Spotlight

Cignition

In the United States, millions of students are behind grade level, especially in math. In 2019, only 41% of fourth graders were considered “proficient” in math. This number drops to 34% by eighth grade. Students who are Black, Latinx, and/or experiencing poverty are particularly affected, with COVID-19 only exacerbating learning loss and leading to wider academic gaps. 

Cignition’s online math tutoring program, which occurs virtually in a one-to-one setting, focuses on increasing deep conceptual understanding and is personalized and adaptive for each student’s needs. The program has shown promising initial findings in a randomized controlled trial in which more than 80% of the students were Black, Latinx, and/or low-income. The researchers found that Cignition dramatically improved student outcomes, with an effect size of 0.46, specifically in understanding of fractions which is predictive of higher performance in Algebra and advanced math in later grades (Pellegrini et al., 2018, Roschelle et al., 2019). These outcomes resulted after less tutoring than other tutoring approaches. 

With funding from Overdeck Family Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Cignition is now working to expand its virtual tutoring offering to ~750 fifth grade students while experimenting with more engaging platform features and larger group sizes in an effort to lower cost and increase access. The program will be designed to both compensate for missed learning due to school closures in students’ previous fourth grade classrooms and to make sure that they are well-prepared for the curriculum in fifth grade. 

The combination of virtual delivery and a group tutoring model can help Cignition significantly lower its current costs, supporting their path to scalability and meeting more students’ needs.

 

Research Repository

A collection of research funded by Overdeck Family Foundation.

Summaries of Research Grants

As a leading education funder, we are dedicated to advancing the belief that “evidence matters” through novel, methodologically sound, and actionable research that uncovers programs and models with the potential to positively improve outcomes for all children. We believe research is a key way to increase awareness of what’s effective and to impact evidence-based decision making and practice across our main grantmaking areas: early childhood, informal STEM education, and K-9 programs that include supporting educators and student-centered learning environments.

Aligned with our core value of “learn better, together,” Overdeck Family Foundation is committed to promoting transparent research practices by lifting up timely findings of the research we fund. We update this page as research is concluded and published, ensuring transparency for the field and our grantees.

Research Areas

Early Childhood

Validation and knowledge generation studies in the field of early childhood.

Read More

K-9 Education

Research into what works for students and educators in the classroom.

Read More

Out-of-School STEM

Validation and knowledge generation studies on the impact of out-of-school STEM.

Read More

Other

Research into cross-cutting topics across the education sector.

Read More

Early Childhood

COVID-19 Relief Bolstered U.S. Child Care Programs in Crisis

Effect of Family Connects' Universal Postpartum Nurse Home Visiting Program on Child Maltreatment and Emergency Medical Care at 5 Years of Age: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Effect of Nurse-Family Partnership's Intensive Nurse Home Visiting Program on Adverse Birth Outcomes in a Medicaid-Eligible Population: A Randomized Clinical Trial

I-LABS - Dual-MEG Interbrain Synchronization During Turn-Taking Verbal Interactions Between Mothers and Children

I-LABS - Language Experience During Infancy Predicts White Matter Myelination at Age Two

I-LABS & LENA - Language Input in Late Infancy Scaffolds Emergent Literacy Skills and Predicts Reading-Related White Matter Development

Implementing CenteringParenting Model With an Urban Pediatric Population to Measure and Improve Clinical Outcomes and Parent Satisfaction

LENA - The Impact of a Language-Based Intervention, a Two-Part Study

LENA - The Relationship Between Conversational Turns and Student Achievement

Nebraska Spotlight: Key Findings That Highlight Connections Among Early Childhood Development, Families and Communities

Sparking Connections: Evaluations of Mobile Messaging on Response Caregiving

Young Mathematicians in Worcester Evaluation

K-9 Education

Does Teacher Professional Development Improve Student Learning? Evidence from Leading Educators' Teacher Fellowship Model

Efficacy Analysis of Zearn Math in DC Public Schools

EdTech Context Inventory: Factor Analyses for Ten Instruments to Measure EdTech Implementation Context Features

Engaging Families Leads to Student Academic Gains and Increased Attendance: How TalkingPoints Improved Outcomes in a Large Urban School District

Examining PowerMyLearning's Family Playlists' Impact on Student Social Emotional Learning and Science Mastery through Short-Cycle RCTs

Impact of PowerMyLearning's Social Emotional Learning Program: 2021-2022 Mid-Year and School Year Analysis

Khan Academy - Use of MAP Accelerator Associated With Better-Than-Projected Gains in MAP Growth Scores

Study of CommonLit 360 Shows Gains on Reading Achievement

The Impact and Implementation of Leading Educators' Chicago Collaborative Teacher Professional Development Program

The Next Education Workforce - Team-Based Staffing Models Can Make Schools Work Better for Both Learners and Educators

Unlocking Acceleration: How Below-Grade Level Work is Holding Students Back in Literacy

UPchieve - Report on Impact of Online Tutoring on Math Achievement

Zearn - Catching Up and Moving Forward: Accelerating Math Learning for Every Student

Out-of-School STEM

Camp Invention - Invention Education as a Context for Children's Identity Exploration

DiscoverE: Messages Matter

Museum Digital Engagement: Before, During, and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

Other

Access to Afterschool Programs Remains a Challenge for Many Families

Afterschool Rising to the Challenges Brought on by the Pandemic

Learning Heroes' Parents 2022 - Hidden in Plain Sight: A Way Forward for Equity-Centered Family Engagement

Opportunity Insights - Social Capital I: Measurement and Associations with Economic Mobility