SBIR-STTR Award

Reading Roots II: Reading "Between the Lions": Combining Instruction with Technology and Multimedia to Ensure That Every Child Succeeds in Reading by Third Grade
Award last edited on: 3/23/2023

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DoEd
Total Award Amount
$1,098,444
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
91990019R0012
Principal Investigator
Christopher Cerf

Company Information

Sirius Thinking Limited (AKA: Sirius Thinking Ltd~Between The Lions)

146 East 62nd Street
New York, NY 10021
   (212) 421-8893
   info@siriusthinking.com
   www.siriusthinking.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 12
County: New York

Phase I

Contract Number: 91990018C0024
Start Date: 5/10/2018    Completed: 1/9/2019
Phase I year
2018
Phase I Amount
$199,953
In previous research and development, researchers developed the Reading Roots, a non-technology delivered intervention for grade school that alternates teacher- delivered instruction with activities where children practice content and skills while working with a peer partner. In this project, the team will create a prototype of a technology-delivered version of Reading Roots, by integrating multimedia videos and learning games to personalize learning, and by creating a platform that provides formative assessment data on student performance to support grouping and to guide instruction. At the end of Phase I, in a pilot study with four grade 1 classrooms, the team will examine whether the prototype functions as planned, whether teachers believe that the full product concept could be implemented, and whether children are engaged while using the various components of the prototype.

Phase II

Contract Number: 91990019C0039
Start Date: 6/26/2019    Completed: 6/25/2021
Phase II year
2019
Phase II Amount
$898,491
Purpose: In this project, the team will create Reading Roots II: Reading "Between the Lions," a multimedia classroom intervention that uses systematically targeted videos and game-like technology-assisted partner practice activities to personalize literacy education for grade 1 students. Project Activities: During Phase I in 2018, the team developed a prototype that integrated videos from the literacy education TV series Between the Lions and technology-delivered learning games designed to promote critical reading skills into a three-week-long segment of the Success for All (SFA) first-grade instructional model. At the end of Phase I, a pilot research study was conducted with grade 1 students from a school that included a high proportion of students eligible for free and reduced priced lunches. Results demonstrated that the prototype operated as intended, that students found the activities engaging, and that from pre-test to post-test students' scores increased in letter-sound identification, sounding, blending, and spelling words. Project: During Phase II, the team will expand the video and interactive content of the platform to enable it to cover a full academic year's worth of lessons, and will complete development of the technological infrastructure, including the data management module, the reporting dashboard, and supplements to promote family engagement. Researchers will carry out a pilot test to examine the usability, fidelity of implementation, and efficacy of the platform in increasing reading outcomes of first graders, compared to a similar group of students that does not have access to Reading Roots II. The pilot study will include 480 students in grades 1 from eight schools where 92% of students are eligible for free and reduced priced lunches. Students in four of the schools will be randomly assigned to use the intervention and the other half will proceed with business as usual. Analyses will compare pre-and-post reading scores between the groups on established standardized measures. Cost will be assessed as calculated by fair estimates of materials, software licenses, initial and follow-up professional development, and any additional personnel. Product: In this project, the team will create the technology-delivered version of Reading Roots II: Reading "Between the Lions," by integrating content from Between the Lions, including multimedia videos and learning games to personalize learning. To participate in the intervention, students will work for 10 to 30 minutes per day in pairs while sharing a laptop or tablet. Students will alternate in roles as "coach" and "reader" reading sounds, words, or phrases presented on the computer, with an animated narrator reading the correct answers. A teacher dashboard will generate real-time progress reports at the student, class, and school level for teachers and parents. Related Projects: In previous research and development supported by ED, members of the team added computer activities and targeted multimedia resources from Sesame Street and Sirius Thinking to non-technology delivered classroom interventions previously developed by SFA for K and pre-K students, where children practice content and skills while working with a peer partner. In a previous ED/IES SBIR project, Sirius Thinking created and researched embedded vocabulary segments within the Between the Lions television program. And in a recently completed ED/IES SBIR initiative, Sirius Thinking and Success for All developed a technology-enhanced multimedia tutoring tool designed to enable paraprofessionals to serve up to six grade 1-3 struggling readers at a time.