PBS’ unique learning portal leverages public media content for significant gains with students
PBS Annual Meeting,Austin, TX, May 13, 2015 – At the PBS Annual Meeting today in Austin, TX, PBS LearningMedia, a media-on-demand service designed for K-12 classrooms, revealed new study results that demonstrate the potential impact of PBS’ educational resources on student achievement. The PBS LearningMedia Impact Study, conducted by Education Development Center’s Center for Children and Technology, investigated the potential impact on student performance when the resources available through PBS LearningMedia were integrated into existing curriculum.
The study was conducted during the 2014-2015 school year in middle-school classrooms over a 6-10 week period and included more than 2,200 students in collaboration with three school districts from New Jersey and California. The study focused on four core subject areas: English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. Results of the study show that the digital content from PBS LearningMedia positively impacted student content knowledge and critical thinking practices when integrated into existing curriculum.
Key findings include:
- Across subject areas, student performance on content assessments showed significant improvement, increasing by eight percentage points;
- On average, students outperformed national assessment norms by 10 percentage points;
- Students also outperformed state assessment norms, by an average of 11 percentage points; and
- More than half (56 percent) of students also showed an increase in the frequency with which they engaged in critical thinking practices.
In addition, teachers who participated in the study overwhelmingly reported that PBS LearningMedia made positive contributions to their classroom practices, with many saying they are more likely to integrate digital media into their lessons.
“Education is at the core of PBS’ mission, and we are committed to providing teachers and students with the tools and content necessary to succeed in today’s digital classroom,” said Alicia Levi, Vice President, PBS Education. “As we invest in and produce educational content that can be accessed anytime, anywhere through PBS LearningMedia, we are gratified to see such clear results that our content can positively affect learning outcomes.”
PBS LearningMedia offers more than 100,000 digital resources aligned to national and Common Core State Standards.
About PBS LearningMedia
As America’s largest classroom, PBS offers digital content and services for teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS LearningMedia, a partnership of PBS and WGBH Educational Foundation, is a free and paid media-on-demand service offering educators access to the best of public media and delivers research-based, classroom-ready digital learning experiences to engage students in exploring curriculum concepts that align with National and Common Core State Standards. Nationwide, more than 1.6 million educators and users have registered access to more than 100,000 digital resources available through PBS LearningMedia. More information about PBS LearningMedia is available at www.pbslearningmedia.org or by following PBS LearningMedia on Twitter and Facebook.
Media Contact:
Atiya Frederick, PBS; 703.739.5147; anfrederick@pbs.org
Meredith Gandy, 360 Public Relations; 415.610.4067; mgandy@360pr.com
