Project ACHIEVE
Project ACHIEVE is a comprehensive school reform and improvement program for preschool through high school youth targeting the academic and social development of all students. Its most notable components include its Positive Behavioral Support System (PBSS), anchored by the Stop and Think Social Skills Program; Positive Academic Supports and Services (PASS); and SPRINT/RtI (School Prevention, Review, and Intervention Team/Response-to-Intervention) processes.
For students, the aim is to maximize academic and social, emotional, and behavioral progress, mastery, and proficiency. This includes helping students to improve resilience, protective factors, and effective self-management and self-competency skills so that they are better able to resist unhealthy and maladaptive behaviors, settings, and situations. The aim for staff is to ensure effective instruction and classroom management as well as supports and services to students not responding with academic and behavioral success. The school or systemic aim is to help schools to be successful for all students. To achieve these goals, Project ACHIEVE uses a systematic strategic planning and organizational development process to implement preventive programs that focus on the needs of all students, strategic intervention programs for at-risk and underachieving students, and comprehensive and multi-faceted
The target audience for Project ACHIEVE is youth ages 3 to 18. Project ACHIEVE has been used in public schools, private and alternative schools, special education centers, psychiatric and juvenile justice facilities, Head Start/preschool programs, and specialized charter schools.
Project ACHIEVE has been implemented in urban, suburban, and rural schools and has been adapted for implementation in settings/communities that have included Shoshone and Arapaho (Wyoming), Chippewa (North Dakota), Apache (Arizona and New Mexico), Navajo (New Mexico), and Kenaitze (Alaska) tribal schools. It also has been adapted for use in state schools with students who have special needs (e.g., deafness, blindness, learning disabilities, and behavioral disorders).
Project ACHIEVE uses professional development and ongoing technical assistance to target and reinforce critical staff skills and intervention approaches. The program incorporates a continuum of student services, including prevention, strategic intervention, and crisis management, and consists of seven interdependent components implemented over 3 years:
- Strategic planning and organizational analysis and development
- Data-based problem-solving, Response-to-Intervention, teaming, and consultation processes (SPRINT/RtI)
- Effective school, schooling, and professional development
- Academic instruction linked to academic assessment, supports, intervention, and achievement (PASS)
- Age-appropriate social skills instruction linked to behavioral assessment, intervention, self-management, and Positive Behavioral Support Systems (PBSS)
- Parent and community training, support, and outreach
- Data management, evaluation, and accountability
Project ACHIEVE is implemented in a series of evidence-based steps that occur over a three-year period, involving the school's (and often district
Howard M. Knoff, Ph.D., NCSP
President; Director
Project ACHIEVE Incorporated
49 Woodberry Road
Little Rock, AR 72212
Phone: (501) 312-1484
Fax: (501) 312-1493
E-mail: knoffprojectachieve@earthlink.net
Web site: www.projectachieve.info
The costs of implementing Project ACHIEVE depend on the school or district
Project ACHIEVE components have been evaluated and validated through a number of studies that have used quasi-experimental designs and related statistical analyses. In one four year longitudinal study completed by the Arkansas Department of Education as part of its first federally-funded State Improvement Grant, data from six Project ACHIEVE schools that demonstrated high implementation fidelity were analyzed against two to four comparison schools that were demographically matched to each respective school. In the six Project ACHIEVE schools:
- The average number of annual office discipline referrals per 100 students decreased from 65.5 at baseline to 42.14 after 1 year of implementation and 38.14 after 2 years of implementation. In contrast, the 17 comparison schools, which were demographically matched to intervention schools but did not implement Project ACHIEVE, averaged 43.31 office discipline referrals at baseline, 47.68 at 1-year follow-up, and 37.83 at 2-year follow-up (p < .01).
- The administrative actions per 100 students decreased from baseline to 1-year follow-up (mean change score of 83.36). In contrast, the administrative actions for the 17 comparison schools, which were demographically matched to intervention schools but did not implement Project ACHIEVE, increased from baseline to 1-year follow-up (mean change score of 171.93; p = .043.). From baseline to 2-year follow-up, the number of administrative actions per 100 students decreased in the Project ACHIEVE schools (mean change score of 69.70) and the comparison schools (mean change score of 120.49), with no significant difference in the change between intervention and comparison schools.
- On the Arkansas State Benchmark Test, scores in literacy improved for 4 groups of the 3rd graders, 3 groups of the 4th graders, and the group of 5th graders out of a total of 11 groups.
- On the ITBS, scores in literacy improved for 2 groups of the 3rd graders and 2 groups of the 4th graders out of 11 groups.
- Of the 12 above groups that showed increases in literacy, 8 reached statistical significance (p values ranging from < .001 to < .05). Further, four groups of students increased their scores on the ITBS from baseline to 2-year follow-up more than their comparison school counterparts (p values < .05).
- On the Arkansas State Benchmark Test, scores in mathematics improved for all 11 groups (5 groups of 3rd graders, 4 groups of 4th graders, the group of 5th graders, and the group of 6th graders).
- On the ITBS Math Concepts and Estimation test, scores improved for 4 groups of the 3rd graders and 3 groups of the 4th graders, out of a total of 11 groups.
- On the ITBS Math Problem Solving and Data Interpretation test, scores improved for 4 groups of the 3rd graders, 3 groups of the 4th graders, and the group of 5th graders, out of a total of 11 groups.
- Of the 26 above groups that showed increases in mathematics, 12 groups reached statistical significance (p values ranging from < .001 to < .05). Further, five groups of students increased their average math score on the ITBS from baseline to 2-year follow-up more than their comparison school counterparts (p values < .05).
Guided by each school
- Listed on the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP)
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: Model Program
- Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Promising Program
- Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning: Select Program
Harding, M., Knoff, H. M., Glenn, R., Johnson, L., Schrag, H., & Schrag, J. (2008). The Arkansas State Improvement Grant evaluation and outcome report to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs: Improving student outcomes through the school-wide implementation of Project ACHIEVE's Positive Behavioral Support Systems. Little Rock, AR: Arkansas Department of Education, Special Education Unit.
Killian, J.M., Fish, M.C., & Maniago, E.B. (2006). Journal of Applied School Psychology, 23(1), 1-30. Knoff, H.M. & Batsche, G.M. (1995). Project Achieve: Analyzing a school reform process for at-risk and underachieving students. School Psychology Review, 24(4), 579-603.
Knoff, H. (2008). Project ACHIEVE overview and briefing document. Little Rock, AR: Arkansas Department of Education, Special Education Unit. Available online at http://www.projectachieve.info/assets/files/pdfs/APBS_Evaluation_Scales_Handout_408.pdf
Quinn, M. M., Osher, D., Hoffman, C. C., & Hanley, T. V. (1998). Safe, drug-free, and effective schools for ALL children: What Works! Washington, DC: Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice, American Institutes for Research.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2009). SAMHSA
