asynchronous Research Community)

The Second Step® Asynchronous Research Community (ARC) is a strategic research initiative organized by the K–12 product team behind Second Step programs. It’s designed to gather in-depth feedback and guidance from a group of dedicated educators from across the country.

ARC is the latest expression of the Second Step commitment to continuous improvement that prioritizes educator collaboration. Through this partnership, the Second Step team and educators work side by side to gather valuable insights from real classrooms about what students need and to develop solutions that meet—and exceed—those needs.

In recent years, many educators have expressed a need for small group resources that support human skills development and student behavior. This year, the Second Step team launched tiered interventions for all K–8 digital programs, which include small group lessons and individual intervention resources to support students with additional needs. ARC played an essential role in allowing educators to co-create the program. Through in-depth feedback and ongoing data collection, the research team could ensure that the all-new Second Step Tiered Interventions are as educator-friendly, as engaging, and most importantly, as effective as possible.

What’s special about ARC?

ARC is comprised of a dedicated and diverse group of educators from all over the country and across multiple school levels. This community of teachers, district leaders, principals and APs, and counselors offers their expertise to improve the quality of human skills programming, which will support millions of students.

The asynchronous format ensures high-quality, educator-centered feedback on a quicker timeline. Senior Research Scientist Yangyang Liu played a key role in developing ARC.

“We always want to hear what educators say,” she explains. “It’s the fundamental driver to all of the research activities that we do. But this group is unique because of the asynchronous format.”

As the committee reviewed evolving versions of Second Step Tiered Interventions, they shared detailed feedback on a weekly or daily basis, all in a format that worked with their busy schedules.

What is ARC’s focus?

ARC tested a pilot program of the all-new tiered interventions in the Second Step® Elementary and Second Step® Middle School digital programs. They focused on the content, format, and functionality of the tiered interventions, sharing honest and detailed reactions while using the program for the first time. Teachers directly reviewed small group lessons and individual support resources. District and school leaders reviewed the progress reporting features as well.

ARC members also provided detailed responses about their past experiences, needs, and goals for tiered interventions, helping the Second Step team ensure that they align with real-world priorities.

What are the key insights and program developments from ARC?

Engaging and effective small group lessons: ARC educators liked that the lessons focused on key human skills, such as emotion management, perspective-taking, and active listening. They appreciated the detailed instructions and resources, which made lesson prep and instruction easy and effective.

“The structure of the lesson was very easy to facilitate and would be easy to understand for my students.” —ARC Educator

“I think that the scenarios on the handout are great for students to engage with. They are simple enough to act out but also relevant to students’ lives. The strategies given are good for everyone to have for not only middle school but also life.” —ARC Educator

Student Intervention and Progress Tracker: After reviewing the reporting features, several educators expressed a need for a tool to track student progress through small group lessons. The Second Step team developed the all-new Student Intervention and Progress Tracker, which allows teachers to track the weekly progress of individual students through the small group curriculum.

“The student progress tracker is straightforward and easy to use. It is simple enough to understand quickly and something that could be used to input and share data between all involved staff members.” —ARC Educator

Student needs screener: The tiered interventions resources include a screener to identify the specific competencies and skills of individual students, enabling educators to create custom plans to meet those needs through small group lessons.

“This feels so much more comprehensive. . . . In my dream scenario, this is a perfect answer to my problems in identifying [small group] needs.” —ARC Educator

Schoolwide progress data: School leaders preferred a progress reporting view that shows how their individual schools are performing in specific focus areas. For example, school leaders can see how the school is performing in areas such as Executive Functioning and Relationships & Prosocial Skills, based on lesson completion data.

ARC: Leading the way in tiered interventions

“We wanted to ensure that the new tiered interventions weren’t just developed in a bubble,” reflects Yangyang Liu. “The purpose of these tiered interventions is to give educators and students tools that they actually need and that they will really use. Our tiered interventions are research-based, but we also want them to be applicable and reality-based.”

With Second Step Tiered Interventions already in action in schools across the country today, ARC shows what’s possible when educators lead the way.

To learn more about what’s possible with our K–8 digital programs and the all-new Second Step Tiered Interventions, request a free consultation today.