State-of-the-art, custom electroencephalography, or EEG labs, are now installed at the Manhattan and Westchester campuses of The Windward School in preparation for the start of the first research study of the Windward/Haskins Collaborative Project. As a key educational partner of the Haskins Global Literacy Hub, an international and interdisciplinary collaborative that brings together researchers, practitioners, educators, and education technology specialists, Windward’s participation has the potential to improve language and literacy outcomes for children at risk for reading difficulties locally and globally.

In the United States alone, 63% of fourth-grade students and 66% of eighth-grade students performed below the proficient level in reading, according to the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress. While new opportunities to extend neuroscientific research into educational applications are within reach, the alarming reality of this literacy crisis and the slow pace of funding of educational neuroscience initiatives makes it clear that new partnerships, like the one between Windward and Haskins, are needed to generate and scale up brain-based literacy pedagogy and remediation.

By being able to partner with The Windward School, outcomes from this research will not only increase our ability to optimize literacy for children at risk, but the lessons learned on the brain plasticity and diversity will impact our ability to help any child.

— Dr. Kenneth Pugh, President and Director of Research, Senior Scientist, Haskins Laboratories

In this research project, Haskins Laboratories and its international team of scientists will work with Windward teachers and students to gain a better understanding of which instructional strategies work best for which students, a critical step in moving toward individuated brain-based instructional programs. This innovative research program brings portable, non-invasive brain-imaging technologies (EEG) into Windward’s custom labs where students and teachers will be actively engaged in the research efforts. Haskins scientists and Windward teachers will collect data three times a year using EEG neuroimaging and behavioral assessments of reading and reading-related skills. 

Registration to be a part of this research study will be open to current Windward families for the 2019-2020 school year and more information will be made available later this summer. To stay up-to-date on the Windward/Haskins Laboratories Collaborative Project, visit thewindwardschool.org/haskins.