KinderTEK
KinderTEK® provides students meaningful opportunities to develop, maintain, and become fluent in critical early math skills within a fun, engaging environment experienced through an iPad app. Teachers gain data-driven insights into student achievement and progress.
Grounded in research and evaluated in real classrooms, KinderTEK aligns with Common Core State Standards and provides a strong foundation in early mathematics.
KinderTEK is appropriate for most Pre-Kindergarten & Kindergarten students and as an intervention for Grade 1-3 students. Reporting and management tools with an optional online learning management system round out a strong system of support for students learning early math. Download the KinderTEK Handout.
KinderTEK Includes
- Individualized iPad-based math instruction anytime, anywhere -- with or without internet connectivity.
- Three instructional modes: Sequenced, Directed (teacher-choice), and Exploration (student-choice).
- Detailed management, reporting and data integration capabilities.
- Suite of resources to maximize implementation, sustainability, and effectiveness and an experience customized to your students.
KinderTEK has been designed for – and tested in – real classrooms.
- KinderTEK teaches math through 3 instructional modes. It relies on evidence-based principles of instruction providing meaningful feedback in each instructional mode.
- An additional screening mode can help teachers understand their students’ math strengths and weaknesses and a guest mode allows teachers to demonstrate the program to colleagues and parents.
KinderTEK’s research- and evidence-based instruction, rewards, and customization options maximize student learning and give educators and parents implementation flexibility.
- Students engage with individualized and differentiated math instruction, assessment, practice and review, as well as rewards and progress monitoring of their own learning.
- Educators use the app or an optional data dashboard online to manage classes, customize reward and engagement settings and view reports. Instructional mode, session length, pacing, reward systems, time-to-act indicators, and self-progress monitoring measures can be customized to fit each student’s instructional, attention and motivational needs.
- KinderTEK’s online resource library supports educators with implementation and data-based decision-making.
KinderTEK’s individualized educational system provides instruction and targeted practice shown to support deep and lasting learning.
- KinderTEK is appropriate for most PreK & K students and as an intervention for Gr1-3 students.
- Systematic, focused lesson content and Pretest - Guided Practice - Test structure, combined with KinderTEK’s continuous progress monitoring ensure students demonstrate mastery in each phase of learning before moving on to more independent and challenging tasks.
- Carefully chosen practice opportunities, custom scaffolding and timely academic feedback is provided in every lesson.
- Each student experiences success and gains confidence as they continually encounter KinderTEK’s Common Core-aligned kindergarten content.
- Students are motivated through engaging content, intermittent rewards, and activity center time in each session.
KinderTEK offers Common Core-aligned activity and progress monitoring.
- On screen indicators on the student app help teachers see where students are in the current lesson.
- Exportable teacher reports in the app’s teacher management section and online update nightly to reflect progress through the curriculum and Common Core domains and standards
- Colored labels show teachers at a glance their students’ progress and mastery of KinderTEK content in each mode.
- Students see a kid-friendly report of their KinderTEK learning.
KinderTEK is available as KinderTEK Basic or KinderTEK Pro. Compare the two to select the best fit as your specific students, resources, and learning goals will affect how you use KinderTEK.
Game Screenshots
In-App Reports Screenshots
KinderTEK Basic brings all of KinderTEK’s instructional power without the need for WiFi.
- Students have unique, easy-to-remember logins
- Students use a designated iPad where all of their progress is stored
- Multiple student accounts can be stored on each iPad
- Teachers (or parents if purchased for home use) access each iPad to manage settings and view reports
- Students can use Basic anywhere at any time
Which KinderTEK is right for you?
Your students, resources and learning goals will guide how you use KinderTEK. If you are interested in robust reporting and flexibility in your classroom with WiFi, we highly recommend KinderTEK Pro. For a standalone app, look to KinderTEK Basic.
For more information and to compare KinderTEK Basic and Pro see the KinderTEK website.
KinderTEK Pro is recommended for classroom use as data is backed up and synced across any number of devices. Students can use any iPad. Teachers can manage students and get reports in the app and online.
KinderTEK Pro’s flexibility and additional reporting and management capabilities are preferred by schools.
- Students can use any iPad as KinderTEK will sync student work across all devices so that students and teachers can access the app on multiple devices.
- Multiple school staff can seamlessly support, implementation and view student data at the student, class, or school level from any iPad or browser.
Detailed reports and student management at the level teachers, interventionists, and coaches need – on each device and online.
- Dig deep using the comprehensive reports for data decision making and student feedback monitoring.
- Take advantage of the engagement reports and student report cards knowing KinderTEK’s sequenced mode will provide instruction responding to each student’s needs.
KinderTEK Pro offers flexibility and multi-level reporting and management.
- Student data is backed up and available from any device logged into KinderTEK
- Teachers and teaching teams can use the online data dashboard from any device to manage student rosters, view reports and adjust settings
- Reports of progress and mastery at student or class level
- Students have unique, easy-to-remember logins
Which KinderTEK is right for you?
Your students, resources and learning goals will guide how you use KinderTEK. If you are interested in robust reporting and flexibility in your classroom with WiFi, we highly recommend KinderTEK Pro. For a standalone app, look to KinderTEK Basic.
For more information and to compare KinderTEK Basic and Pro see the KinderTEK website.
Contact Us!
Become a ParticipantKinderTEK Pro is currently available only to research participants. It is available on the Apple App Store, but will only work with pre-approved logins.
Technology Requirements
- iPad 2 or newer, iPad mini 2 (2013) or newer, iPad Pro (2015) or newer
- Headphones (optional, and recommended)
- Recommended iOS version 11.3 or newer (Minimum iOS version support: iOS 9)
- Reliable WiFi/Internet access (Pro version only).
Training Requirements
No required training, however better results tend to be achieved when teachers and other implementors explore some of the resources on the KinderTEK resource library.
Resources
See the KinderTEK website for installation tips, on-demand training courses, how-to videos, printables and other useful information.
Our Research to Your Classroom
A large-scale efficacy study of KinderTEK is underway (2017-2021), but iterative development across almost a decade has included focus groups, user-testing, and small-scale trials of specific KinderTEK features and implementations. Examples of our larger, more quantitative studies maybe found on the KinderTEK website and include the following:
- A single-subjects study (published by Shanley, Strand Cary, Turtura, Clarke, Sutherland, & Pilger, 2019) demonstrated a functional relation between KinderTEK's instructional cueing and self-regulation supports and improved response accuracy for students using KinderTEK.
- We examined whether starting KinderTEK earlier in the school year conveyed an advantage over a later start in Strand Cary, Shanley, Clarke & Kennedy (submitted and under review). During the quasi-experimental study A, results suggested that brief exposure (approximately 1.5 months) to KinderTEK produced gains on multiple aspects of math proficiency. Study B revealed that, on average, early- and late start groups made similar gains by the end of the school year. However, exploratory analyses suggested that earlier and longer use of KinderTEK benefitted the students most at risk in math.
- In Strand Cary, Crowley, Choo, Watkins, Moore, Shanley, & Clarke, B., 2019, we report on a medium-sized randomized control pilot study. When we examined outcomes for only kindergarten students who were received special education services, we found students who used KinderTEK outperformed their comparison peers who did not use KinderTEK on two measures of early number concepts. When we broadened the sample to include students deemed at some risk in math on a screening measure, KinderTEK students made significantly larger gains than their comparison peers on the KinderTEK Proximal Assessment.
Because KinderTEK individualizes the instructional experience for each student, dosage is a critical factor to consider during analyses. Preliminary analyses using this data reveal that exposure to KinderTEK activities is correlated with math gains on four measures and that students who learn content through KinderTEK make greater gains in math.
For more research related to KinderTEK, visit the KinderTEK website.
Testimonials
General Education and Special Education
"I started using KinderTEK with small groups of at-risk students. I liked the format and how easy it was for the students to use independently so much, that I shared it with classroom teachers. The classroom teachers love it and now use it often with students."
"I feel KTEK is an excellent product and it is by far the best Kindergarten Math app I have worked with."
"KinderTek helped our 1st grade learning center student gain confidence that he could perform math. The repetition, ability to touch the screen and slower pace as compared to other math apps really made a difference for him."
Kindergarten Students
"It's fun and you guys would love it if you could play it too!"
"It's a fun game and it's also learning."
KinderTEK in the News and Media
- 2018 STEM for All
- KinderTEK participates every year in the Ed Games Expo in Washington, D.C.. See what was said in 2018.
- KinderTEK is highlighted in UO’s Around the O
- Facebook Live interview during 2017 Innovation Summit
- Project Director, Dr. Strand Cary, presents “KinderTEK: Research and Evidence-based Technology for Early Math Instruction” for the Center on Technology and Disability (CTD)
