Institute for School Innovation

History of CHILD

  • In 1988 Dr. Sarah (Sally) Butzin began to develop the CHILD model at Florida State University under the acronym Computers Helping Instruction and Learning Development. The model was field-tested for two years at two Florida sites, and then expanded to nine diverse sites throughout Florida.

  • In 1992, CHILD was validated as an effective program by the National Diffusion Network (NDN) and received subsequent NDN developer/demonstrator funds for three more years. During those years, CHILD was disseminated through the Daniel Memorial Institute in Jacksonville, Florida.

  • In 1995 Dr. Butzin founded the Institute for School Innovation (ISI) which has continued to support and expand the CHILD model. ISI is a private, non-profit corporation in Tallahassee, Florida. ISI has received over $10 million in state funds to expand and evaluate the CHILD model.

  • In 2002 the CHILD acronym was changed to Changing How Instruction for Learning is Delivered.

  • Since its development, CHILD has been implemented in thousands of elementary schools throughout the United States, as well as one school in Canada.

  • Adaptations to the original model have included a middle school version called TEAMS (Technology Enhancing Achievement in Middle School), and a self-contained version called Tii (Technology Intensified Instruction). An adaptation for gifted and accelerated students called Accelerated CHILD is under development.

  • Numerous internal and independent evaluations have shown CHILD to be an effective teaching model that gets results. CHILD has been validated by the Florida Department of Education and the Georgia Department of Education. A partial bibliography of evaluations includes:
    • 1991 - Evaluating Restructured Elementary Classes: Project CHILD Summative Evaluation, Cornelia Orr
    • 1992 – An Evaluation of Project CHILD, Sally Butzin and F.J. King
    • 1993 – Evaluation Report, Project CHILD 1992-1993, Ora M. Kromhout
    • 1994 – Windy Hill Elementary School, Jill Leinhauser
    • 1995 – Project CHILD Middle School Follow-up Evaluation, Barbara Gill
    • 1999 – Suwannee Elementary East, Jeff Robinson 2000 – Georgia Innovation Program Evaluation, Michael McKenna
    • 2000 – Florida TaxWatch's Comparative Evaluation of Project CHILD, Phase I
    • 2001 – Using Instructional Technology in Transformed Learning Environments: An Evaluation of Project CHILD, Sarah M. Butzin