The Level Up Progam
The Level Up program is an intensive teaching assistant role where you navigate classroom support to various students of differing academic backgrounds. In efforts to create equity, CPS English and History Departments held a series of joint meetings to discuss enhancing 9th grade instruction to address persisting opportunity gaps and the under-representation of students of color in Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Teachers and administrators determined that continuing to offer both Honors and College Preparatory level English and World History classes at the beginning of a student’s CRLS experience stratifies the student community and reinforces opportunity gaps. To address this problem, Cambridge Public Schools decided to “level up” by having all students engage in Honors level English and World History instruction. This implementation plan was made after careful study and several conversations among teachers, students and administrators.
The Level UP TA Program
The Level Up TA Program began in the Fall 2019 semester with only four TAs across ninth grade ELA and History classes. Since then, the program has quickly expanded. In the Fall 2020 semester, the Level Up TA Mentor role was established. Ninth grade Physics joined during the 2022-2023 school year. In the Spring 2023 semester, the Level Up TA Program boasted its biggest cohort ever with 17 TAs working with nine different ELA, History, and Physics teachers. To match the growing size of the program, in Spring 2023, the TA Mentors began faciliating a weekly Falcon Block for all current TAs. This space allowed the TA Mentors to more intentionally build a community among the TAs. During Falcon Block, the Mentors are able to facilitate conversations about teaching and learning, TAs can share experiences and tips, and the group can discuss upcoming assignments, troubleshoot issues, and learn from each other. For the 2025-2026 school year, the Level Up TA Program received the most applicants in its history--42 students applied to return to ninth grade classrooms to support the academic and social-emotional development of CRLS students.
As of Spring 2025, 127 students have participated in the Level Up TA Program, and 16 have served as both TAs and Mentors.