Research
Claims policy
Research document · updated November 2, 2026
Where we are
ESSA Tier IV: a logic model and practices with research behind them. No evaluation of TaleTykes itself has been completed.
Allowed at Tier IV
- "Built on practices with strong evidence", with the practices named and cited.
- Descriptions of what the product does and how it is checked.
- Our own practice measures, labeled as such: verified skills, learning curves, retention probes, reading days.
- "A study is underway" or "planned", with the protocol linked.
Not allowed until a higher tier is reached
| Statement | Tier needed | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "Improves reading" or "children read better" | II | Needs a comparison group and an outside measure |
| "Children learn to read sooner than with another program" or any multiple | I | Needs a randomized trial |
| Any gain in standardized units | II | Needs a study we ran or that was run on us |
| "Studies show the product works" | II | Studies of practices are not studies of the product |
| Testimonials with numbers, or quotes we did not collect with consent | never | Invented or unverifiable |
Never, at any tier
- That TaleTykes identifies or helps with a named condition. Schools run screening; we are not a screener.
- Reading ages, percentiles or any ranking of one child against another.
- Guarantees of outcomes.
Enforcement
- The registry lives in the code (packages/domain/src/claims.ts) with a human copy in content/claims/claims.yaml.
- A test runs the banned-pattern lint over marketing pages, help articles, legal pages, the evidence documents and email templates. A sentence that trips it fails the build.
- A claim moves to "allowed" only with a written evidence link and the owner's sign-off, recorded in the registry.
- Published legal notices cannot be edited; a new version is published instead, and families are told what changed.
Review
Quarterly, or when a study reports. The changelog on the Evidence page lists every change to this policy and to the page itself.