Jennifer Tubb, Customer Success Manager
This past summer, over 2,200 pre-k children in Georgia experienced the magic of Ignite by Hatch™. And just in time for kindergarten, too, as these children achieved 2 levels of growth, on average, across 7 domains of learning in just six weeks — all by engaging in developmentally appropriate, research-backed play!
Implemented in summer transition program classrooms for rising kindergarten children with limited experience in a formal childcare setting, our pilot program not only helped these children make meaningful progress toward their individual goals, but also provided teachers and administrators real-time, objective, and actionable data.
At Hatch™, we understand that kindergarten classrooms include children with a wide range of educational experiences, meaning many children enter school without the basic skills necessary to be successful at learning. With Ignite™, we offer an adaptive, digital learning solution for early learners that accelerates whole child development across 7 domains of learning with emphasis on social emotional learning, math, and literacy. In as little as 30 minutes of independent play per week, children make rapid progress from one developmental milestone to the next.
And that’s what happened this summer in Georgia! Children in these public and private summer transition programs were encouraged to play a minimum of 30 minutes per week — 180 minutes over the 6 weeks — and to play with fidelity. We found that most children played the minimum amount or more!
The digital experiences in Ignite™ are rooted in the latest research and theory, and provide developmentally appropriate experiences for children in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Skill-level scales are based on item difficulty, with 1 being the easiest and 8 being the hardest. Typically, when children have been in a formal pre-k classroom, we would expect them to consistently succeed to level 4 by the end of the year. The children in this sample, on average, started from 0 — meaning they didn’t pass level 1 on the first try, but rather took several attempts. In just 6 short weeks, we saw children grow 2 or more levels, gaining practice to precursor skills necessary for kindergarten readiness. Children in private programs played more, overall, and had higher scores than children in public programs.
Children completed experiences like the one below, where the child is asked to go through the steps of correctly washing their hands — something they will likely be asked to do often in the coming year!
In addition to routines, children were also provided experiences in the Math domain, and the group showed a lot of growth in the Comparing Quantities experiences. While most children started these experiences at a 0, they were able to progress along through the scale — given they were only playing for 6 weeks at a steady pace. Regardless of geographic location, race, ethnicity or other variables, Ignite™ works for all children and is proven to help propel them toward their next developmental milestone in as little as three months. Our Georgia program highlights what’s possible when children ignite their learning.
The pandemic has affected young learners, taking them out of the classroom, and limiting the curricular experiences they’re typically provided. While children in the summer program started at lower skill levels than their peers, in just a short period of time, growth was achieved. If children were provided more time to play, additional growth would certainly be expected.
Ignite by Hatch™ is the only adaptive, digital learning tool for preschool, pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten that accelerates whole child development across 7 domains with emphasis on social-emotional development, mathematics, and literacy. In as little as 30 minutes of independent play per week, children make meaningful progress towards their school readiness goals while providing teachers real-time, objective, and actionable data.
