The intellectual merit of the project includes: a) confirming that MindPrint?s cognitive-only assessment and typical educational covariates could explain approximately 50% of the variability in mathematics achievement scores, more than other commercially available products or methodologies (see Exhibit A); b) developing and confirming the reliability and construct validity of a research-based survey on learners? social-emotional learning (SEL) skills (motivation, engagement and self-management; see Exhibit B); c) demonstrating that the combination of MindPrint?s cognitive-only assessment and the SEL survey could explain more of the variance in mathematics achievement scores (an additional 10%) than the cognitive assessment alone; and d) based on the results of the combined MindPrint cognitive-only assessment and SEL survey, a small sample of students was effectively matched with appropriate strategies, which the students found to be ?favorable, engaging, and relevant? (level 1 (Reaction) of Kilpatrick?s training evaluation model (1959, 1976)).

Broader impacts of the project include: a) providing three hours of structured professional training sessions to over 70 teachers and administrators, the foundation for a professional development program that MindPrint can deliver worldwide (in-person, virtually or asynchronously); b) disseminating the results at two sessions during the Annual CAST Symposium in July 2021 in two different sessions reaching approximately 600 educational professionals; c) advancing the practical application of cognitive capability theory and current social and emotional learning frameworks by providing K12 teachers with practical, scalable measurement tools that translate theory into specific, actionable steps to address student underperformance that can be linked to environment, cognitive capabilities and social and emotional needs; d) creating an innovative technology that has application beyond middle school math to include all K12 academic disciplines for grades 2-12, 2-year and 4-year college students, and the re-training of workers who might be lacking in basic skills or have knowledge gaps; and e) generating objective data on cognitive capacities that can be used to counter the implicit bias that historically results in over-identification of learning needs among students of color and under-identification of giftedness in this same population. As one superintendent said after using the MindPrint platform, ?MindPrint?s revelations were mindblowing! We literally hadn?t ?seen? some of our most capable students and for differing reasons. Some had overlapping executive functions challenges, so we couldn?t see their capabilities beyond their lack of focus. Others just had what I now call a ?super strength? that wasn?t noticed because not all skills were strong.? 

MindPrint?s solution works for students of all socio-economic backgrounds but is expected to have perhaps the largest positive effect on minorities and girls in STEM whose motivation and engagement are disproportionately impacted by implicit bias. Not only does this improve the economic competitiveness of the United States by ensuring that the most capable students are not lost in the system, but also ensures institutional equity without a furthering of the achievement gap that the pandemic has only exacerbated between rich and poor students. 

Last Modified: 08/20/2021
Modified by: Nancy Weinstein