Research Report: Impacts of the Use of Study Island Practice and Benchmarks
Date: 2018-04-12
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: State Standards,Accountability,Standardized Tests,Educational Assessment,Progress Monitoring,Formative Evaluation,Feedback (Response),Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Program Effectiveness,Correlation,Academic Achievement,Language Arts,Science Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Educational Resources,Student Characteristics,At Risk Students,Elementary Schools,Middle Schools,Elementary Secondary Education,High Schools,Tests,Scores,Drills (Practice),Benchmarking,Individualized Instruction

Study Island is a practice and assessment tool that provides state-standards-aligned opportunities for students to practice their skills. Study Island is a system of continual assessments with immediate feedback to adjust instruction and learning. When educators integrate Study Island into their instructional practices, it acts as a formative, ongoing assessment tool that provides students with a platform to practice or demonstrate their knowledge of taught standards. This approach reflects the elements of formative assessments as a process for monitoring progress and adjusting instruction. Research on formative assessment and progress monitoring practices has demonstrated positive outcomes for student achievement (Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, &amp; Kulik, 1991; Black &amp; Wiliam, 1998; Fuchs &amp; Fuchs, 1986; Stiggins, 1999; Wolf, 2007). The district of Allentown, Pennsylvania (PA) is a current Study Island partner. As a district in PA, Allentown participates in the state's accountability system. The Pennsylvania Accountability System (PAS) holds schools and districts accountable to a range of measures, including participation rate, graduation or attendance rate, with the goal of closing the achievement gap for all students, and specifically for historically underperforming students. As part of their accountability, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) is administered annually to students in grades 3 through 8 for English Language Arts (ELA) and Math, as well as grades 4, 8, and 11 for Science (SC). In support of Allentown School District's partnership with Edmentum, this study is intended to provide a research basis for Study Island in terms of the research literature and analyses of Allentown students' level of usage and performance data within Study Island compared to their performance on the PSSA. Through a series of descriptive and statistical analyses, which include pseudo-controls through Propensity Score Matching, the findings in this study suggest there are discernable and statistically significant positive impacts on PSSA scores for students participating in Study Island Practice and Benchmarks. Generally, implementation and use of Study Island Practice and Benchmarks in Allentown varies by grade and content area. In Practice, students appear to be answering relatively few questions and spending minimal time over the course of the year. Where students spend more time, answer more questions, and spread their time over active weeks, positive differences are observed. This is evident in the grade 6 Math significant differences in mean scale scores and impact data. While not statistically significantly different, grade 6 ELA also shows some interesting differences in the method or approach to implementing Study Island Practice compared to other grades and content areas. In addition, when students are exposed to the Benchmarks -- in this case limited to Grades 7 and 8 for ELA and Math, and grades 4 and 8 for SC -- there is a strong and significant association between scores on the Benchmarks and scores on the PSSA. These statistically significant observations remain even after controlling for student ability, based on their prior-year PSSA scores. These analyses are clearly impacted by the quality and approach by which schools use Study Island Practice or Benchmarks. It would be an important next step to understand the qualitative differences in implementation approaches, such as for Grade 6 students. Understanding the methods will help guide implementations that drive evidence-based, positive outcomes for students. [This report was produced by Edmentum Research.]