I really love Essential Skills! I’m so grateful and happy to have found these programs. My students are always excited to use them, and I know they’re getting the skills they need. It also really helps with my lesson planning, and that makes my life a little easier. I only wish I’d known about them sooner.
Cinthia Rodriguez, ELL Teacher
P.S. 38 Roberto Clemente
ELL
After using programs from Essential Skills Software our ELL students are now performing above average in English speaking classes.
Angie Bennett, ELL Teacher
Richard Gird Elementary, Chino, California
One little boy who is an ELL student leaves my class on cloud nine because he starts the day out being so successful. What a pleasure to experience his excitement - I love this stuff!
Shelly Pitts, Technology Teacher
Central Fine Arts Academy
Your programs are awesome. We are using them with our ESL students. They love the programs and we are seeing significant gains in their reading skills.
Karen Brown, ESL and Reading Teacher
Highland Park Elementary, Amarillo, Texas
We love the Essential Skills programs, and are really impressed with how affordable they are!
Terry Gallinger, ELL Teacher
West Elementary, Lander, Wyoming
We use Essential Skills daily. These programs take non readers to a point were we see observable improvement in many children over the course of the year. They work great for my ESL kids so I believe they can work for anyone. I highly recommend these programs
Ann Asmar, ESL Parapro
Martell Elementary, Troy, Michigan
Our teachers and students love your programs! I have seen tremendous performance gains, especially in our Kindergarten and first grades. One student in particular started in September not knowing any English and now knows all of his basic English vocabulary. It is the practice that your programs offer that helped him to improve so much.
Catherine Davis, Computer Coordinator
Bennett Elementary
Central Collegiate is a high school and we use Essential Skills with our ESL students. You never know what skills they will have when they come in. We have five Essential Skills language arts programs. We had one boy who used them for the whole morning everyday last year. We think your programs are very effective.
Michelle Smith, ESL Teacher
Central Collegiate, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
The Essential Skills programs have been very effective with my ESL students. They are easy to use and provide lots of visuals with simplified vocabulary. My students love the programs and look forward to using them to develop their skills. I am very happy with the programs and recommend them to other teachers
Stephanie Hyska, ESL Teacher
Boulan Park Middle School, Troy, Michigan
Your programs are very effective for helping students get a better grasp of their alphabet, phonics, sight words, spelling and vocabulary. All our preschool children enjoy using the programs daily. Our ESL students use the programs to help them with their vocabulary and our primary teachers use them to reinforce their classroom curriculum. These programs have made a real difference for the students.
Janet Norris, EA
Lighthouse School, London, Ontario
We think the programs from Essential Skills are great! I bought a couple last year and have expanded to more than ten programs this year. Our SERTs use the programs daily. The students love using the programs. We have noticed a definite improvement in student skill levels. The Math programs align perfectly with the math strands and teach the concepts in a way that is accessible to all students regardless of their ability. Our ESL students are making excellent progress using the ESL program. This software offers tremendous value and is very user friendly.
Susan Palmer, Lead SERT
Cornell Village PS, Markham, Ontario
Being able to individualize these programs to suit the ability level of each student makes a big difference. If we could put every student in the school on these programs for 15-20 minutes per day we would significantly improve reading comprehension scores throughout our school.
Gerlando Sdao, IT instructor and ESL Teacher
Derrydown PS, Toronto, Ontario
We are an ESL school. The students use Essential Skills programs everyday. Sight Words and Phonemic Awareness are very important in our classroom. I really like the pronunciation of the words in the programs. We have 11 lab licenses.
Elaine Owen, K-9 Teacher
Rosebank Colony School, Miami, Manitoba
These programs are absolutely phenomenal. They were originally purchased for remediation and ESL but now all of our students use them daily. Even the pre-Kindergarten students are using the Phonemic Awareness program. These programs correlate very well with state standards at each grade level. We love your software.
Karen McGinnis, Grade Two Teacher
Astatula Elementary, Astatula, Florida
We have been using Reading Comprehension and Sight Words from Essential Skills for several years on a daily basis in some of our classes. These programs have been extremely economical for us and very beneficial, especially to our ESL students.
Melissa Hartfield, Instructional Support Teacher
Kingsford Elementary, Mulberry, Florida
Our Students are using ESS programs at least 4 times a week sometimes twice a day. We use these programs with all of our grades to help the students prepare for state testing. Our ESL students also love your programs and use them to build reading and vocabulary skills. I would highly recommend Essential Skills Software
Anita Williamson, Teacher
Gertrude Walker Elementary, GardenCity, Kansas
I've meant to let your company know for quite some time how much I love your Sight Words software. Our principal ordered this for me several years ago, and it has been a wonderful investment. This is the best software for self-paced sight word instruction I've ever seen. The kids love it...it is multi-level and they can progress at their own speed. This software works well when new kids come to my class from other schools where they may be behind in sight word acquisition. It helps them catch up fast. I've also found it very useful for ESL kids. Best of all, the kids love it! We call it "the rainbow game."
Tracy Hastings, National Board Certified Teacher
Jones Elementary School, Jones, Oklahoma
We are very pleased with the programs from Essential Skills. Super Phonics is used extensively throughout the building. It is extremely beneficial to our children. The skills correlate well to the curriculum and the technical support that I've received has been fantastic It is obviously software that has been designed by educators. It really gets to the heart of learning. The computer can be a great learning tool and ESS meets the criteria. We also have an ELL student that greatly speeded up his language acquisition using Super Phonics. I am completely sold on your programs!
Jennetta Koester, Library/Media Specialist
Will Rogers Elementary School, Edmond, Oklahoma
We purchased one of the High-Low reading programs and have used it with children from first through fifth grade. The program is very helpful to the children in second grade. They get very excited about using the program. A number of my fifth grade ELL students have made dramatic gains using the program. Other schools in our district are also having great success with the programs from Essential Skills. I would certainly recommend the High-Low Readers to other teachers.
Peggy Brissey, 5th Grade Teacher
Roy Clark Elementary, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Essential Skills programs are used everyday by our Primary & ELL teachers. The programs were also well received when I was in the Kent School District. The students take to the programs like ducks to water! They are very self-engaging. The programs take no introduction. It is an effortless way have the children practice and reinforce important skills and saves valuable time for the teachers.
Sherrie Conway, Grades 3-5 Teacher
Silver Lake Elementary, Federal Way, Washington
I use Essential Skills Programs all the time especially with ESL students. I use Super Phonics extensively. Your reading series makes a difference especially for the grade 2 and 3 kids. I like Reading Comprehension - there are so many positives - I am definitely happy!
Doug Edwards, Special Education
Gordon Head Middle School, Victoria, British Columbia