Yes! Here's an overview of eSpark's research-based approach:
Our Learning Design Team develops the curriculum and works with our product teams to ensure eSpark remains research-based and pedagogically sound. Below is some of the research that has informed our decisions:
Balanced Literacy We’ve incorporated elements of balanced literacy—as promoted by Lucy Calkins and Nancy Atwell—in the development of our reading foundational skills and language curriculum. Students receive explicit, modeled skill instruction followed by immediate practice and application within a text.
Factors of Influence We love John Hattie’s work on factors of influence and capitalize on factors with large effect sizes like prior ability (0.94), scaffolding (0.82), and deliberate practice (0.79) in order to drive accelerated student growth.