The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of MindPlay on student reading achievement in Dayton (Ohio) Public Schools. Implemented as a supplemental resource aligned with Dayton’s existing reading curricula and instructional strategies, MindPlay was made available to all students in grades K-10 beginning with the 2018-19 school year, with a particular focus on grades 2 through 6. To evaluate MindPlay’s impact, CRESP analyzed six years of NWEA MAP Reading test scores for more than 15,000 students in grades K-6 using statistical growth curve modeling comparing Dayton students’ annual growth in reading prior to and during the implementation of MindPlay, while also benchmarking their growth against national averages for the same time period.

Results confirmed that growth rates in reading scores of Dayton students during the implementation of MindPlay were significantly higher than the national average (by +0.2 to +0.6 points per year) with even larger increases in reading growth for students who used MindPlay up to 80 or 150 minutes per week. This suggests that implementation of MindPlay may have significantly reduced the COVID slump in Dayton and, instead, allowed many Dayton students to make gains that moved them closer to national average levels of reading achievement.

Read the research report here: CRESP Technical Report T24-003 – MindPlay Evaluation