Your success stories deserve real evidence.
If your product already has implementation history and outcome data, you don’t need to start from scratch. A Look Back on Learning Study analyzes what already happened — using the data you have, designing around your specific implementation context — and produces peer-reviewed, ESSA-aligned evidence in months, not years.
The ESSA IV Package establishes your product as research-based. A Look Back Efficacy Study takes the next step — producing a third-party efficacy study that demonstrates your product actually improves student outcomes, reaching ESSA Tier II or Tier III on the evidence ladder.
EduEvidence Bronze · Digital Promise Tier 4
bridges the gap
EduEvidence Silver · Digital Promise Tier 3 · State approvals
A Look Back on Learning study is a retrospective research design that works from data that already exists — district-administered assessments, state test results, usage logs, and educator surveys gathered during prior school years. That data doesn’t have to come exclusively from your partner districts. Depending on the assessment your product uses, publicly available datasets and published national norms can serve as valid comparison points, making this design feasible even for companies whose partners haven’t established formal data-sharing agreements.
The specific comparison approach depends on your situation: a matched group of non-adopting schools, a prior-year cohort from the same buildings, published assessment norms, or high-use versus low-use students within the same implementation. Whichever design fits, we go beyond aggregate results — analyzing how the program worked across student subgroups, including economically disadvantaged students, English learners, students receiving special education services, and students performing below grade level. That kind of subgroup storytelling isn’t just good research. It’s what district procurement committees and state approval panels are specifically looking for.
Look Back Studies typically meet ESSA Tier III (Promising Evidence) and are aligned with EduEvidence Silver and Digital Promise Tier 3 certification — and in our experience, they are regularly approved by state departments of education as ESSA Tier III evidence for state approval lists.
Built for companies with implementation history and outcome data — ready to make it official.
You’ve been in classrooms. You have partner districts. Students have been using your product, and the data shows it. What you don’t yet have is a third-party study that documents those outcomes in a form that procurement committees, state approval panels, and Evidence for ESSA reviewers will accept. That’s exactly what this is for.
You have outcome data from prior school years — pre/post assessments, state test results, or district growth measures — that hasn’t yet been formally analyzed
You want faster results (4–6 months) without committing to a multi-year prospective study or disrupting current implementation
You already have an ESSA IV foundation and are ready to move up the evidence tier ladder with a study that shows impact on student outcomes
You want to appear on state approval lists or Evidence for ESSA, and need a published third-party study to qualify
You’re losing RFPs to competitors with published research, and need to close the evidence gap without a full-scale prospective trial
You want a library of studies that covers different contexts — grade levels, student populations, subject areas, implementation intensities — to address more district situations
The right design is determined by your data — not the other way around.
A Look Back Study is an approach, not a single template. The study design we recommend depends entirely on what outcome data you have, how your product was implemented, and which reviewers or approval panels you’re designing for. We start every engagement with a data assessment conversation before recommending a design path. Here are the four most common approaches we use.
Matched Comparison Group
Students who used your product are compared to a matched group from non-implementing schools in the same district or nearby — matched on prior achievement, demographics, and other relevant factors. This is the most rigorous retrospective design and the one Evidence for ESSA reviewers most readily accept at Tier II. Analysis includes subgroup breakdowns by income, language status, and prior performance.
Schools in the same district did not all adopt your product, giving you a natural internal comparison pool.
Prior-Year Cohort Comparison
This year’s students using the product are compared to last year’s students from the same schools, before the product was in place. Because the schools, assessments, and instructional context are the same, this design controls for many variables. Subgroup analysis can reveal whether the program’s impact was consistent across student populations — or stronger for specific groups like English learners or students who started below grade level.
Your product rolled out to an entire school or district in a defined year, leaving a clean pre-implementation cohort in the same buildings.
Publicly Available Norms & Benchmarks
Student growth is compared against published national or state norms for the same assessment — no comparison school needed. Many standardized assessments publish expected growth trajectories by grade level and starting score. We use those public benchmarks to evaluate whether students using your product grew at above-expected rates, and disaggregate results by subgroup to tell a more complete story about who benefited most.
You use a standardized assessment with published growth norms (NWEA MAP, Amplify DIBELS, iReady, or state benchmark tools with normed trajectories) — and partner districts haven’t established formal data-sharing agreements for a comparison group.
High Use vs. Low Use Analysis
Within a single implementation, students or classrooms with high engagement are compared to those with lower usage — isolating the dose-response relationship between product use and outcomes. This approach works well for demonstrating that the program works better when used as intended, and for identifying which student populations respond most strongly to higher engagement.
You have reliable usage data (logins, time-on-task, features completed) and meaningful variation in how much students engaged — especially when your product is widely adopted and no external comparison group is available.
A complete study — designed for peer review, built for your sales team.
Every Look Back Study includes the full research infrastructure needed to satisfy Evidence for ESSA reviewers, state approval panels, and procurement teams. Each deliverable serves double duty: academic credibility and practical sales utility.
Recruitment & Partnership Support
We identify partner districts from your existing customer base, frame the research around their own student needs, and manage the outreach. That includes drafting and negotiating MOUs and Data Sharing Agreements, submitting to district departments of research and accountability, and coordinating any external IRB processes. You don’t need to manage the district relationship — we do.
Administrator Interviews & Existing Survey Integration
We conduct structured interviews with school and district administrators to capture implementation context — the conditions, decisions, and factors that shaped how your product was used. If your company has already gathered educator surveys, we incorporate that data into the study rather than starting from scratch. The qualitative picture this creates is what gives the numbers meaning for buyers and reviewers.
Quantitative Data Analysis
Rigorous statistical analysis of student outcome data using the methods expected by Digital Promise and EduEvidence reviewers — effect sizes, significance testing, subgroup breakdowns, and where applicable, matching or norming procedures. Note that retrospective study designs are not eligible for submission to Evidence for ESSA (Johns Hopkins); this study type is specifically designed to meet the evidence standards for Digital Promise Tier 3, EduEvidence Silver, and state department of education approval processes.
Academic Research Report
A peer-review-ready study report with full methodology, results, discussion, and limitations — written to the standards of Evidence for ESSA, What Works Clearinghouse, and state-level review bodies. This is the document submitted to review platforms and cited in RFP responses.
Research Summary (Co-Branded)
An educator-friendly executive summary that distills the study’s key findings into a format your sales team can hand to a district leader or attach to a conference presentation. Co-branded with your product identity, designed to stand alone without the full report.
Publication & Indexing Services
Your completed study is submitted to ERIC (the Education Resources Information Center) and indexed on ResearchGate — making it publicly discoverable by district leaders, state reviewers, and procurement teams searching for evidence. We also prepare state submission documentation in the format each state’s review panel requires, and manage certification submissions to EduEvidence and Digital Promise on your behalf.
Aligned with EduEvidence Effectiveness Silver, Digital Promise Tier 3, and state ESSA Tier III approvals.
Look Back Studies are designed to meet the evidence standards these certification bodies use. In our experience, they are routinely accepted by state departments of education as ESSA Tier III (Promising Evidence) for product approval lists. Most firms leave certification navigation to you. We manage all three as part of the engagement.
EduEvidence Effectiveness Silver Included
The EduEvidence Effectiveness Silver badge, issued by the International Certification of Evidence of Impact in Education (ICEIE), recognizes products with a completed study demonstrating measurable impact on student learning outcomes. LXD Research is an official ICEIE partner and manages the submission process on your behalf — so you don’t navigate it separately. Certified products are listed in the global EdTech database and receive a LinkedIn shoutout and backlink from ICEIE.
Learn about EduEvidence →Digital Promise Tier 3
Digital Promise Tier 3 certification recognizes products backed by a completed efficacy study with student outcome data — a meaningful step beyond the Tier 4 (research-based design) certification. Of the more than 2,200 products on the EdTech Index, very few hold Tier 3. Your product is listed on the Digital Promise website and in LearnPlatform and EdSurge’s Product Index, with access to the League of Innovative Schools network.
Learn about Digital Promise →State Department of Education — ESSA Tier III
More than 40 states tie product funding access to ESSA evidence documentation. Look Back Studies are regularly accepted by state departments of education as ESSA Tier III (Promising Evidence) for product approval lists. We have supported approval processes in Arizona, Michigan, Mississippi, Colorado, Utah, Arkansas, and beyond — and design every study with each state’s specific review requirements in mind from the outset.
Includes state submission prepThe firm that has produced more ESSA-approved studies than any other independent research organization.
A Look Back Study is only as valuable as the credibility of the firm that produced it. We work exclusively with edtech companies, which means we understand the data systems districts use, the implementation realities of edtech products, and exactly what procurement committees and state review panels are looking for when they evaluate evidence. We design studies for state approval panels and district RFPs — not academic journals. And because we are an official EduEvidence partner, we manage certification submissions to both EduEvidence and Digital Promise as part of every engagement, so your study arrives certified, indexed, and ready for state submission without additional coordination on your part.
Look Back Studies from our portfolio.
These are retrospective studies LXD Research has produced for edtech clients — analyzing historical data to document student outcomes and earning ESSA Tier III recognition and third-party certification.
Classtime — Math Achievement Study
A retrospective study of 667 students in a California district — 91% Hispanic, 89% socioeconomically disadvantaged. The central finding was a clear dose-response story: students in high-usage classrooms (averaging 19 sessions) gained nearly double on the CAASPP state test compared to low-usage classrooms and comparison schools. That kind of usage analysis is both rigorous and strategically compelling — it answers the buyer question “does it work better when teachers actually use it?” with a clear yes. Published on ERIC and presented at ISTE 2025.
Zaner-Bloser Handwriting — Alabama State-Level Study
A retrospective, correlational study using publicly available state data — Grade 3 handwriting proficiency rates reported by every elementary school in Alabama — matched against Zaner-Bloser’s own sales data to estimate investment level per student. No new data collection required. The story is a dose-response relationship: 69% proficiency in low-investment schools, 82% in moderate, and 91% in high-investment schools, with each additional dollar per student associated with an 18% greater likelihood of proficiency. The design mirrors exactly how district leaders evaluate products — compiling available data sources and weighing them as evidence — and earned ESSA Tier III recognition.
95 Percent Group — Multisyllable Routine Cards
A two-year retrospective study in Wicomico County, Maryland examining 2,868 fourth and fifth graders — 65% economically disadvantaged, 40% Black or African American. Year 2 students using MSRC gained significantly more on iReady than the prior-year cohort in the same schools (effect sizes of 0.30 and 0.23). Students two or more grade levels behind showed the largest gains, and results held consistently across racial and economic subgroups — the kind of equity-centered storytelling state reviewers and district procurement committees specifically look for.
“LXD Research helps us see that the big picture is the number of studies and the levels of those studies — to ensure we have a cross-section of varying research. So that when we’re searched on ERIC or Evidence for ESSA, we have a robust profile of studies.”
“Our LXD Research Look Back Studies have led us to additional partnerships due to seeing this data and the impact that educator support is having on teacher retention and student growth.”
“LXD Research has provided us invaluable consultation surrounding research strategy, guiding the development of evidence-informed digital products, and communicating our evidence base to educators. Their team partnered with districts to conduct rigorous ESSA studies that secured our products on coveted state lists.”
A Look Back Study is the right next step when you have existing outcome data and want ESSA evidence quickly. If you’re starting implementation now or pursuing Tier I (Strong Evidence), a Real-Time ESSA Study may be the better path. And if you’re earlier in your evidence journey — or haven’t yet established a research foundation — an ESSA IV Package is where most companies begin.
← Learn about the ESSA IV Package firstThe researcher who has navigated more ESSA approvals than any other independent firm.
Dr. Rachel Schechter founded LXD Research after serving as Director of Research at Lexia Learning, where she built a 12-member research department and a portfolio of What Works Clearinghouse-aligned studies. LXD Research has produced more studies approved by Johns Hopkins’ Evidence for ESSA than any other independent research organization.
She has led Look Back Studies for edtech companies across literacy, math, professional development, and formative assessment — designing retrospective studies that hold up to the scrutiny of Evidence for ESSA reviewers, state approval panels, and district procurement teams. Her studies have been published on ERIC, presented at international conferences, and cited in state RFP responses across the country.
See Look Back Studies explained — in plain language.
Our YouTube series breaks down what each ESSA tier actually requires and how retrospective study designs work. Watch before your consultation or share with your leadership team.
Turn what you already know into evidence.
Schedule a free consultation to assess your existing data, identify the right study design, and understand what a realistic timeline and investment look like for your specific situation.