Research
Skoolbo is a research-orientated company, and we are passionate in our drive to ensure that every child learns to read and becomes confident with numbers. Analysis of data allows us to optimize learning both at an individual and collective level. We are able to see trends on how children learn and what may motivate them to further increase learning. We share our findings along with our anonymized data to help researchers and assist educational authorities in their efforts to maximize learning outcomes. We welcome collaborations to further this mission. Please contact us at research@skoolbo.com

International Test of Early Grade Skills (ITEGS) - November 2017
With a sample size of more than 290,000 students across Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the USA, ITEGS is the largest data set of foundational reading and mathematics skills across multiple countries in the 5-9 age range. Its unique value proposition is that it measures early reading fluency in English and basic numeracy. It presents a comparative snapshot across countries during the very critical foundational skill acquisition period.

Key findings:

  • The USA tends to have the greatest success in lifting the performance of their lowest quartile of students.
  • The 25th percentile of 8.5-year-olds are behind the 75th percentile of 5.5-year-old students globally. There is no evidence to infer that struggling readers can catch up.
  • From 5.5 years of age, students from Hong Kong tend to be about three grades ahead of students in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the USA in numeracy.

Improvement Analysis: Hong Kong - October 2017
Over 2016-17, 45 Hong Kong primary schools were part of a Skoolbo pilot program aimed at increasing English skills. Collectively 13,563 students answered over 21 million questions.

Key findings:

  • Six year olds who had been on Skoolbo for more than three months achieved equivalent Numeracy results to eight year olds commencing on Skoolbo.
  • Six-year olds who had been on Skoolbo for more than three months achieved equivalent English results to 10 year olds commencing on Skoolbo.
  • Average improvement per student was 34.79%.
  • Students collectively mastered 285,598 concepts.

White Paper: Skoolbo Skills Map - February 2016
A study of 18,612 US schools that had collectively answered more than 300 million questions on Skoolbo

Key findings:

  • 94.3% of children master a learning skill inside 20 minutes on Skoolbo.
  • Children answer an average of 16.9 questions per minute at an accuracy rate of 87.5%
  • Spelling and Grammar are the literacy activities that show the highest levels of improvement.
  • Number Pattern and Times Tables are the literacy activities to show the highest levels of improvement.

Improvement With Skoolbo - November 2014
A study of more than 100 million answers from Australian students

Key findings:

  • Early performance on Skoolbo had a mean score of 14.84 correct answers per minute, rising to a mean of 20.74 correct answers per minute after 20 minutes on the skills
  • Improvement was evident across all ability levels. There was a clear increase in outcomes across the entire cohort.
  • Spelling and Grammar are the literacy activities that show the highest levels of improvement.
  • After six months on Skoolbo, 47.5% of students had made more than 1 year of numeracy grade growth, and 71.2% had made over 1 year of literacy grade growth.

Skoolbo (Beta) Improvement Analysis - March 2013
A study of the first 10 million answers on Skoolbo.

Key findings:

  • Average improvement after the first 10 games was 12.66%.
  • Results showed strong evidence that children were not randomly guessing.
  • The Literacy activities that students found most complex were Grammar and Alphabetical Order.
  • Accuracy levels decreased in Numeracy once greater levels of abstraction were applied.

“Our children LOVE LOVE LOVE this app!” - Mrs. Smith, Fairview School, Maine, USA

Case Studies

In addition to data analysis, Skoolbo enjoys hearing about real-time stories of the Skoolbo learning platform.

Stories from Around the World - May 2016

“Skoolbo is the best interactive learning game we have ever used in our school. I love the fact the teachers can monitor the children’s progress and set them challenging tasks. The children also love looking at the weekly class reports to see how they did.” Mr A Price, Teacher - Wales

“The learning has helped me so much! The way that it helps me learn is extraordinary! I practise and practise and pretty soon, I smash the record!” - Jacob, Student - Australia

“I just fell in love with the game and started to play a lot,” - Delaney, Student - United States

Skoolbo Methodology - Ten Essential Components of Great eLearning - August 2012

A blog by former teacher and Skoolbo founder, Shane Hill, outlining his thoughts on the essential components of great eLearning. Prior to establishing Skoolbo Shane also founded Mathletics (3P Learning) and created Spellodrome and World Math Day. Much of the thinking contained in the blog has been put into action in Skoolbo.