Kansas University, Arizona State University and the Lawrence school district are partnering in a project to use a comprehensive approach — emphasizing the academic, behavioral and emotional needs of students — to help those who are struggling in school.

“It really is a whole-child approach,” said Kevin Harrell, director of student services for the Lawrence school district. “Different things may be interfering with their progress or their learning.”

The three-tiered approach recognizes that a student may have social, emotional or behavioral problems, such as not getting along with other children or dealing with anger, that are negatively affecting their learning, Harrell explained.

“It’s those soft skills we try to teach to help students get along with others and work collaboratively,” he said.

The staff in the Lawrence district is working with researchers at KU and ASU to implement and evaluate the approach, known as Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-tiered Models, or CI3T. Lawrence teachers and staff trained in CI3T determine where the students’ specific needs are in all three categories, and provide a plan so they are able to make progress, Harrell said.

“There are different tiers of support,” Harrell said. “Our goal is to provide intervention before they fail.”

The Lawrence school district began using CI3T to support struggling students at its elementary schools last year, but the partnership with KU and ASU has helped to fund an expansion that includes middle and high school students as well. The expansion ensures consistency across all the district’s buildings when dealing with academic, behavioral, social and emotional issues, Harrell said.

“From one building to the next, the expectations are the same, and that’s really helpful for family and students,” Harrell said.

The approach includes academic instruction linked to the Kansas College and Career Ready Standards; a curriculum for teaching social skills and character education; and behavioral interventions that clearly define and then reinforce positive behavior.

Reinforcements for good behavior can vary, and one example is the use of coupons or tickets, which students can exchange for school supplies or prizes at their school store, Harrell explained.

“It’s really focused on the student, the effective behaviors and rewarding those behaviors,” he said.

The collaboration enables KU, ASU and the Lawrence school district to put the CI3T approach into widespread practice, as well as collect and analyze data to evaluate its effectiveness.

“They (KU and ASU) are helping us do what we want to do, and also support some of what they are doing,” Harrell said.

The Institute of Education Sciences funded the research project with a $400,000 grant to the universities, which will support the study for the next two years. The study will include approximately 12,000 students and more than 1,000 teachers from prekindergarten through 12th grade in all 20 schools in the district, according to the grant description.

As part of the project, KU and ASU will provide training to Lawrence public school staff in CI3T and help develop a long-term plan, so that the approach will continue after KU and ASU are done with their research.

“All the training is really to institutionalize CI3T, so we can continue this long past when the grant is out,” Harrell said. “Once it becomes institutionalized and part of the system, it should be able to continue without the extra funding.”