Evidence of Effectiveness

Trainers at Tools often hear from teachers and school administrators how well children in the Tools preschool and kindergarten programs are doing. Districts implementing Tools show fewer incident reports, higher levels of parent satisfaction, and fewer discipline problems. Teachers report less aggression and fighting and more positive social interactions. Districts implementing Tools in both preschool and kindergarten also report reduced levels of referrals to special education. Kindergarten teachers report that children can stay on task, work independently at centers, set learning goals, and stay motivated. Teachers also share that they have fewer classroom management issues and improved ability to individualize for children.

Districts implementing Tools in kindergarten have reported gains in literacy and math scores on district achievement tests, and several districts have revised their literacy curriculum sequences for K-3 because of children’s higher skill levels. Some districts have reported significant gains in TerraNova and DIBELS test scores. While we love hearing these anecdotes, our program had had its positive results confirmed by several recent rigorous scientific research studies.

Research Studies: the knowledge base

Because Tools is a research-based program we seek to partner with research institutions to continue building the academic knowledge base regarding the effects of self-regulation on student outcomes and how best to support its development in children.

Here are three recent studies showing the effectiveness of Tools in a pre-school and kindergarten setting:

Educational Effectiveness of a Vygotskian Approach to Preschool Education: A Randomized Trial. Barnett, W., Jung, K., Yarosz, D., Thomas, J., Hornbeck, A.

In a double-randomized design study of preschool Tools compared to a control group using a high-quality ECE program with no emphasis on self-regulation, children in Tools were found to have higher rates of self-regulation. (The study was conducted by the NIEER, National Institute for Early Education Research.) In addition to student gains, teachers trained in Tools scored higher in classroom management measures, used classroom time more productively, and had a higher rate of appropriate and cognitively challenging interactions, as measured by the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale and the CLASS.

Preschool Program Improves Cognitive Control. Diamond, A.

A follow-up quasi-experimental study using classrooms from the NIEER study compared the self-regulation/executive levels of children in Tools preschool classrooms with a group of matched controls who did not attend Tools, and found higher levels of executive function/self-regulation as measured on neurocognitive tests (University of British Columbia Medical School). Student levels of self-regulation were correlated with achievement levels on standardized tests (Woodcock Johnson, Peabody Picture Vocabulary test). The November 30, 2007 issue of Science Magazine presents the results from this study.

Tools of the mind: A case study of implementing the Vygotskian approach in American Early Childhood and Primary Classrooms. Bodrova and Leong (2001)

Several quasi-experimental research studies of kindergarten children found significant gains in literacy skills in comparison to a control group. Children had higher levels of sound-to-symbol correspondence, better voice-to-print match, and better understanding of the concept of a sentence. In addition, they were able to write more words outside of a controlled vocabulary taught in the textbook series, and had more accurate spelling and better phonemic encoding of words.

National and International Recognition

In 2001, the International Bureau of Education, an arm of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural organization (UNESCO), named Tools an exemplary innovative educational program.
Because of the quality of the footage showing Tools classroom activities, Tools was chosen for the “Heads-up Reading” television series as well as the “Growing and Learning in Preschool” video produced by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).
Scaffolded Writing, a technique invented by Tools to teach writing, has been named as a model literacy technique by the International Reading Association.
Davidson Films produced four videos using the concepts and instructional techniques developed for Tools:
- Building Literacy Competencies in Early Childhood, Davidson Films, 2000. 30 minutes.
- Play: The Vygotskian Approach Davidson Films, 1996. 28 minutes.
- Scaffolding Self Regulated Learning in the Primary Grades. Davidson Films, 1996. 28 minutes.
- Vygotsky: An Introduction Davidson Films, 1994. 29 minutes.