Case Study: Pennsylvania School District Achieves Personalized Learning Goals with MindPrint Learning

Ridley School District is a suburban public school district outside of Philadelphia. In 2019 Ridley School District leaders began focusing on personalizing learning through a different lens. They set on a path with the Franklin Institute to explore and understand neuroscience, the brain, its impact on student learning, and ultimately determine how to provide the best and most personalized instruction for their students. Through this process, Ridley school leaders discovered MindPrint Learning in 2021.

After conducting much research around the whole child and brain-based learning, Ridley School District Superintendent, Lee Ann Wentzel, and her team of education leaders decided MindPrint Learning fit directly into what they felt they needed to move from the theory of how students learn to practice. The RSD team was confident that MindPrint could be the connection teachers needed to understand why students were struggling academically, instill belief in their ability to effect change, and ultimately, drive improvements in student test scores.

In school year 2021-2022, Ridley School District decided to first implement MindPrint Learning in Ridley Middle School (RMS). All RMS students and educators took the MindPrint Learning Assessment. Once the assessment was complete, RMS educators utilized MindPrint Learning cognitive data trends to strategically plan teacher professional development and school-wide Tier 1 goals. RMS teachers were trained on the Science of Learning and given professional development to understand the why behind student underperformance and what strategies they needed to use to support them.

The data analysis also included integrating MindPrint data with the school’s SRI, ADAM, and PSSA data to identify the number of students who showed significant opportunity for growth, by comparing students’ MindPrint predicted score on the achievement test to their actual score. This provided the school with not just the why behind test performance, but who they could target for more immediate growth and change.

In the second year of MindPrint implementation (2022-2023), RMS expanded MindPrint to not only gain cognitive data on all incoming 6th graders, but also to utilize the MindPrint BOOST Course with Tier 2 students, identified as students who were not yet proficient in math, but showed promise in achieving proficiency through coaching. The Tier 2 teachers taught the BOOST Course to these students with a math focus. In the past, this Tier 2 class was primarily a study hall where students could receive help with their math homework. Armed with the MindPrint Profiles for each student and a path in the BOOST Course, the Tier 2 teachers were very excited that they finally knew how to target instruction to help their students.

Ongoing professional development was critical to ensuring the cognitive data continued to be utilized as teachers maintained their focus on personalized learning. Now in the third year of implementation (2023-2024), Ridley School District is using the complete MindPrint Solution (Assessment, BOOST Course, and ongoing Professional Learning) in a variety of ways throughout grades 6-12. The MindPrint Assessment was rolled out to all high school students. At the high school level, Tier 1 focuses on the cognitive trends of the students to leverage their strengths, increase the number of students who pass Algebra I, and also grow stamina and ability for all students to be successful in class.

At Ridley Middle School, the MindPrint Assessment is still given to all 6th grade students, and the BOOST Course is taught in the Career Readiness class to all 7th grade students. The Career Readiness program’s mission is to introduce students to potential career paths and help them discover their optimal learning strategies. The Career Readiness educators utilize MindPrint data, enabling students to understand their unique learning strengths. Using their Student Profiles, the teachers guide students in applying these skills effectively.

Throughout Ridley Middle School and High School, MindPrint coaching is provided not only to educators, but also to counselors and case study managers to use Student Profiles when supporting students and help them use their strengths when feeling challenged. The MindPrint professional development is targeted to different subject area teachers based on school-level cognitive data trends. For example, in high school, professional development for all math teachers focuses on understanding how memory impacts their students’ performance and how small instructional shifts can make large improvements in their achievement outcomes. Professional development for English teachers is centered on flexible thinking and its impact on reading and writing.

After three successful years of MindPrint Learning implementation and expansion, Ridley School District continues to utilize the cognitive data generated by MindPrint as a critical piece of their personalized learning initiative. MindPrint will continue to support both the Middle School and High School using the integration of MindPrint cognitive data with achievement data to provide teachers with targeted coaching and professional development.

Additionally, RSD is expanding the MindPrint Assessment into the elementary schools to provide teachers with the cognitive data needed as students are identified for Tier 2 interventions. With this expansion, every 3rd, 6th, and 9th grade student will take the MindPrint Assessment so current student profiles are continually utilized throughout a student’s education at Ridley School District.