The Houston Independent School District Office of Special Populations launched the Level-Up Program on Tuesday to support grade level acceleration of overage elementary students.  

In partnership with Imagine Learning, Level-Up works with overaged students in grades 2-4 and 6-7 to provide accelerated learning interventions that will allow them to master state-mandated learning objectives and advance one grade level by the beginning of their second semester.  

“This is definitely a dream come true,” Officer of Special Populations Courtney Busby said. “We’ve been talking about solutions for our overaged students for some time now, and we want to be sure we are meeting the needs of all of our learners.” 

Level-Up will focus its efforts on students that have been retained at least one academic year.  For grade-level promotion, identified students must be able to complete all assignments in the Imagine Math and Imagine literacy pathways developed for their current and next grade levels. They must also maintain a 70 or above average for all Imagine Learning assignments. 

Over 40 schools throughout the district have been identified for the new program, with each campus selecting an overage coordinator, who will track and monitor student progress. And while these educators are focused on helping students academically, they also want to help overage students with their self-esteem and self-confidence. 

“We do know things happen, and circumstances come up and we don’t want students to get discouraged,” Busby said. “We want to provide them with the opportunities to overcome them and give them all that they can to be successful.”