Study Island Demonstrates Positive Impacts on NWEA MAP Achievement in New Third-Party Research
Study Island Demonstrates Positive Impacts on NWEA MAP Achievement in New Third-Party Research
Edmentum releases new research conducted by Century Analytics that shows students who use Study Island are proven to make gains in achievement
Bloomington, MN (July 25, 2019) - Edmentum, a global education leader and pioneer in online teaching and learning solutions, is pleased to release a series of new research studies: Impacts of Study Island on Student Reading Achievement on the NWEA™ MAP© and Impacts of Study Island on Student Math Achievement on the NWEA™ MAP©. Century Analytics conducted these evaluations of Edmentum’s Study Island to reveal statistically significant positive impacts for student usage of Study Island across reading and math. These studies were designed to meet the What Works Clearinghouse™ (WWC) 4.0 standards needed to achieve a rating of “WWC Group Design Standards with Reservations.” These studies also meet the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) level of evidence-based intervention requirements for “Moderate Evidence.”
“Edmentum is committed to providing programs that help educators improve student achievement,” said Dr. Karen Barton, senior vice president of research and design at Edmentum. “We are thankful for our partners at Century Analytics for conducting these studies to verify the effectiveness of our programs.”
These studies evaluated the impact of Study Island on winter NWEA MAP results. Ensuring comparable groups at baseline with fall NWEA MAP RIT scores, the results showed that students who completed at least half of the Study Island topics available at their grade levels between the fall and winter NWEA MAP assessments had statistically significant higher scores on the winter NWEA relative to students who did not complete any Study Island topics. By completing at least half of the Study Island topics during the first half of the year, students were on track to work through all topics by the end of the school year and were thus covering a wide range of standards-aligned material that is required for their grade and subject. The results also suggest that Study Island is providing students with practice in standards-based academic content that improves students' scores on standardized tests.
“I was pleased to conduct this rigorous study of Study Island,” said Dr. Bruce Randel, president and chief consultant at Century Analytics. “The evidence of Study Island’s impact on student achievement found in this study should help educators nationwide make informed decisions about providing students with effective tools to support student learning.”
Study Island is a K–12 standards-based formative assessment, practice, and state test preparation tool that helps educators continuously monitor and assess student progress through a fun and engaging learning environment. Study Island is backed by multiple, valid research studies which show that Study Island meets ESSA requirements of an evidence-based intervention.
About Edmentum
Edmentum, Inc. is dedicated to making it easier for educators to individualize learning for every student through simple technology, high-quality content, and actionable data. Founded in innovation, Edmentum’s powerful learning solutions blend technology with individual teaching approaches. Edmentum is committed to being educators' most trusted partner in creating successful student outcomes everywhere learning occurs. Edmentum solutions currently support educators and students in more than 40,000 schools nationwide. For more information, visit edmentum.com.
About Century Analytics
Century Analytics, Inc. provides comprehensive technical and analytic services in research design and methods, instrument development, psychometrics, statistics, data analysis, and reporting. Bruce Randel, Ph.D., has over 20 years of experience in education research and psychometrics. Dr. Randel is certified in the most recent WWC standards, and he is involved in conducting education research around the country through such programs as Investing in Innovations (i3), Education Innovation and Research (EIR), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) program. For more information, visit centuryanalytics.com.