The No Child Left Behind legislation calls for teachers to use “scientifically based instructional practices.” Subsequently, instructional practices developed by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (KU-CRL) have been the cornerstone of the professional development provided by UCA’s Mashburn Center for Learning The education/research team at the University of Kansas has developed a research-based instructional model called SIM that represents the Strategic Instruction Model.

The overall goal associated with the Strategic Instruction Model is to enable students who have been at risk for failure in school settings to learn new skills and to transfer these new skills into their home, work, and community settings. The Strategic Instruction Model consists of three components:

• Strategic curriculum for teaching students how to perform in academic settings.
• Strategic instruction incorporating teaching behaviors that have been found to be effective in helping at-risk students learn new skills.
• Strategic environment procedures designed to help teachers create an atmosphere that encourages the use of new learning processes.

The instructional materials used to support the practices outlined by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (KU-CRL) have been rigorously field tested and validated by teachers in real classrooms. This process has included responding to suggestions from educators on the practicality of the proposed instruction as well as carefully scrutinizing research data on the procedures’ effectiveness with regard to student performance. Approximately 160 articles have been published regarding the efficacy of the instructional practices developed and implemented by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning.

(For more information about the Strategic Instruction Model, access the website, www.ku-crl.org, or call 785-864-0617. Call the CRL staff at 785-864-4780 for more information about an article list that supports the SIM methodologies).