BC School Reports on SOLO UDL Research Pilot

Birchland School in Port Coquitlam BC has just released their summary of a research/pilot running Don Johnston's SOLO with an unlimited school license. (birchland school solo research project) They tried several different reading and writing tools in a UDL context working with their interactive white-boards and found that SOLO worked best for their school community. "Last year, one of these students would barely write a word onto a page," the report observed. "He is now proudly declaring this year that he would like to be an author when he grows up!" The SOLO unlimited licence allows for take home rights for everyone in the school community -- teachers, students, even administrators and support staff.  Many of the students installed the program on their home computers and used it to complete homework assignments.  "Parents are thrilled to see the effectiveness of this program for their child," declares the Birchland School team that authored the report. Some key Findings:

• Reading gains from October to March averaged at 9.5 levels and for the full year averaged at 13.8 levels in 2009-10 (with a score of 10 equaling about a gain of one year).
• Applying the Kaufmann Test of Educational Achievement with a cohort of 5 grade 4 students, all students showed significant improvement in their reading comprehension. Four of the five students moved into the average range.
• 100% of identified LD students reported that SOLO6 assisted them with their writing.

The report also noted that, "Though Assistive Technology is assumed to primarily support students with Learning Disabilities, we discovered through our UDL delivery of curriculum that 62% of our general population of students felt that SOLO6 helped them to become more proficient writers."