Score One For The Aardvark

In researching English-language learners I checked the What Works Clearinghouse- our Dept of Ed's "central and trusted source of scientific evidence of what works in education". They list ELL as one of the WWC's areas of focus.

Topping the list of the four studies that meet all of the WWC's standards for sound research on ELL students was a single study on Arthur, the 8-year aardvark that appears for 30 minutes each morning on PBS.

The study involved 108 kindergarten students who were randomly assigned to watch 54 episodes of Arthur or its competitor Between the Lions, another PBS show that features a family of lions that reads together.

Finding: Aardvark does a better job of teaching English to English-language learners than the family of lions.

Personally, I like Arthur, even if my 2 1/2 year old prefers the lions and now thinks that "aardvark" is another word for "big mouse with glasses". So i'm happy to know that we have research that proves it's what works, at least for ELL kids. But I wonder just how many teachers are grappling with the difficult choice of which television programs they should show their ELL classes.

At a cost of roughly 25 million dollars (from 2002-2006), the WWC, described on its website as "a decision-making tool" that "helps the education community locate and recognize credible and reliable evidence to make informed decisions", features an aardvark among its most worthwhile national evidence of what works in education.

Score one for the Aardvark.