We Use What Works

Research-based education is what we’re about.
The educational programs in operation in all of TIEE’s schools derive from solid research concerning what works in classrooms.  TIEE’s mission makes clear our commitment to using teaching methods and materials that are evidence-based, proven by systematic and extensive research to be effective teaching tools:

“In order to implement its curriculum, TIEE resolves to choose teaching materials that have proved successful with real students in real classrooms or to develop its own materials in accordance with well-established behavioral principles. TIEE is committed to the use of teaching methods that have the weight of scientific evidence, including the following practices:

• Frequent positive consequences for desirable student behavior;
• High rates of student responding to instructionally relevant tasks;
• Direct teaching of the skills, knowledge, and procedures that students must know to achieve at high levels; and
• Regular collection and evaluation of student performance data to make timely instructional decisions for individual students.”

Our mission’s list of teaching fundamentals is not intended to be exhaustive. There are other, well-established practices that are used in TIEE’s schools. We also investigate promising practices, such as video modeling, to determine whether they are effective and efficient and in which areas of the curriculum and with which group of students.

“Catch ‘em being good”
We believe that learning and affect are inseparable. This differs from the common view that a lesson is effective if the student has learned a skill or knowledge. We believe that “learning and liking the learning process” is a far more desirable outcome to “learning and disliking the learning process.” Consequently, a fundamental principle of our teaching, its very cornerstone method, and TIEE’s motto is “catch ‘em being good.”

We praise students often for learning and for striving. The result is that observers of our schools often comment that they have never seen such high levels of “on-task” behavior and such a positive learning environment. One California state reviewer said: “This is the most positive place I’ve ever been, not just the most positive school, but the most positive place of any kind!” Our teachers obviously care about their students.

A school in which teachers, students, and everyone else regularly catches one another being good and praises them for it is a school that everyone wants to attend. It’s a school that celebrates learning, honors academic growth, recognizes citizenship, and creates good friends. Teachers want to teach; students want to learn. A school that is positive is a school without ridicule, “put downs,” bullying, and other undesirable social interaction. Years ago, we saw a sign in the world famous San Diego zoo and immediately thought its message was appropriate for children, so we edited it as it appears here.

“Catch ‘em being good” is TIEE’s cornerstone method; yet, however important it might be, it is not the entire building. We do not merely wait for good behaviors to happen; we actively teach good behaviors and we develop ways to know that our teaching has been successful.