TalkingPoints improves student academic and attendance outcomes in large, urban district, with increased impact for underserved students
A causal, quasi-experimental research study meeting the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Tier 2 standard of evidence found outsized effects for Black and Latino students, students with disabilities, and English language learners.
Research outcomes: improved academic and attendance
TalkingPoints partnered with a large, diverse, urban school district to study how utilization of the TalkingPoints platform impacts academic and behavioral outcomes and attendance for district students.
The results of this causal research study show TalkingPoints improved math, English language arts, and attendance outcomes for all students, with greater impacts for traditionally underserved students:
Using TalkingPoints leads to lower absenteeism rates, improved course proficiency levels, and higher standardized test scores.
- Many of these improvements are more pronounced for traditionally underserved students, including Black students, Latino students, students with disabilities, and English language learners.
The study found statistically significant improvements on state standardized tests:
- Overall, students saw higher math test scores by 9 points, a gain that represents 7 months of additional learning for the average student.
Key takeaways for district leaders
Building effective school-family partnerships makes the hard work that schools do matter more by aligning schools and families in support of students. Interventions like TalkingPoints help close learning gaps and reduce the negative impacts on student progress caused by absenteeism. Further, district leaders can improve state accountability metrics by encouraging strategies that leverage effective family-school partnerships to reduce chronic absenteeism rates.
TalkingPoints’ commitment to research
As a nonprofit dedicated to driving impact, TalkingPoints’ model is grounded in evidence-based best practices and informed by decades of research. An in-house research team conducts quasi-experimental studies, cutting-edge data analysis, user impact surveys, and pilot treatment evaluations. TalkingPoints also partners with top research universities and has been recognized by leading research institutions as an evidence-based intervention for driving student outcomes.
