South Dakota Success Stories

I teach children with behaviour problems. The kids have responded very well to the programs. I am using them with middle school and high school students and they are very motivated by the success they are having using these programs.

Jennifer Cwach, Teacher
Summit Oaks Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

We use ESS as an integral part of our program. The kids have made good gains and they love the programs. These programs have been very helpful in preparing them for state testing.

Jacque Hagerty, Special Education Teacher
South Park Elementary, Belle Fourche, South Dakota

The Resource teacher and 1st grade teachers are using Essential Skills programs with their students. Our test scores are good and we would attribute some of that to the Essential Skills Software. The skills that the programs teach correlate well to our state standards.

Larry Bandy, Principal
Principal, Principal, South Dakota

We have eleven ESS programs and I use them as an incentive with my students. The "main idea" questions in Reading Comprehension are very good. The students are enjoying the programs and their vocabulary skills are improving.

Corrine Lovett, Title I Teacher
Hitchcock School, Hitchcock, South Dakota

I use ESS programs all the time. I use them with children who have beginning reading problems. We work with them twice a week.

Bonnie Carr, Speech Therapist
South Park Elementary, Belle Fourche, South Dakota

Our kids go to the lab for 90 minutes a week - also each classroom has 6 computers. The students are very motivated by using Essential Skills. The reinforcement provided by these programs is wonderful. We are using 11 ESS titles in our district.

Chris Rhodes, Technology Mentor
Todd Co School District, Mission, South Dakota

We have nine ESS building licenses in our school. The teachers use them with their students in the classroom to support the curriculum. One of our teachers has requested even more ESS programs.

Jolinda Goldsmith, Technology Coordinator
Lemmon Elementary, Lemmon, South Dakota

These are all great programs, especially for students who are on TCP. The Reading Comprehension programs are excellent! I like the passages and the vocabulary building activities with the comprehension questions afterwards. The programs are very teacher friendly and the kids enjoy them. These programs make a real difference for my kids and contribute to my student scores rising each year on the Dakota STEP.

Patricia Battershaw, Grade 4/5 Teacher
South Elementary, Mission, South Dakota

The programs from Essential Skills are very well organized and easy to use. This is a very good tool to generalize the learning of skills. We also use Essential Skills successfully with autistic kids and with our intellectually handicapped kids. The children love the immediate reinforcement the programs provide. These programs align with our standards and focus in on specific skills.

Kristle Christensen, Sp. Ed. Resource
Madison Elem., Huron, South Dakota