New Studies
There are currently two rigorous and comprehensive studies underway, one in Virginia and one in Texas.
We believe that these new studies will further demonstrate that proper implementation of the Ignite! Learning COW produces improved results across a wide variety of student demographics.

The Research Base of Ignite! Learning Products
Written by Dr. Rob Foshay
Rob Foshay, PhD, CPT
Rob Foshay is President of The Foshay Group. He is a recognized leader in the field instructional design, eLearning and competency-based assessment. He has more than 25 years of leadership experience applying instructional design research to plan truly cost-effective strategies and product architectures for eLearning, simulation and assessment.

His background includes a faculty position at the University of Illinois - Champaign, and experience as a high school social studies teacher and technology coordinator . His doctorate is in instructional design from Indiana University. He has written more than 70 major articles and book chapters on instructional design, technology and education/training, and speaks frequently before educators and trainers world-wide.

He is co-author of the award-winning textbook, Writing Training That Works: How to Teach Anyone to Do Anything, a practical guide for trainers based on current cognitive psychology and instructional design theory and research. He currently serves on the editorial boards of three research journals.

He has served on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (IBSTPI), as well as an ANSI/ASQ committee, which developed standards for training and education under the ISO 9000 system. He was cited by ISPI with Honorary Life Membership and a Distinguished Service Award, and is a Certified Performance Technologist. Dr. Foshay was also named a Fellow of the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (IBSTPI).

This research piece addresses NCLB requirements and talks about the methodology used to develop the COW. Key points are:

• Brain-based or cognitive learning: research shows that middle school students are motivated by a high excitement factor and low effort factor.  The COW uses engaging animated and interactive media to improve students’ attention.
• Knowledge structure: research has shown that students retain more knowledge and achieve a deeper understanding when the lesson is framed in terms of knowledge structures. The COW is instructionally designed to create and reinforce cognitive structures.
• Technology in the classroom: research shows that technology adoption in schools is most effective when the technologies are based on design assumptions reflecting the values and practices of the classroom.  Teachers can very easily integrate the Ignite! Learning technology for success in their classroom.

Evidence of Academic Achievement
Case Studies:
Carrie Schreiber, the 5th science teacher at Burnet Elementary School, used the COW daily for just 3.5 months and remarkably the test scores for Burnet's economically disadvantaged population rose 20% from 67% passing rate in 2005 to 87% in 2006. According to Kellie Ebenstein, the principal at Burnet, that is 29% higher than economically disadvantaged students state wide and 33% higher than similar students in the region based on the Accountability Data Tables from The Texas Education Agency.
- Ed Zachary, Superintendent, Midland ISD, Texas

The principal of Crockett Intermediate School attributes their 22% increase in standardized science test scores to teachers teaching with the COW regularly.
- Mark Giles, Principal, Crockett Intermediate School, Crockett ISD, Texas

"Last semester after completing the Earth Science district assessment, my students scored an average of 71% proficiency. This semester after our Physical Science unit my students scored 76% and I think it was partly because I had use of the COW."
- Grace Nimnualrat, Teacher, San Antonio Elementary School and Magnet Center, California

Other Studies
Recently, two exploratory studies were released regarding the efficacy of the Ignite! Learning curricular approach. Both studies were conducted (a) prior to the development of the Ignite! COW and (b) in situations in which there was limited usage of the curriculum. The studies use smaller samples and therefore provide only partial evidence of program validity, but both studies do show positive results.
University of Dayton (Brahler)

• The study shows an improved pass rate and "commended performance" rate on the Texas TAKS test, in comparison to the rate in the previous year. The improvement in pass rate was 5% (compared to a gain of just 3% in the previous year). The improvement in "commended performance” rate was 3.5% vs. 1.4% for the previous year.
• The teacher survey and login data show that there was consistent use of Ignite!, and teachers liked it and believed it to be effective.

CCSD Research Project (Boone and Kingsley)

• Students using Ignite! regularly in 7th grade history gained about twice as much as students who did not. The gain from pretest to post-test was 12.2% for the IGNITE! students, vs. 6.1% for the non-Ignite! students. This was not due to chance alone.
• When LEP students were analyzed separately, Ignite! students gained more than non-ignite! Students.