ARISE’s founders and staff believe that all children deserve a quality education that doesn’t replicate inequitable and oppressive institutions. As a result, they’ve developed a rigorous, high engagement, authentic learning experience for all students. In order for every student to meet the high expectations that ARISE holds, a thorough system of support is critical. While the entire school is designed to make the educational experience highly personalized, attentive, and responsive, Adelante Student Services, in particular, provides intensive support to help students move forward.
Adelante is a Spanish adverb that means movement and commonly expresses two ideas: “salir adelante” and “sacar adelante” (in English, ”get ahead”). These two sayings encourage the development of self and the overcoming of obstacles. They are often used to push a person’s development.
Adelante Student Services works within the whole school community to create the conditions, procedures, and resources to support struggling students academically and socio-emotionally.The Response to Intervention system includes the following structures: Academic Mentorship, Advisory, and Restorative Justice Praxis. ARISE offers site visits, coaching, and professional development to support implementation of their model.
What Makes This Model Innovative?
Affirmation of Self & Others
High Expectations with Unlimited Opportunities
Connection and Community
Related Models
Da Vinci RISE High
The Da Vinci RISE High model uses a responsive and holistic approach—including flexible scheduling, blended learning, credit recovery, and wraparound social services—to meet the unique needs of students navigating foster care, housing instability, and other circumstances that have disrupted their schooling.
Da Vinci RISE High
The Da Vinci RISE High model was designed to provide an equitable education for students traditionally left out of the larger educational narrative—those navigating foster care, housing instability, probation, and/or other circumstances that have interrupted their academic journeys. RISE believes that if we build with the needs of the most at-promise youth in mind, we will not only create an empowering school for them, but we will create a school that is well equipped to serve students with a vast array of skillsets and needs. The RISE model takes a responsive and holistic approach to education, acknowledging and adapting learning to accommodate the additional responsibilities and priorities students have in their lives outside of school. To do this, each RISE student co-creates and regularly updates a Personalized Learning Plan outlining their unique pathway to graduation. Plans leverage flexible scheduling, blended learning, mastery-based grading, and holistic wraparound support to ensure students meet their academic goals while managing their personal needs.
Da Vinci currently operates three RISE High schools serving 250 students in Los Angeles, California. Da Vinci Institute provides workshops to share model best practices. Da Vinci RISE: Student Profile Da Vinci RISE Brochure
Goals
ARISE graduates will have equipped themselves with the knowledge, skills, and agency to lead successful lives as defined by themselves, their families, and the ARISE mission and vision.
ARISE has created a detailed graduate profile that describes the outcomes below in even more detail. Graduate profile
Knowledge
ARISE graduates gain proficiency in academic subjects, making it possible to understand and analyze their social identities, intersectionality, and how systems of power influence how society views them, as well as use that knowledge to set and achieve their goals.
Skills
ARISE graduates use their skills to apply critical consciousness to the world around them as they analyze and understand systems and structures of oppression and liberation and connect their content learning to the outside world and to their communities.
Agency
ARISE graduates embody the core values of Lead, Build, Persevere, and Respect in order to act as agents of change in their communities.
Experience
Adelante Student Services seeks to disrupt the cycle of poor achievement and exclusion by transforming into a community in which all students are welcomed and can thrive. To do this, ARISE invests a ton of resources into universal supports—including a strong positive and inclusive school climate—in an effort to meet the needs of all students. However, given the unique attributes of every student, ARISE is also prepared to give more support to students who need it. To this end, Adelante provides a holistic, multi-tiered system of support called Response to Intervention (RTI), which pairs evidence-based academic, behavioral, and social-emotional interventions with an intentional focus on overall culture and climate. This inclusive approach helps ensure that all young people can fully engage in learning and that every student gets what they need and is held to a high standard.
ARISE’s RTI system establishes criteria for decision-making around three tiers of services, with Tier 1 services implemented schoolwide, and Tiers 2 and 3 targeting students who require additional services to succeed. The RTI framework monitors student development and provides interventions as needed to ensure all students—especially specific subgroups of students—grow at their optimal pace. Specific subgroups served
The three levels of prevention occur at three levels of intensity, which represent a continuum of supports. RTI at ARISE ARISE uses more than one intervention within a given level of prevention.
- Primary (Tier 1) prevention: high-quality core instruction and social-emotional learning that meets the needs of most students
- Secondary (Tier 2) prevention: evidence-based intervention(s) of moderate intensity that addresses the learning or behavioral challenges of most at-risk students
- Tertiary (Tier 3) prevention: individualized intervention(s) of increased intensity for students who show minimal response to secondary supports
These tiers of support are provided across the following structures: Academic Mentorship, Advisory, and Restorative Justice Praxis, in addition to other schoolwide practices such as culture.
The Academic Mentorship program is a universal (Tier 1) support experienced by all students at ARISE. Initially, the program was a short-term strategic approach to improve student engagement in Zoom classrooms in the spring of 2020. “AcMentors”, as they are called, worked with individuals and small groups in breakout rooms and communicated with students via chat to ensure that they were on top of their work. The program was successful in helping both teachers and students feel more supported within the constraints of online learning.
When students returned to school in the late spring of 2020, ARISE used a
substantial portion of federal Covid funding to continue running the Academic Mentor Program. To staff the endeavor, they invited ARISE alumni to apply for the role, with a goal to staff 20+ AcMentors—one for every classroom teacher. AcMentors must be on a postsecondary educational path, be proficient in at least one of the core subject areas, and exemplify ARISE’s core values. In return, they are paid $25/hr, experience higher level of postsecondary persistence, and in many cases have been hired full-time by ARISE after their AcMentor tenure. They are supported in building relationships with students and staff and in their craft through professional development.
In practice, most AcMentors are paired with a specific teacher, but some may be assigned to a specific group of students. Similar to a paraprofessional, AcMentors devote most of their time and expertise to providing direct student support in the classroom: assisting students in regaining focus, transitioning back to the social setting of the classroom, and getting back on track with their educational goals.
The purpose of Advisory at ARISE is to create and foster the conditions for social-emotional wellness, academic success, and a sense of collective school community for all students. It serves as a universal (Tier 1) support. Students remain in the same single-grade Advisories for their entire four years at ARISE. Advisories are grouped into “Advisory Familias” to create a continuity of student experience from 9th through 12th grades. For advisors to be able to both facilitate a highly structured and engaging classroom and to provide the support necessary for every advisee to thrive, ARISE recently revised the model, so that every Advisory classroom has two advisors who equally share responsibilities.
Advisors are the primary “go to” person for their advisees in terms of social-emotional wellness and academic success. Advisors are not responsible for providing all services for their advisees when it comes to social-emotional wellness and academic success; rather, they are expected to be “in tune” with their advisees and do their best to make sure they receive the support needed. Advisors are the primary point of communication with other teachers, the Adelante Team, and with their advisees’ families.
ARISE has developed a four-year sequence that incorporates key components needed for embodying ARISE’s core values, achieving post-secondary success, building personal skills, and working towards collective liberation. Advisory grade level curriculum and foci To execute this, the flow of advisory is as follows:
Advisory Weekly Flow Weekly flow master slides
- Monday – Announcements, check ins, community building (30 mins)
- Tuesday – Daily Independent Reading Time (30 mins)
- Wednesday – Daily Independent Reading Time, Announcements, Community Much Loves, Monthly Wellness Surveys, Warrior Intellectual and/or Grade Level Curriculum, and Consultancy (115 minutes) Sample 9th Grade Level Advisory Lessons Advisory Academic Consultancy Agenda and Reflection
- Thursday – Daily Independent Reading Time (30 mins)
- Friday – Circles (30 mins) Community Building Circle Agenda
The schedule may change at times to include Enrichment lessons, Student-Led Conferences Prep, and/or preparation for other important schoolwide or grade-level events.
Restorative justice is an ancient Indigenous concept that has been used for centuries all over the world. Restorative justice is a philosophy that centers community and relationships as paramount. Restorative practices are practices used to build and sustain a safe and inclusive community, to develop and strengthen relationships, and to repair relationships when a fracture has occurred.
Under Restorative Justice Praxis, first and foremost, ARISE’s foundational practices support safety, joy, and belonging for all through building community and positive relationships. Restorative Justice Praxis For the most part, these practices fall under Tier 1 supports as they are experienced by all students. Furthermore, these practices are not siloed and happen throughout the school day. For example, one practice that builds community and connection is Circles, which take place weekly in advisory. Other examples of these practices and structures are inclusive and calming physical spaces throughout the school, using culturally responsive pedagogy in classrooms, adults who are warm demanders, supporting students to engage in conflict resolution, and many more. Conflict resolution
While ARISE strives to build a community in which all students experience a sense of safety, belonging, and connectedness, they recognize that there are times when the norms of the school community may be violated. When a violation of the Codes of Respect occurs, Restorative Justice Praxis offers an educational and restorative process by which the person(s) who did the violation can reflect and gain insight as to how to restore value. Codes of Respect The response to these violations depends on the needs that are created by the harm and are often leveraged as Tier 2 and 3 supports. Through Restorative Justice Praxis, it is the community’s responsibility to clearly and consistently take those moments in which harm and violations are created as teaching and learning moments and opportunities to restore relationships. Some examples of this are:
- Restorative conversations
- Reflection forms
- Community restitution
- Harm circles
- Family conferencing
- Circles of Support and Accountability (COSAs)
Finally, ARISE believes in keeping learners in the classroom as much as possible. Temporary Exclusion at ARISE is based upon the restorative justice principle that says when a violation of the central values (i.e., Codes of Respect) occurs, the person(s) who did the violation will likely need time and space to reflect and gain insight as to how to restore value in and of the space called ARISE. Prior to a temporary exclusion, a school leader MUST speak with the student(s) and elevate to consciousness how the student’s actions devalued the ARISE Codes of Respect. The dialogue must be an act of learning whereby the values of the school are stressed as central to how ARISE is working to counter oppressive forces and actions that might be normalized elsewhere.
Supporting Structures
ARISE’s Adelante Student Services model can be integrated into a school’s existing overall model but will require certain shifts—some larger than others—especially in areas such as culture and adult roles.
Proficiency-grading and rigorous, culturally relevant teaching practices are required to serve as universal supports within Adelante.
At ARISE, the learning environment is engaging and differentiated to be rigorous for all learners and anchored in social and restorative justice. In the classroom, teachers use a culturally responsive pedagogy, which complements the mission of Adelante in ensuring all students are affirmed and supported to rise up. Culturally relevant teaching graphic Teachers are expected the hold high expectations for all learners, and Adelante supports all students in achieving that level of success. Instructional core rubric Furthermore, ARISE classrooms operate within an inclusion model, where learners with a variety of abilities and needs learn together in the classroom and several adults work together in ensuring every student is challenged and supported in the right ways.
ARISE utilizes proficiency (or standards-based) grading because they believe it is important to assess students’ knowledge of the subject matter and ability to demonstrate core academic skills as the key indicators of their proficiency in a class and, therefore, the foundation for their grades. Additionally, proficiency grading gives teachers the most accurate sense of how students will perform in future academic endeavors such as upper-grade classes and college courses—and what supports they might need now to be successful in those endeavors. This grading structure also creates space for ~20% of students’ grades to be aligned to their behaviors and how they uphold ARISE’s Core Values. This is yet another way that Adelante can support students in demonstrating productive behaviors. Core values grading schema
Implementing Adelante Student Support Services requires adults to model and uphold certain aspects of schoolwide and classroom culture.
ARISE serves a diverse student population with a range of academic and socio-emotional needs. This includes students who are performing below grade level, students who are performing above grade level, students who qualify for special education services, and students who are learning English as a secondary language. Serving all these students well is a core design element of Adelante Student Services.
ARISE High School utilizes a restorative approach to culture and discipline, which is a large part of Tier 1 supports. Through intentional preparation of teachers and production in classrooms, ARISE fosters a culture that leads to increased community satisfaction, buy-in, and academic achievement. ARISE has developed a multilayered system grounded in the work of seminal researchers, which explicitly recognizes the work of educators as producers of culture. This culture is rooted in the ARISE core values of Respect, Persevere, Build, and Lead and the Codes of Respect. While much of this culture is supported by the Restorative Justice Praxis, some additional components that take place in every classroom enable the Restorative Praxis program to be successful:
- Warm Demander – Teachers develop their students as human beings first. This entails honoring students’ families and cultures, being authentic, setting clear boundaries, and embodying a growth mindset.
- Safe Classroom Community – Teachers protect their students in a potentially dangerous world. They prevent unsafe behavior through high and clear expectations, developing norms based on the core values, routines and rituals which support student success, and intervening to de-escalate situations and support students when necessary.
- Knowledge of Students – Teachers start where their students are, not where they want or imagine them to be. They build on students’ prior knowledge, enable them to exercise their voice, and differentiate for students’ specific needs.
The model requires a team structure within which different groups and individuals play specific roles.
ARISE’s Adelante team utilizes a “Coordination of Services Team” (COST) model, a multidisciplinary team led by the Director of Student Support Services and the Director of Special Education that includes the Academic Counseling team, the Restorative Justice team, the Mental Health team, the Special Education team, the School Culture team, and the Attendance and Engagement Coordinator, all of whom are responsible for the coordination of intervention services. While working together towards common goals, each team has a unique focus area based on what needs students are expressing—for example, connecting a student to a mental health counselor rather than bringing in the Restorative Justice team to deal with behavioral infractions. The COST model makes it easy for teams to work together in supporting students. The team regularly reviews schoolwide data including academic, behavioral and/or social-emotional health reports and progress assessments to inform decisions around intervention service. In addition, the team may identify thematic areas of need around which they will develop a schoolwide approach, such as school transitions, anger management, relationship violence, and alcohol and drug issues.
After the pandemic, ARISE doubled down on the value it already placed on student support, and they now have two full-time mental health counselors, four full-time academic counselors, and one part-time academic counselor.
The Adelante team engages in a lot of PD in order to best achieve their mission, and they also lead a lot of PD, so that all teachers are able to support their students in the way Adelante seeks to. For example, the team might lead a weekly session on how to talk to students during grade team level meetings (e.g., how to include asset-based language). Additionally, academic counselors offer “student talk” every two weeks to uplift students who are doing well, identify students who are doing well but need more push to not get bored, and support students who are struggling and need more.
A block schedule is recommended in order to engage student supports during class time and to have meaningful time for advisory.
ARISE utilizes a 4×4 block schedule, with time in the morning for advisory. The longer blocks allow for deeper learning, but also for students to get appropriate support during that time. Support staff push into classrooms, and this enables them time to work deeply with small groups. Advisory is a daily dedicated time for student support, with longer blocks on Wednesdays.
Based on the needs of students—such as those learning English—extended learning time on Monday, Thursday, and Friday offers the flexibility to add additional courses as necessary, such as the Wordsmith Writing Workshop.
While families must be partners, partnership with organizations who provide direct support can strengthen implementation.
In the past, ARISE High School has partnered with the Seneca Family of Agencies in the implementation of a multi-tiered model for proactive support and intervention across the domains of academics, behavior, social, and emotional well-being. Seneca Family of Agencies
Furthermore, families are an integral part in Adelante Student Services. Not only are they part of the process when students are faced with an obstacle, but they are also partners in building relationships, creating the school climate, and more.
The model requires strong operations, which enable early intervention and the mobilization of resources.
The model promotes systematic coordination and integration of funding and services, which increases the efficient allocation of available resources so that gaps are identified and redundancies eliminated. Adelante emphasizes early intervention by utilizing data to identify student needs and then providing services to address those needs before students fail, thereby reducing the need for more intensive and costly remediation in the future.
Any member of the ARISE community can request a student receive targeted support from Adelante by filling out a form. Request for for student support
Proficiency-grading and rigorous, culturally relevant teaching practices are required to serve as universal supports within Adelante.
At ARISE, the learning environment is engaging and differentiated to be rigorous for all learners and anchored in social and restorative justice. In the classroom, teachers use a culturally responsive pedagogy, which complements the mission of Adelante in ensuring all students are affirmed and supported to rise up. Culturally relevant teaching graphic Teachers are expected the hold high expectations for all learners, and Adelante supports all students in achieving that level of success. Instructional core rubric Furthermore, ARISE classrooms operate within an inclusion model, where learners with a variety of abilities and needs learn together in the classroom and several adults work together in ensuring every student is challenged and supported in the right ways.
ARISE utilizes proficiency (or standards-based) grading because they believe it is important to assess students’ knowledge of the subject matter and ability to demonstrate core academic skills as the key indicators of their proficiency in a class and, therefore, the foundation for their grades. Additionally, proficiency grading gives teachers the most accurate sense of how students will perform in future academic endeavors such as upper-grade classes and college courses—and what supports they might need now to be successful in those endeavors. This grading structure also creates space for ~20% of students’ grades to be aligned to their behaviors and how they uphold ARISE’s Core Values. This is yet another way that Adelante can support students in demonstrating productive behaviors. Core values grading schema
Implementing Adelante Student Support Services requires adults to model and uphold certain aspects of schoolwide and classroom culture.
ARISE serves a diverse student population with a range of academic and socio-emotional needs. This includes students who are performing below grade level, students who are performing above grade level, students who qualify for special education services, and students who are learning English as a secondary language. Serving all these students well is a core design element of Adelante Student Services.
ARISE High School utilizes a restorative approach to culture and discipline, which is a large part of Tier 1 supports. Through intentional preparation of teachers and production in classrooms, ARISE fosters a culture that leads to increased community satisfaction, buy-in, and academic achievement. ARISE has developed a multilayered system grounded in the work of seminal researchers, which explicitly recognizes the work of educators as producers of culture. This culture is rooted in the ARISE core values of Respect, Persevere, Build, and Lead and the Codes of Respect. While much of this culture is supported by the Restorative Justice Praxis, some additional components that take place in every classroom enable the Restorative Praxis program to be successful:
- Warm Demander – Teachers develop their students as human beings first. This entails honoring students’ families and cultures, being authentic, setting clear boundaries, and embodying a growth mindset.
- Safe Classroom Community – Teachers protect their students in a potentially dangerous world. They prevent unsafe behavior through high and clear expectations, developing norms based on the core values, routines and rituals which support student success, and intervening to de-escalate situations and support students when necessary.
- Knowledge of Students – Teachers start where their students are, not where they want or imagine them to be. They build on students’ prior knowledge, enable them to exercise their voice, and differentiate for students’ specific needs.
The model requires a team structure within which different groups and individuals play specific roles.
ARISE’s Adelante team utilizes a “Coordination of Services Team” (COST) model, a multidisciplinary team led by the Director of Student Support Services and the Director of Special Education that includes the Academic Counseling team, the Restorative Justice team, the Mental Health team, the Special Education team, the School Culture team, and the Attendance and Engagement Coordinator, all of whom are responsible for the coordination of intervention services. While working together towards common goals, each team has a unique focus area based on what needs students are expressing—for example, connecting a student to a mental health counselor rather than bringing in the Restorative Justice team to deal with behavioral infractions. The COST model makes it easy for teams to work together in supporting students. The team regularly reviews schoolwide data including academic, behavioral and/or social-emotional health reports and progress assessments to inform decisions around intervention service. In addition, the team may identify thematic areas of need around which they will develop a schoolwide approach, such as school transitions, anger management, relationship violence, and alcohol and drug issues.
After the pandemic, ARISE doubled down on the value it already placed on student support, and they now have two full-time mental health counselors, four full-time academic counselors, and one part-time academic counselor.
The Adelante team engages in a lot of PD in order to best achieve their mission, and they also lead a lot of PD, so that all teachers are able to support their students in the way Adelante seeks to. For example, the team might lead a weekly session on how to talk to students during grade team level meetings (e.g., how to include asset-based language). Additionally, academic counselors offer “student talk” every two weeks to uplift students who are doing well, identify students who are doing well but need more push to not get bored, and support students who are struggling and need more.
A block schedule is recommended in order to engage student supports during class time and to have meaningful time for advisory.
ARISE utilizes a 4×4 block schedule, with time in the morning for advisory. The longer blocks allow for deeper learning, but also for students to get appropriate support during that time. Support staff push into classrooms, and this enables them time to work deeply with small groups. Advisory is a daily dedicated time for student support, with longer blocks on Wednesdays.
Based on the needs of students—such as those learning English—extended learning time on Monday, Thursday, and Friday offers the flexibility to add additional courses as necessary, such as the Wordsmith Writing Workshop.
While families must be partners, partnership with organizations who provide direct support can strengthen implementation.
In the past, ARISE High School has partnered with the Seneca Family of Agencies in the implementation of a multi-tiered model for proactive support and intervention across the domains of academics, behavior, social, and emotional well-being. Seneca Family of Agencies
Furthermore, families are an integral part in Adelante Student Services. Not only are they part of the process when students are faced with an obstacle, but they are also partners in building relationships, creating the school climate, and more.
The model requires strong operations, which enable early intervention and the mobilization of resources.
The model promotes systematic coordination and integration of funding and services, which increases the efficient allocation of available resources so that gaps are identified and redundancies eliminated. Adelante emphasizes early intervention by utilizing data to identify student needs and then providing services to address those needs before students fail, thereby reducing the need for more intensive and costly remediation in the future.
Any member of the ARISE community can request a student receive targeted support from Adelante by filling out a form. Request for for student support
Supports Offered
ARISE offers a variety of supports to help you implement their Adelante approach. These supports can be tailored to your needs around topic areas such as:
- Starting a specific aspect of Adelante Student Services, such as an Academic Mentorship or Restorative Justice program
- Implementing culturally responsive pedagogy and curriculum
- Creating the systems that enable student supports to function, such as systems to help determine which mental health supports to offer, how to build positive student and staff culture, how to have functioning operations, and more.
Professional Development
Cost Associated
ARISE staff can provide customized professional development support to your school community.
1:1 Coaching & Consulting
Cost Associated
ARISE staff offers more in-depth implementation support in the form of 1:1 coaching and consulting. This can be customized around the needs of your school community.
Reach
Impact
ARISE graduation rates provide evidence that Adelante supports students to be successful:
- 90% Four Year Graduation Rate: All students
- 84% Four Year Graduation Rate: SPED students
ARISE administers the YouthTruth survey to families, staff, and students which provides data around school culture, engagement, relationships, belonging, and more. Here are some highlights from the 2022 report:
- On average, out of 5, stakeholders feel that there are strong relationships at ARISE:
- Students: 3.47
- Families: 4.06
- Staff: 4.16
- On average, out of 5, stakeholders feel that there is a strong culture at ARISE:
- Students: 3.49
- Families: 3.95
- Staff: 3.89
- On average, out of 5, stakeholders feel that there is a strong student engagement at ARISE:
- Students: 3.51
- Families: 3.82
- Staff: 4.12
- On average, out of 5, families gave ARISE a 4.11 on connecting them with resources.