SBIR-STTR Award

The project will research and develop an online learning module to increase the capacity of rural high school students to use written local news reports as a knowledge source to make informed decisions which will enable them to lead successful lives and contribute to the wellbeing of their communities. Over 66% of rural senior high school students in the U.S. do not have the reading comprehension and critical thinking strategies necessary to read and analyze informational text (NCES 2018) let alone enough knowledge and motivation to engage in decision-making processes that matter to their professional personal and civic lives. The 10-hour online module will be a digitized version of an existing brick-and-mortar learning program that was developed by the research team taught in rural schools for over five years and has proven scientifically effective in increasing rural students' scores on a standardized graduation test on reading writing mathematics and science subscales. Its four learning domains of reading comprehension strategies critical thinking strategies news media knowledge and civic engagement are directly aligned with ELA and Government standards Common Core State Standards and their respective Career Anchors. An interactive student-centered sequence of technical and curricular features (e.g. interactive videos written content group discussion reading-writing tasks and online rural news reports) is used to engage students in acquiring the competence-based learning objectives of the learning domains. By doing so students will not only develop the capability of informed decision-making in a way that matters to their young lives in rural America but also contribute directly to the workforce development in their local economies. The project's R&D focuses on two technical objectives that are pivotal to the feasibility of the new digitized product. This includes developing technological and curricular features that maintain strong instructional effectiveness on student strategy use (i.e. reading comprehension critical thinking) and evaluate the overall module usability for high school teachers to achieve their subject-area teaching goals. Objective 1: Technical feasibility of interactive videos will develop and test the instructional videos' effectiveness using think-aloud with a small student sample (n = 12) in a learning lab setting; videos will then be embedded in the module and their feasibility in authentic classroom settings determined through the module's pre/post-tests and formative assessments. Objective 2: Technical feasibility of the module for teachers will evaluate the technical feasibility of the model including the navigation and use of the technical and curricular features using focus-group interviews teaching journals and video observations. The majority of the research will be completed in a rural high school with expert teachers (n = 4) who will implement the module in Government and ELA courses (n = 12). The module will be revised in three iterations and provide a firm foundation for Phase II R&D. The final product will be a scientifically-proven effective tool to develop and assess the capacity of informed decision making in a new emerging workforce and boost rural socio-economic development. Market research demonstrates a competitive need of rural high school for an effective program to improve student performance in reading comprehension and on graduation/ college admission tests. The product will be rolled out in the form of annual student licenses targeting a Total Addressable Market of est. 2.9 million rural students 33% of the US high school population (NCES 2018). Regional and national stakeholders endorse the product for its economic civic and educational solution providing $250000.00 in matching funds and investor capital.

The Phase II project will research and develop the Front Porch Experience an online learning module to increase the capacity of rural high school students to use written local news reports as a knowledge source to make informed decisions. Over 66% of rural high school students in the U.S.do not have the reading comprehension and critical thinking strategies necessary to read and analyze informational text (NCES 2018) let alone enough knowledge and motivation to engage in decision-making processes that matter to their professional personal and civic lives. The Front Porch Experience is a turnkey solution for ELA and social studies teachers to systematically develop students' capacities for reading comprehension critical thinking news media literacy and civic engagement by harnessing an interactive student-centered curriculum. Thus students will not only develop the capability of informed decision-making in a way that matters to their young lives in rural America but also contribute directly to the workforce development in their local economies. In Phase I we researched and developed a minimum viable product of the online module. The Phase I R&D testing established the technical feasibility of the module's interactive videos with more than 84% of students demonstrating proficiency in reading comprehension and critical thinking strategies. It also established the technical usability of the module for teachers as all teachers used 80% or more of the module's technical and curricular features and were able to adapt the flexible curriculum to suit their discipline-specific goals rural student needs and personal teaching styles. Our Phase I results demonstrated a robust and comprehensive proof of concept for the technical feasibility and usability of the online module and indicated areas for optimization. In Phase II R&D we will conduct a repeated design to continuously optimize the existing curriculum and technical components of the online module and develop a new teacher companion website. The Phase II R&D consists of four technical objectives: 1) expansion and optimization of the online module's technical and curricular components; 2) development of a teacher companion website as a resource to support teachers' implementation of the module; 3) technical usability testing of the online module with teachers in the classroom; and 4) a two-year multi-site analysis of the module's impact on student learning and engagement. Qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to collect data in a Learning Lab and authentic classroom settings in three different rural school districts. Phase II R&D will culminate in an optimized and expanded version of the Front Porch Experience ready for commercial release. The two-year multi-site research will demonstrate the usability of the online module for teachers and assess student learning gains and engagement. This will allow us to develop a robust online turnkey solution for teachers that is easily scalable has a responsive mobile app and a teacher support website and is ready for commercial release at the end of Phase II. Our detailed usability analyses with teachers measurable proficiency scores and increased student engagement levels will provide compelling data for purchasing curriculum directors and school administrators. 62800 rural high school teachers teaching 2.9M rural high school students annually nationwide will be targeted with a rapid product rollout through partnerships with professional teacher networks and national newspaper associations and a long-term approach using case studies testimonials and referrals (including a website social media and sales collaterals).