And RISE Summer Learning Program
Lavinia Group is thrilled to partner with Summer Learning Labs for the fifth year to provide our proven RISE Summer Learning program to students and educators across Indiana. Summer Learning Labs is a collaborative effort between The Mind Trust, The Indiana Department of Education, and the Lavinia Group to provide high-impact summer programming to students across Indiana.
With expertise in year-round K-8 academic growth, we specialize in curriculum, coaching, and professional development that uniquely position us to address the challenges of unfinished learning over the summer. Our comprehensive Summer RISE program equips educators to bridge learning gaps, setting students up for success in the upcoming school year.
SUMMER 2025 PROGRAM RESULTS
In the summer of 2025, more than 12,000 students entering grades 1 through 9 following summer break were served at 144 sites across five service area regions in Indiana. All students participating in Summer Learning Labs used the RISE Summer Learning Curriculum. To determine overall growth and efficacy of the program, students take a pre-test and a post-test. Below are the results from the summer of 2025.
RISE Summer Learning Program Overview
What RISE Includes:
5 Weeks of Standards-Aligned Curriculum
Caregiver Communication
Pre- and Post-Assessments
Progress Monitoring Trackers
On-Demand Training Modules
Live Weekly Office Hours
Teaching Channel Subscription
Professional Development
Rise ELA Curriculum
We provide 90 minutes of engaging, science-of-reading–aligned literacy instruction, structured into two components based on students’ grade levels. Students in Rising 1st–2nd Grade participate in RedThread Foundations, a systematic phonics program, and an Author Study block. Students in Rising 3rd–9th Grade engage in Close Reading for Meaning and a RedThread Knowledge, Author Study, block.
The systematic phonics curriculum, grounded in the science of reading, places a strong emphasis on phonics, ensuring a solid foundation for reading and language development. Lessons are explicit, cumulative, and sequential—building knowledge step by step—while incorporating multisensory activities that engage students through visual aids and manipulatives. To reinforce learning in context, students read paired decodable texts with carefully controlled vocabulary and phonics patterns. These RedThread Readers, designed for summer, offer rich, engaging stories that both captivate young readers and strengthen their decoding skills.
Curious to see how our decodable readers can help your students shine?
Download a sample of our systematic phonics curriculum
The RedThread RISE Close Reading Curriculum develops both foundational and comprehension skills through a structured five-day reading cycle. Students begin by focusing on foundational reading skills such as morphological awareness, decoding, and fluency, before using genre as an entry point to analyze a text’s main idea and the author’s craft. Throughout the cycle, genre-based, transferable questions prompt students to return to the text for evidence, sharpening critical thinking and building confidence in tackling complex texts. After engaging in this process with the teacher, students apply their learning independently to a paired passage, demonstrating their growing proficiency.
Curious to see how our decodable readers can help your students shine?
Download a sample of our systematic phonics curriculum
Building on foundational reading skills, the RedThread RISE Knowledge curriculum, formerly known as Insight Humanities, teaches students to become thoughtful, engaged readers. By focusing on a single author or immersing in a full novel, students deepen comprehension, expand vocabulary, and develop a genuine love of reading. Each workshop features carefully curated texts that reflect diverse backgrounds and authentic experiences, ensuring representation while avoiding bias and stereotypes. The curriculum strategically connects Close Reading topics to Author and Novel Studies, helping students build knowledge networks that strengthen understanding of themes and ideas. Daily text-based writing tasks further reinforce comprehension and analytical skills, giving students meaningful opportunities to express their thinking with grade-appropriate vocabulary and language.
Curious to see how our decodable readers can help your students shine?
Download a sample of our systematic phonics curriculum
Rise math Curriculum
We provide 75 minutes of real-life discourse-driven mathematical curriculum broken into two components for all grade-levels: Story Problems and Math Routines.
Grounded in the belief that all students are mathematicians, the Math Story Problems curriculum engages learners through real-world contexts—such as shopping, sports, or travel—encouraging them to see the relevance of math in everyday life. With a wide variety of grade-level problem types, students develop multiple strategies for solving unknowns, applying flexible thinking while participating in hands-on learning and rich mathematical discourse. By persevering through challenges and sharing their reasoning, students deepen understanding, build confidence, and strengthen precision, equipping them to tackle any mathematical task independently while mastering grade-level standards.
Created specifically for RISE, these short, structured math routines target common gaps in student knowledge while strengthening foundational skills and concepts such as counting, operations, place value, and proportional relationships. Designed for daily use, the routines build both conceptual understanding and fluency, helping students develop speed, accuracy, and confidence with essential math operations. With five consistent routine structures used across grades and content, teachers can easily integrate these targeted activities into instruction, ensuring students are well-prepared for success in the next grade.
Curriculum Alignment
The RISE curriculum is strategically designed so it can be used by any educator in any state.
Adapting to State Standards
View MoreFocusing on Power Standards
View MoreAddressing Unfinished Learning
View MoreAligned to the Science of Reading
View MoreView Indiana State Standards
3 Ways to Engage with RISE Professional Development
Lavinia Group provides leader training, teacher training, and ongoing support throughout the summer. Sites using the Lavinia RISE Curriculum receive these professional development services at no cost.
Pre-Program Leader Training
Before Teacher Training begins, leaders participate in a dedicated training session designed to prepare them for a successful summer launch. This session introduces the Lavinia RISE program, highlights strategies for supporting educators, and provides structured time for curriculum exploration across literacy and math. Leaders also receive assessment training with LinkIt; including rostering, administration guidance, and essential platform functionality.
Wednesday, May 13
11:00 am – 1:30 pm ET live on Zoom
Pre-Program Teacher Training
Lavinia Group will lead training sessions to help Indiana educators internalize the curriculum and feel fully prepared for launch. These interactive sessions include model lessons, guided planning, and strategies for delivering engaging, differentiated instruction that supports diverse learners. Teachers will also receive LinkIt assessment training—covering administration, scoring, and key platform features in order to build confidence in using data to inform instruction.
Training modalities and schedules vary across ISLL and EWW programs; program leaders will provide specific details and next steps.
Ongoing Support & Office Hours
Throughout the summer, educators will have access to weekly virtual office hours, hosted by a Lavinia Group coach, to answer questions and provide real-time support with intellectual preparation, data analysis, differentiation, and program implementation. In addition, teachers will have access to a library of asynchronous resources they can use at any time to deepen their practice and address emerging classroom needs.
Shining Moments of Student Growth
RISE delivers meaningful results. Explore interactive before-and-after examples of student work, showcasing the measurable growth students achieved in just five weeks.
Rising 1st Grade
Word Spacing & Spelling Improvement
Initially, the student struggles with word spacing and phonetic spelling. By week four, the student is correctly spacing words, and we see an improvement in phonetic spelling.
Rising 6th Grade
Problem Solving Improvement
By the fourth week of RISE, the student applies mathematical expressions to solve problems, signaling meaningful development in their comprehension and application of math concepts.
2025 RISE At a Glance
Organizations
Testimonial
“Every professional on the Lavinia team is exceptionally knowledgeable, thinks through the lens of student achievement, and acts as a true thought partner. The team is flexible to the dynamics and shifting needs of a small charter network and demonstrates through action that we are a priority to them despite our small size. Lavinia Group is a go-to strategic partner for our organization.”
Casey Paulus Crews, Champion Education Network
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FAQ
What do you recommend for students who are significantly below grade level?
We recommend small group, individualized instruction for students who are significantly behind grade level. Our phonics curriculum can be used flexibly across any grade level to support developing readers. Additionally, our Math Routines curriculum can be adapted for small group instruction to support mathematical reasoning, build number sense, and address content gaps.
What is the format of the pre- and post-assessments?
Each assessment is designed to take 30-45 minutes and includes both multiple-choice and open-response questions (except for Rising Grades 1-3 ELA, which is only open-response).
RISE will provide scoring guides, rubrics, and virtual professional development on administering and scoring assessments. Assessment data will be available immediately for school leaders to analyze and for teachers to adjust their summer instruction accordingly.
We recommend that assessments be administered digitally, but they can also be administered via pen and paper if necessary. Any assessments administered via pen and paper will need to be entered into the assessment platform afterward.
The pre- and post-assessments are not intended to be comprehensive evaluations of students’ overall academic abilities. Instead, they focus on a subset of grade-level standards that align with the specific skills and concepts taught in the RISE curriculum.
What standards does the RISE Summer Learning Program align with?
The curriculum aligns with Common Core State Standards and state-specific standards.
However, the curriculum does not cover all possible standards within a grade level. Instead, it focuses on a smaller set of “power standards”—essential skills and concepts for each grade level.
RISE aims to bridge learning gaps and prepare students for the upcoming grade level. To accomplish this, the curriculum focuses on standards from the previous grade level. For example, students entering 1st grade (Rising 1st) in the fall would work on those kindergarten “power standards.” This approach seeks to solidify foundational knowledge before moving on to new grade-level content.
What format will our school receive the materials?
You will receive access to the curriculum as downloadable PDFs by grade level through the RISE Summer Learning Program platform.
The materials are labeled based on the grade students will enter in the fall of 2025 (e.g., students entering 3rd grade in the fall will use materials labeled “Rising 3rd Grade”).
Schools can print and organize these materials by day, week, or in one batch for the summer session.