The IPI process was developed in 1995-96 by Jerry Valentine, Professor at the University of Missouri, and Bryan Painter, graduate research assistant to Dr. Valentine.  Their goal was to create a tool that would document the degree of change in engagement and instruction during a two-year school improvement project with 10 elementary, 10 middle, and 10 high schools from across the state of Missouri.  During the initial work with the IPI from 1996-1998, it was evident that faculties who had the opportunity to study and problem solve the meaning of the data made greater instructional strides than their counterparts who did not collaboratively study their data. From that point forward, the IPI evolved into a “process of data collection and collaborative study,” not just a tool to understand the degree of change in engagement.  From 1998 to 2002, the IPI was used to support school improvement in an additional set of Missouri schools and it was also used to study engagement in a set of nationally recognized exemplary middle schools.  By 2002, a set of protocols and standards had been established for the professional development of educators wishing to implement the process in their school.  As of 2019 approximately 28,000 educators have completed the IPI Level I Workshop and are certified as IPI data collectors and discussion facilitators for their schools.  That number continues to grow steadily across the U. S. at the time of this writing.