Moondrop Awarded Competitive Grant from the National Science Foundation to Research and Develop the Drawp English Language Learner Tool
America’s Seed Fund Provides R&D Funding for K-12 English Language Scaffolding Tool.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 31, 2018 – Moondrop Entertainment has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant for research and development (R&D) of the Drawp English Language Learner (ELL) Tool. The research investigates how using the Drawp ELL Tool with elementary school students can leverage a student’s native-language skills to help non-native speakers improve English language fluency and grade-level comprehension.
The percentage of public school students in the U.S. who are English Language Learners (ELLs) grew by about 300,000 between 2002 and 2013. About 40 percent of ELLs eventually drop out of school. The results of Moondrop’s Phase I research showed that students using the Drawp ELL Tool improved their English test scores both absolutely and relative to their peers. Spanish-speaking students learned more effectively when given native-language educational tools in multiple subjects.
The Drawp ELL Tool provides teachers with bilingual sentence frames and questions for students that can be tailored to any subject and content. The scaffolding is designed to help students’ reading and writing skills, while audio features assist with oral language practice and help improve students’ fluency.
“Moondrop’s goal with the Drawp ELL Tool is to help teachers reach, teach and support English learners regardless of subject and curriculum or student language level and ability,” said Ana Albir, CEO and Founder of Moondrop.
The Drawp ELL Tool is organized by proficiency level and depth of knowledge and aligns with the California English Language Development Standards. The tool is part of Moondrop’s Drawp for School software, a platform for communication, creation and collaboration that includes content for K-12 students and workflow features for teachers. Moondrop developed the Drawp ELL Tool in partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education and the Val Verde Unified School District.
About the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Programs
America’s Seed Fund powered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) awards nearly $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $1.5 million in non-dilutive funds to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $7.5 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.
About Moondrop
Moondrop Entertainment, LLC was founded in 2012 to provide outstanding educational software for children. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has invested in Moondrop with two major grants to support research and development. Moondrop’s mission is to combine technology with education to make learning more inspiring, engaging and accessible for all students. Moondrop’s K-12 education software, Drawp for School, is an all-in-one cloud-based platform for creation, communication and collaboration, with integrated content and workflow that allows for personalized support in all subjects. Drawp for School also provides built-in accessibility features, the Drawp English Language Learner (ELL) Tool, and the Drawp Resource Marketplace of downloadable lesson plans. A separate app for families, Drawp Unlimited, connects children with loved ones through the simple acts of drawing and sharing. For more information about Drawp for School, visit www.DrawpforSchool.com.
Contact:
Julie Brannon, Director of Marketing - Drawp for School
julie@moondropapps.com