California Success Stories

Super Phonics is an excellent program for primary grades, and I use it on a regular basis.

Barbara Rose, Teacher
McKinley School, Susanville, California

My teaching partner and I were able to locate 2 teachers in our region who were using many of your reading programs in an innovative and exemplary learning center. Wendy Woods and Kathy Gorman of Webster Elementary School very kindly invited us to spend the whole morning with them. It was wonderful to see the excitement of the students using the Essential Skills programs, and even more impressive to see how their instructional teams collaborated to create a visual, tactile and auditory learning environment so tightly aligned to the state-adopted Houghton-Mifflin program.

Linda Wight, Teacher
Edenvale Elementary School, San Jose, California

We use these programs with 500 students from grades K-6. The teachers and students love these programs. They are easy to follow with step by step skill development and lots of reinforcement. The children even come in at recess to work on the programs.

Rosa Lockhard, Computer Lab
Jefferson Elementary, Corona, California

Our teachers use the Grammar program from Essential Skills on a daily basis. The Grammar program is used with students from the second grade to the sixth grade. It is easy to follow, the kids like it and they are really able to focus on what they are doing even when there is lots of noise around them. They like to see their results when they exit the program at the end of each class. This program has been recommended for all the schools in our district by the office of curriculum and instruction.

Rosa Gomez, Instructional Assistant
Coronita Elementary, Norco, California

We use your Reading Comprehension programs throughout the day with the students from grades one to six. Our assessments have indicated growth of 1 and 2 years in some of the children who are several years behind in reading. All our children want to use this software.

Georgina Kneale, Special Education Resource
Grand Terrace Elementary, Grand Terrace, California

Our teachers love your programs and use them daily to develop and reinforce student academic skills. We have 13 classes using the software on a regular basis. It ties right in with the SCUSD curriculum. Last year we used the spelling rules review section of the spelling program to help our students prepare for the CaliforniaT 6 state test. These programs really motivate our students and allow them to work on the basic skills and move along at their own level and pace as skills are mastered. I would absolutely recommend Essential Skills programs to other schools.

Denise Watson, Computer Technologist
Martin Luther King Jr. School, Sacramento, California

My reluctant readers are motivated and engaged by the Essential Skills programs. They are in grades 4 to 6. I have my neediest students using the Reading Comprehension programs for twenty minutes each day. I like the fact that there are lots of vocabulary activities to go along with the comprehension questions. The students are motivated by the topics and they like being able to redo the stories to raise their scores. I like the reinforcement and the auditory components. I have been very happy with the programs!

Debbie Ramirez, Literacy Teacher
Jackson Heights Elementary, Red Bluff, California

We use the programs on a daily basis. I like that they keep track of where the students are and that they always pick up where the kids left off. They cover so many skills and are very teacher and student friendly. They are perfect for independent and individualized learning. The clues and rules make the programs easy to use for the students. We use them to prepare the students for state testing.

Jane Lafferty, IMC
Charles H. Castle School, Bakersfield, California

Essential Skills is being used in our ELD lab every day. There is a lot of content and it is easy to use. I like that the software keeps track of the student's work. The students never complain and seem to really enjoy their time using Essential Skills. The functionality of the programs is solid.

Adrian Garcia, CST
Pueblo School, Pomona, California

The Essential Skills programs are used daily in our computer lab, our regular classrooms and in our Special Education program. Our students don't get bored with the programs because there are so many different ways of learning the same information that the children do not get tired. There are many different auditory, visual and tactile learning approaches being used. This software perfectly matches our early reading programs. Our children are highly motivated when using these programs and we are seeing a big improvement in their skill development. I highly recommend this software!

Karen Morey, Computer Lab Technician
North Broadway Elementary, Escondido, California