Designing for Learner Variability: Examining the Impact of Research-based Edtech in the Classroom

While research shows that learners differ in many ways, this work must be translated into actionable strategies to benefit students. We describe the results of our partnership with ReadWorks, a widely-used literacy edtech platform, to help them implement research-based pedagogical features that support learners with diverse needs. In a national survey of over 11,000 educators, 89 percent said they were likely to assign more articles on ReadWorks and 82 percent said they were likely to assign higher-level articles as a result of the features available to students. We also examined K-6 students’ (N=1857) use of these optional features when completing digital assignments and found that 92% of students tried at least one new feature and engaged with harder assignments when they used the features than when they did not. Feature use did not differ by student characteristics such as reading proficiency or special education status, suggesting that these features could potentially benefit all students when they need extra support.