In 2016, Kidznotes launched a nationally significant and scientifically rigorous program evaluation in partnership with Duke University's Social Science Research Institute (SSRI). The proposed evaluation won financial support from the prestigious Brady Education Foundation. The first phase of the research found:

• Kidznotes participants developed significant peer support networks and individual traits such as perseverance, self-confidence and self-awareness;

• Kidznotes participation was associated with improved performance in school, which was most often attributed to work ethic and perseverance in music;

• Kidznotes parents are involved at their children's schools at a higher rate than parents of non-participants.

Due to CV-19 and the inability to assess outcomes in the pandemic environment, the study was suspended. Nonetheless, the Duke researchers continued to comb the data already collected to develop comparisons between the initial two years of Kidznotes students and comparable non-treatment students. In a recent published journal paper, the SSRI researchers reported the following trends in the data:

• Kidznotes students showed higher accuracy in completing tasks associated with working memory (executive function);

• Kidznotes students showed greater pleasure when mastering concepts/skills;

• Kidznotes students showed fewer peer relationship problems.

In addition, participation in Kidznotes was associated with greater gain in executive function and social emotional learning, SEL, by specific demographic groups: first-graders, males, and lower SES students.