The TUNEin™ product line was born from independent research conducted largely by the University of South Florida. It was their initial research on our music-based products that brought us into the education arena, and it is their research along with others that continues to drive our TUNEin™ product line improvements.

A summary of 6 years of research studies is shown below which includes the number of students in each study along with the results.

Early pilot studies in 2004 tested the impact of our products on a small group of middle school students in central Florida. The treatment group used our product for thirty minutes per day, three times a week, for nine weeks. While the control group showed statistically no improvement, the treatment group gained an average of more than one year’s grade level from a 9-week intervention.
Expansion and replication studies came next in 2005 - 2006. The number of students studied as well as the grade levels investigated was increased in order to further validate the results of the earlier pilot studies. Again, researchers found that the average gain was more than one grade level from using the product 90 minutes per week over a 9-week period.
The Florida Department of Education, at the direction of then governor Jeb Bush, funded studies in 2006 - 2007 to understand the impact of our products on English Language Learners. In all, the D.O.E. awarded nearly half a million dollars to the University of South Florida for this purpose. The results continue to show average gains of one year, and a great deal was learned about how to improve our products for this important demographic.
In 2007 – 2008, the studies focused on upper grades in K-12 as well as Juvenile Justice sites belonging to school districts. The results across the incarcerated youth and alternative school population were also consistent with previous year’s findings.

In 2008 – 2009, the focus was largely on high school students. A school just outside of Orlando, Florida served as a hub for this investigation, and the results again were strong and consistent with previous findings.
And the most recent studies in 2009 - 2010 returned the focus back to elementary schools and the impact of recent product enhancements. The results continue to be consistent since the original pilot studies in 2004.

(Add hyperlinks to research abstracts or attach pdf files for access)

White papers on Melodic Learning

National research and articles on music and learning

• The Importance of Movement in Learning - http://www.songsforteaching.net/music-movement
• The Effects of Background Music on Learning - http://edweb.sdsu.edu/Courses/Ed690DR/Examples/LitRev/Levy.htm
• Music Education Can Help Children Improve Reading Skills - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090316075843.htm
• Promoting Literacy Through Music – http://www.songsforteaching.com/lb/literacymusic.htm
• Using Music to Teach Early Reading Skills – http://www.songsforteaching.net/early-reading-skills
• Music and Learning:  Integrating Music in the Classroom - http://home.blarg.net/~building/strategies/arts/brewer.htm
• Effect of Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math Test Scores of Undergraduate Students - http://music.arts.usf.edu/rpme/effects.htm

Researchers

Dr. Susan Homan oversees the doctoral program at the University of South Florida’s College of Education, working within an institution classified by the Carnegie Foundation as one of the nation’s top research universities. Her areas of expertise include adolescent struggling readers and emergent literacy and she is known and respected as both a practitioner and researcher in the field. She is a professor of literacy and has co-authored several books and published over 30 articles on literacy.

Dr. Timothy Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. He has written over 150 articles and has authored, co-authored or edited over 15 books or curriculum programs on reading education. He is co-author of the award winning fluency program called Fluency First, published by the Wright Group. His scholarly interests include reading fluency and word study, reading in the elementary and middle grades, and readers who struggle.

Dr. Linda Evans is an assistant professor in the Foreign Language Education/ESOL program at the University of South Florida. Her areas of special interest include bilingual education, ESOL, and literacy. Dr. Evans holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in elementary bilingual education from Boston University and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on second language literacy from the University of South Florida.

Dr. Robert Dedrick his research interests include the use of structural equation modeling to examine measurement quality of psychological instruments, the analysis of change using hierarchical linear modeling, and mentoring in doctoral education. His work has been published in Psychological Assessment, Journal of Outcome Measurement, Educational and Psychological Measurement,Sociology of Education, and Mentoring and Tutoring.

Dr. James R. Kinghis research interests include struggling readers in early grades through middle school, masculinities in elementary school contexts, qualitative research methodology, and queer and critical theorizing in educational contexts. His publications include Uncommon Caring: Learning from Men who Teach Young Children, published by Teachers College Press. His work has been published in Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Qualitative Studies in Education, Contemporary Ethnography, Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy, Reading Research and Instruction, as well as chapters in several edited volumes.

Dr. Marie Biggs is an Assistant Professor at St. Petersburg College of Education. She has more than 20 years of experience in New England and the Southeast working with struggling “at risk” readers as a k-12 reading specialist and a college-level instructor in literacy education. Her current research focuses on the use of alternative texts for struggling adolescent readers in grades 4 through 12.

Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D (Publications) - http://www.ehhs.kent.edu/vita.cfm?id=756

Reading fluency through alternative text: Rereading with an interactive sing-to-read program embedded within middle school music classroom (Marie Biggs) - http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1633&context=etd&sei-redir=1#search="Dr.+Marie+Biggs+USF