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ABCmouse Significantly Improves
Student Outcomes in Pre-K and
Kindergarten
—DeAnna Owens, Ph.D.†, Leslie Ponciano, Ph.D.††, and KP Thai, Ph.D.†††

2. Abstract
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• 2 studies examined the impact of ABCmouse.com Early
Learning Academy on the acquisition of literacy and math
skills
• In Study 1 (2013-14), all participating pre-k students were
identified as at risk for school failure. Students completing
more ABCmouse learning activities evidenced greater
academic gains than those who completed fewer activities.
• Study 2 (2014-15) followed the pre-k sample into
kindergarten with a quasi-experimental design,
demonstrating that regular ABCmouse use helped
accelerate kindergarten growth in literacy and math across
multiple assessments.
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3. Participants
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STUDY 1
• Children from 12 public school district pre-k (DPK)
classrooms in Tupelo, MS
• 51% girls, 49% boys
• Enrollment prioritized for children at risk of school failure
based on pretest scores, English language learners,
children with developmental disabilities/delays, and/or
children living in poverty or homelessness.
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4. Participants
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STUDY 2
• 571 kindergarten students in Tupelo, MS
• 210 were students from Study 1
• 361 did not attend public pre-k (non-DPK)
• 33 classrooms from 4 elementary schools
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5. Design & Procedure
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STUDY 1
• Naturalistic Design: DPK students had varying usage of
ABCmouse during the school year.
• The school district tested students at the beginning and
end of the school year with the nationally validated Early
Prevention of School Failure (EPSF) assessment.
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6. Design & Procedure
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STUDY 2
• Quasi-experimental Design: district assigned 2 elementary
schools full access to ABCmouse for the entire school
year (Full-access Group).
• The other 2 schools in the district received restricted
access to ABCmouse, including no access to most
ABCmouse literacy activities for the first half of the year,
and full access to the entire ABCmouse curriculum for the
second half (Restricted-access Group).
• Students tested at the beginning, middle, and end of the
school year with the Classworks4 and STAR5
assessments, and with the DIBELS6 at the end of the
school year. 6

7. ABCmouse Usage
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• Full-access Group not only had greater access to the full
ABCmouse curriculum but also completed many more
ABCmouse learning activities, especially literacy activities,
than the Restricted-access Group.
• When Restricted-access Group switched to the full
ABCmouse curriculum in the 2nd half of the school year,
the 2 groups completed similar numbers of learning
activities.
• “Regular usage” refers to access type and higher usage of
the Full-access Group; “limited usage” refers to limited
access and lower usage of Restricted access Group.
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8. Results: Finding 1
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The more ABCmouse learning activities a student completed,
the greater his or her kindergarten readiness score at the end of
pre-k, indicating a reduction in the level of risk for school failure.
• Students who completed at least 35 activities (median
activities completed) during pre-k demonstrated an additional
65% gain on the EPSF assessment than those who completed
fewer than 35 activities, and there was no statistically
significant difference in the students’ pretest scores
administered before the pre-k year ( see Figure 1).
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9. Results: Figure 1
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10. Results: Finding 2
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Regular ABCmouse usage in kindergarten predicted students’
learning gains in literacy and math skills.
• While students in the Full-access Group started in Fall with
slightly lower scores on the Classworks assessment than
the Restricted-access Group, they demonstrated an
additional 120% gain on early literacy skills from Fall to
Winter, compared to students in the Restricted-access
Group (see Figure 2).
• Students in the Full-access Group also showed an
additional 150% gain on early mathematics skills,
compared to students in the Restricted-access Group (
see Figure 3). There was no group difference in Fall
scores on early mathematics skills.
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11. Results: Figure 2
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12. Results: Figure 3
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13. Results: Figure 4
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14. Results: Figure 5
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15. Results: Finding 3
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The number of ABCmouse learning activities completed over
both school years was a strong predictor of literacy and math
outcomes.
ABCmouse use over both school years reliably predicted
students’ literacy and and math performance at the end of
kindergarten, after controlling for effects of age, DPK
enrollment, and ABCmouse access type in kindergarten.
The multiple linear regression model on literacy outcomes
predicts that for each 100 additional ABCmouse learning
activities completed over both school years, students would
realize an increase of .03 points on the DIBELS composite
score, 9 points on the STAR Literacy, and 3 points on the
Classworks Reading (see Table 1).
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16. Results: Table 1
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17. Results: Table 2
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18. Conclusion
TM & © 2016 Age of Learning, Inc. All rights reserved. The names of other companies, products, and
services are the property of their respective owners. We thank the Tupelo School District for their
partnership in this study. Author names are in alphabetical order and are not based on level of
This longitudinal study reveals that when young
students complete more ABCmouse learning activities,
their academic performance improves.
• The use of ABCmouse within the DPK program reduced
the risk of school failure by the end of the prekindergarten
year. This finding held constant during kindergarten.
• Access to the full ABCmouse curriculum independently
contributed to the academic growth of non-DPK students.
• The findings from these studies highlight the value of
ABCmouse as a supplemental teaching resource in both
prekindergarten and kindergarten, when students are
learning the foundational skills in literacy and math that are
essential to long-term success in school.
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19. Further Reading
TM & © 2017 Age of Learning, Inc. All rights reserved. The names of other companies, products, and
services are the property of their respective owners.
• Download the complete research brief (PDF) here:
http://www.ageoflearning.com/case_studies/ABCmouse_Research_Bri
ef_Significantly_Improves_Student_Outcomes_in_Pre-
K_and_Kindergarten.pdf
• The brief is also available from the Journal of Applied
Research on Children at:
http://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/childrenatrisk/vol7/iss2/8/
• Visit the Age of Learning website for additional ABCmouse
research: http://www.ageoflearning.com/research/
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