Breakthrough Miami

Breakthrough Miami uses a unique “students-teaching-students” model to create a rigorous, vibrant learning community, where highly motivated, traditionally underrepresented 5th-12th grade students are supported to achieve post-secondary success and emerging leaders are inspired to become the next generation of educators and advocates.

Lauren Kellner Rudolph serves as the Chief Strategy Officer with Breakthrough Miami.  In this role Lauren leads the organization's program evaluations (internal and external), data-driven culture, program fidelity and efficacy, program design and growth.  Lauren is an experienced educator with two decades of experience. 

Breakthrough Miami is committed to data-informed and evidenced based programing.  The role of Chief Strategy Officer was created to ensure focus and band-width to continue to drive data-driven culture and program evaluation to ensure high-quality programming. The team also includes a data-reporting analyst who will support this work. 

In addition to Breakthrough Miami’s internal staff, we collaborate with an external research group who also support our ongoing evaluation activities. Our partner will be available to assist in ensuring that the LEAP Project’s contribution fits well within our existing research framework.

Programming addresses the opportunity gap by providing interventions to support students accessing rigorous-courses, learning-environments, OST-learning, academic-advising, and socio-emotional development to help students meet needs.

In Miami, more than half of all families with children live at or below 150% of the poverty level (The Annie E Casey Fund, KIDS COUNT). This poverty level percentage is concerning given research indicating students from low-income, minority and under-resourced environments are at a critical academic and social disadvantage due to inequitable in-school and out-of-school-time (OST) learning opportunities. The disparity in academic achievement for low-income and under-represented students is well-documented and persistent in K-12 data. In 2019, National Assessment of Educational Process data showed only 13% of Black 4th graders reached proficiency in reading, and 21% in math, compared to 46% proficiency in reading and 55% in math among White students. While the 5-year graduation rate for MDCPS shows an upward trend, nearly 20% of Black, 15% of Latino, and 15% of low-income students do not graduate from high school (FDOE, 2019).

Research evidence indicates gaps in opportunity relating to learning time beyond the classroom to be highly dependent on family socio-economic status (McCombs et al., 2017). Higher-income families spend seven times more on enriching activities than lower-income families (Duncan & Murnane, 2011). This disparity is likely to produce compounding effects, as many enrichment activities help develop critical skills, beliefs, and behaviors associated with college readiness (Richmond & Sibthorp, 2019). Additionally, skill loss that occurs during the summer (summer slide) is more prevalent in lower-resourced communities, and its effect is cumulative, resulting in wider gaps as time goes on (Quinn and Polikoff, 2017). Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) reports summer slide is the most critical factor in the achievement gap (Blazer, 2011). As the COVID-19 crisis continues, low-income and minority communities are disproportionately affected, compounding pre-existing disparities and creating new ones.

In an effort to improve the academic achievement and college graduation rates of low-income and traditionally underrepresented students in Miami, the Breakthrough Miami (BTM) AmeriCorps program will prepare and place 130 Medium Time (MT) Members to lead academic instruction and mentorship for 5th-9th grade students in our academic Summer Institute, and 24 Reduced Half Time (RHT) Members to provide academic advising and mentorship in our academic year programming for 5th-12th graders and recent high school graduates. Through a combination of out-of-school learning time and individualized advising support, Breakthrough Miami's AmeriCorps program targets course planning/enrollment, academic achievement, and college-ready milestone completion for low-income students.

Summer Learning Interventions: BTM's 6-week Summer Institute ensures under-resourced students in Miami have access to summer learning, proven to reduce academic achievement gaps, improve reading skills, and provide measurable academic gains. BTM will prepare and support 130 MT Members to engage 850 5th-9th grade students for 7 hours daily for 29 days in the summer (ED1a). Members will be trained in a 6-day intensive orientation focused on instructional and academic advising methodologies, mental health awareness, leadership, youth development, cultural competency, and compliance. Each Member will be assigned a specific grade level and will deliver core subject instruction designed for that specific grade in addition to developing and leading an elective course. Collectively delivering 10,000 hours of summer instruction, MT Members will create and teach developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive academic courses, electives, and socio-emotional learning daily over 6 weeks, serving 850 students. Certified Teachers will coach and evaluate MT Members.

School Year Interventions: During the academic year, BTM focuses on delivering school options guidance, academic advising, and academic support in addition to hands-on learning during 14 BTM Saturdays. Accelerating the organization’s advising capacity, BTM will prepare and position 24 RHT Members as advisors and mentors working with 600 students from 5th -12th grade for nine months. Each member will manage portfolios of up to 30 students. Members with portfolios of 5th-12th graders will direct approximately 12 hours per week to 1:1 advising, and 8 hours developing and delivering group advising sessions and OST academic support, including an advisory class on 14 BTM Saturdays. Members will conduct a minimum of 8 touchpoints with each student in their portfolio during the school year, supporting students in setting academic and personal goals, creating academic plans, and pursuing external academic support and acceleration opportunities. Group advising for 5th and 8th-grade families will include providing support to students in applying to matriculating schools with programs that are aligned with their interest. These interventions will ensure students are enrolled in appropriate rigorous courses and academically supported to succeed. Members will receive resources on available matriculating schools with a variety of program options. They will also receive training via curriculum mapping, academic advising through a 6-day orientation, regular professional development, and ongoing coaching. Through these activities, Members will (1) provide academic advising to ensure students can access high quality critical academic support and build college preparatory non-academic skills to 5th-12th grade students leading to high school graduation; (2) ensure high school students take necessary steps to enroll in and succeed in college; (3) ensure college students successfully advance toward degree attainment. 

Breakthrough Miami (BTM) is an affiliate of a larger network of organizations offering similar programs in different locations across the United States. Multiple quasi-experimental studies using propensity-score matching have been conducted at other Breakthrough affiliate locations. These studies point to positive effects on student outcomes, including attendance, enrollment in advanced classes, and performance on standardized assessments. Given that implementation and context may differ from one Breakthrough site to another, BTM is currently in the process of replicating this work with their own propensity score matching study. This study is currently being conducted in collaboration with research partners at Q-Q Research Consultants, and we expect to build on this with further quasi-experimental analyses that follow the same group of students over future school years. We expect this work to help us understand the on-average impact of BTM on our student Scholars. Another key aspect of our ongoing research and evaluation efforts is more formative in nature, focusing on understanding and documenting the experience of participants, their attitudes, and how they feel the program can be improved. While we consistently find positive views among our student Scholars and parents, we also find insights into areas for improvement. Based on surveys and focus groups, we formulate annual plans for further enhancing the program. One key finding of our recent work is that project-based learning (PBL) is not uniformly implemented across our sites. Since we see this is a key aspect of the BTM experience, we are now examining how to strengthen this aspect of the student experience. Participation in the LEAP would help us focus attention on this important piece of BTM in a way that we expect holds great promise in enhancing the student experience and improving their longer-term outcomes. 

The quasi-experimental approach is expected to help us understand the on-average impact of BTM on our student Scholars. However, it is of limited help in understanding implementation and impact of specific facets of our program. There are several key features of BTM that we expect to drive positive benefits for our students, including project-based learning (PBL), near-peer instruction and mentoring, and social-emotional learning. We anticipate that strengthening these key components will further enhance positive outcomes for students. A current challenge for BTM is maintaining strength and consistency in these core areas as the program grows and as new staff are brought on board. As a result, this is an important moment for us to focus on implementation and strengthening the core components of our program. Recent formative evaluation work has shown that PBL in particular is an area of opportunity moving forward. We find that not all teaching fellows are able to implement PBL with the same degree of confidence. Support through LEAP would help us in developing a strategy for strengthening this important aspect of the BTM experience and understanding how it benefits our student Scholars.

The quasi-experimental approach is expected to help us understand the on-average impact of BTM on our student Scholars. However, it is of limited help in understanding implementation and impact of specific facets of our program. There are several key features of BTM that we expect to drive positive benefits for our students, including project-based learning (PBL), near-peer instruction and mentoring, and social-emotional learning. We anticipate that strengthening these key components will further enhance positive outcomes for students. A current challenge for BTM is maintaining strength and consistency in these core areas as the program grows and as new staff are brought on board. As a result, this is an important moment for us to focus on implementation and strengthening the core components of our program. Recent formative evaluation work has shown that PBL in particular is an area of opportunity moving forward. We find that not all teaching fellows are able to implement PBL with the same degree of confidence. Support through LEAP would help us in developing a strategy for strengthening this important aspect of the BTM experience and understanding how it benefits our student Scholars.

How are participating children and their teaching fellows experiencing the implementation of project-based learning (PBL) in Breakthrough Miami classrooms?

How can implementation of PBL best be enhanced in Breakthrough Miami classrooms?

How can we best evaluate the effectiveness of the PBL aspect of the Breakthrough experience and its contribution to student outcomes moving forward?

Project-based learning (PBL) is thought to support student engagement, self-efficacy, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. PBL is a key feature of the Breakthrough Miami experience and something we expect drives some of the positive benefits for our student Scholars. We have found that both teaching fellows and our student Scholars are unaccustomed to project-based learning (PBL), which is unsurprising given the limited use of PBL in the public education system. While we include training on PBL during our orientation period and ongoing support for teaching fellows, we find that implementation remains somewhat inconsistent. Since this is a key facet of the Breakthrough experience, we would like to more deeply explore perceptions of PBL and how it can be made most effective in the context of our program. The output that we imagine being most helpful in this area would be 1) a brief study of perceptions and uptake related to PBL among our participants, 2) a series of recommendations for enhancing implementation of PBL in our program, and 3) recommendations for how ongoing evaluation work can best include a focus on this PBL component. The study component would likely entail a case study and/or user interviews in order to explore more deeply how participants experience PBL, shed light on the specific challenges they encounter, and surface some means of enhancing implementation. We imagine the final output taking the form of a report (~20 pages) detailing methods, findings, and recommendations.

Breakthrough will use this to continue to improve evidence-based programming.  It will be used to drive improvement operational materials, training and drive future program design. 

We expect this work to have clear benefits for our student Scholars. In the short term, we hope to see 1) increased understanding of the value of purpose of PBL among both our student Scholars and teaching fellows, 2) increased confidence on the part of our teaching fellows in implementing PBL, and 3) enhanced quality, rigor, and uniformity of PBL implementation across our classrooms. In the medium-to-long term, we expect this to result in greater student engagement, self-efficacy, problem solving skills, and communication skills among our student Scholars. Moreover, these changes are in turn anticipated to drive positive change in academic outcomes for our students, such as advanced course-taking at school and aspirations for higher education. To support these programmatic improvements also requires learning and growth within the BTM organization. In the short term, we aim to have a clear strategy for bolstering PBM in our classrooms with a shared understanding of its purpose and benefits. This is particularly important for us as new BTM staff are brought on board and as new teaching fellows are trained to participate in our program. In addition, we aim to implement a focus on quality PBL into our ongoing evaluation efforts in a way that provides continual feedback and information for maintaining and strengthening this key aspect of the program.