ClassHook

We propose a LEAP project to explore how the ClassHook platform improves the academic confidence of English Language Learners (ELL) in ages 5 - 16. ClassHook is a web-based platform used by K-12 teachers that combines highly engaging popular media content with discussion tools to build student discussion habits and connect with the curriculum. ClassHook taps into students’ personal lives and interests to create more relevant and inviting learning experiences.

Historically, ELLs perform substantially below academic benchmarks (source) because of language barriers. They often struggle to understand the context in which new words or ideas are used, which negatively affects their confidence in conversations and classroom discussions. They may not always have an adult at home who can support them in learning English, and as a result, tend to need more guided instruction.

Our hypothesis is that ClassHook bridges learning gaps for ELLs and underserved children in the following ways:

1. Enables a multimodal approach to teaching and learning that gives students the opportunity to both gain and express their knowledge through multiple mediums.

2. Gives students without strong language skills a visual anchor through which to engage with the curriculum.

3. Creates inviting learning environments for students, which in turn improves learner confidence, as they are more likely to participate in discussions and practice language skills.

4. Makes relational and complex concepts more concrete.

5. Helps expose students to different contexts of vocabulary usage; in-text examples from conversations are more helpful than standalone vocabulary definitions.

We adapt our product based on the needs of the communities we serve. To support ELL education, our team started with focusing on building out playlists of videos for ELA, literary devices and writing. By providing teachers with the curated playlists, they had a place to start with video-aided instruction. At the same time, we recognized how important it was for ELL teachers to know they were covering all the concepts within their state’s standards so we also worked on aligning our 7,000 clips to standards such as Common Core and TEKS.

Additionally, we created a Vocabulary Finder to help students, particularly ELL students, access very specific in-text examples of vocabulary being used. Teaching vocabulary is challenging because educators need to help students navigate the usage of the word, how the tone of the conversationalist affects the interpretation of the word, and how students can use context clues from the conversation to decipher the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Vocabulary instruction often lacks contextual information necessary to fully understand a word, and that makes learning new words more difficult for ELLs.

During the pandemic, we conducted check-ins with teachers and school administrators, and one of the challenges we uncovered was the ability to easily facilitate class discussions with students. Teachers told us that students increasingly became disengaged with virtual learning, and in some cases, not even attending class because they “didn’t see the point.” We updated our Live Discussions feature to streamline the process of creating a classroom discussion and collecting student responses. These updates allowed teachers to show multiple video clips, ask students questions, and receive a response from every student to check for understanding, provide remedial support, and encourage student participation. This feature was needed because it gave students a voice in their own learning, increased engagement, and reduced the number of transitions between learning activities so that students wouldn’t lose focus.

Based on the guidelines provided, we would structure our Theory of Change in the following way: 

Activities: 

• Utilize the pause prompt, vocabulary feature and clip comparison feature to support learner confidence in specific populations, specifically ELL students

Outputs: 

• Students gain competency in listening and speaking skills

• Students begin to develop foundational comprehension skills which are built from watching videos that bolster knowledge that can be subject-specific, SEL or culturally relevant 

• Students will also begin to develop the confidence to not only answer questions but to ask questions as well 

Short Term Outcomes: 

• Students will have the confidence to be able to share their ideas in multiple formats - written short response, in 1:1 peer conversations, 1:1 student and teacher conversations

Long Term Outcomes: 

• Students will have the confidence to be able to share their ideas in small group settings and in whole-group conversations; ELL students will be held to the same standards and expectations of other students in which they will not only share their answers but be able to cite evidence from relevant sources.

• Students will also advance in the type of questions they answer and will move from answering factual questions to inferential questions.

ClassHook’s current level of evidence integration, according to Nesta’s Standards of Evidence, is Level 2. We collect evidence by referring to prior education research, such as the cognitive sciences, that associating familiar concepts with new information leads to higher retention. That correlation translates to ClassHook in that bringing familiar characters and scenes then relating them to academic concepts helps students retain those concepts more effectively.

We also collect survey responses from teachers on how the content has performed regarding student engagement. These surveys offer us both qualitative and quantitative data. Over 300 teacher surveys reveal that ClassHook increases engagement by 64%, and this is shown when students are asking for the clip to reference and experiencing “aha moments” that improve their understanding of concepts. Important to note, however, is that this engagement number is subjective and not an objective measure, as teachers rate the increase in engagement relative to other engagement techniques. Additionally, this measure does not isolate single variables to determine the main factor contributing to higher student engagement. For example: “Did just the video increase engagement?” and “How about the ensuing discussion?”

Because of prior education research and initial results from teacher surveys, we have early evidence that ClassHook positively affects student engagement but cannot yet make direct correlations.

Indicator: The percentage increase in student engagement.

Data source: Surveys completed by teachers on ClassHook indicating how a specific video clip affected student engagement.

Current metric: A 64% average increase across 307 teacher surveys.

Significance: High student engagement  shows that students are active participants of the  learning process and we are able to collect data to understand how engagement correlates with student achievement.

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Indicator: The number of videos viewed on ClassHook.

Data source: Usage data collected on the ClassHook platform.

Current metric: Over 5.7 million.

Significance: The more videos that are viewed, the more we have the confidence to say that our classification of content and the content recommendation system is accurate. The impact is further shown when videos are integrated in lessons with our features such as clip comparison and pause prompt. The significance of this is to show that there are in fact specific educational moments within popular media that are appropriate for classroom learning.

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Indicator: The number of student responses to embedded video questions and in live discussions.

Data source: Usage data collected on the ClassHook platform.

Current metric: 4,100 student responses

Significance: The more students participate in class, the more they practice skills and demonstrate their knowledge, which supports content retention and learner confidence.

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Indicator (feature coming soon): Student completion rates of assignments.

Data source: Assignments submitted on the ClassHook platform.

Current metric: N/A (feature not released yet)

Significance: High assignment completion rates indicate that students are motivated to learn and the learning experience of the platform is challenging and engaging.

Incorporating popular media content and discussions to improve learner confidence for English Language Learners aged 5 - 16.

ClassHook aims to understand how using popular media content in conjunction with discussion-based learning activities enhances learner confidence among ELL students. In conversations with schools and districts that are in the process of considering ClassHook as a provider, our team is often asked whether or not we offer content in other languages. These administrators are particularly invested in supporting their population of ELL students. While we have tools and features catered to ELL students, we don’t have the evidence to confidently prove that ClassHook builds learner confidence. With evidence that enables us to both make and prove claims about our ability to support ELLs, our team would be able to close a higher percentage of deals and expand our impact in tandem with our business growth. This is especially important as the ELL population continues to grow rapidly and US schools and districts need to find a way to support them.

ClassHook is a mission-driven organization that was started to improve outcomes for students. We believe that students need to be met at where they are in terms of skill level, learner confidence and engagement levels. By iterating on our product and understanding the evolving needs of students and teachers, we are confident that we can make significant strides in impacting over 1 million students in 5 years through our work. With a LEAP project’s support, we will be able to better measure progress towards that goal.

We’ve defined the following successful outcomes of a LEAP project:

• Developing an understanding of the ways in which confidence can be shown in the classroom and creating a framework that educators can use to measure learner confidence.

• Creating a more concrete definition of our impact and efficacy along with metrics that measure them.

• Detail a reporting system that makes it easy for teachers to gather data from student engagement with ClassHook clips in core areas of language acquisition and conversation and analysis, then use that data to understand how learner confidence has developed over time.

Potential deliverables of a LEAP project include:

1. A report identifying 2 - 3 concrete action items that ClassHook can take to support learner confidence in ELL students, informed by a problem tree analysis, and compared to a matrix of confidence levels. Is it possible to determine the frequency of practices and time period needed before ELL students feel comfortable participating in small group and large group settings?

2. A report detailing 2 - 3 key metrics that we can collect through the ClassHook platform to measure our impact, and detail the ways in which we can collect those metrics. Potential focus areas for impact include confidence in the following: 

   1. Language acquisition skills (speaking and listening)

   2. Conversation skills (agree/disagree, summarize, support with evidence)

   3. Analysis (critical thinking, communication, problem solving, collaboration)