June 2002 — Industry Perspective

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The Impact of ESEA's Scientifically Based Research Requirement on Schools' Technology Solutions

By Sloane O'Neal, Senior Vice President, CompassLearning Inc.

  • The effectiveness of instructional technology for student achievement in the classroom.
  • The compilation of knowledge on teaching and learning (learning styles, direct vs. indirect instruction, etc.), and its application to the company's products.
  • An understanding of the latest research in curriculum areas, such as math and reading, and a demonstrated application to products.
  • Evaluation studies, including evidence of the solution's effect on student achievement in school settings, recently as well as several years back.
  • What assessments work and how they link to curriculum and classroom instruction.
  • An understanding of the research on professional development approaches and demonstrated integration into the company's solution.

    • To be effective, companies that create educational products must have expertise in the curriculum pedagogy. Companies should use internal and external curriculum and assessment experts for planning and product development. The product development staff should be in continual communication with educators and curriculum consultants around the country to stay abreast of changes in instruction. They should also ensure all products are tested in the field.

    2. Product development methodology, on-site product testing and data evaluation. Companies with whom educators do business should be able to document advanced processes for in-house product development and out of house reviews. A recursive internal review cycle for product development includes ongoing review by internal product marketing experts and external curriculum consultants, and in-depth review by members of the product development team. Having the right processes in place requires skilled and knowledgeable employees in product research and development. While this skill and knowledge is essential to building strong instructional technology solutions, the in-depth review process is costly. Many companies cut corners by simply ignoring important quality assurance steps.

    In creating assessments like the new CompassLearning Explorer, which is aligned with state and the National Assessment of Educational Progress standards, CompassLearning implemented a thorough item development, evaluation and field-testing process that required attention and analysis from in-house developers, external assessment consultants and on-site teachers. The product was then tested with students in school district settings. It is important that all products be evaluated for:

  • Bias review
  • Sensitivity review
  • Content validity
  • Instructional validity
  • Concurrent validity

    • The field studies were followed by a thorough item analysis, a re-editing of the assessment, and the forming of partnerships with districts for three-year longitudinal studies that focused on student achievement gains. The data analysis becomes part of the ongoing product cycle: research, develop, test, collect and analyze data, and edit. For the sake of accountability and student achievement, educators should ask about and understand the development and review processes of any company with which it plans to do business.

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