Title I Success Stories

The children are using Essential Skills programs for 30 minutes everyday. The first graders are using Super Phonics and Sight Words. Second and third grade are using Reading Comprehension. Our teachers really like the Marks Management system for tracking and reporting of progress. I think the programs are very good.

Marsha Wilson, Title I Reading Teacher
Hamilton Elementary, Hamilton, Alabama

Essential Skills programs are used daily at our school. The children enjoy practicing and learning their reading skills and the teachers love the way the programs record and track student progress.

Margie Walkman, Title I Technician
Nelson Elementary, Scottsboro, Alabama

I love Essential Skills programs. They are very supportive of our Alabama Reading Initiative goals. The kids focus right in on them. Our Reading Coaches are all sold on this software. We are very impressed.

Denice Simmons, Title I Teacher
North Roebuck Elementary, Birmingham, Alabama

We feel your software is a great teaching and practise tool for basic skills across the curriculum. We love the software because it's really helping our students. Our Word Study skills on the SAT test were low, but we did intensive work with the Essential Skills programs and our SAT scores went up. The marks management system is easy to use and does a good job of keeping track of student progress. These started out as programs for Title I students but now all of our classrooms are using Essential Skills.

Carolyn Deerman, Title I Teacher
Nelson Elementary, Scottsboro, Alabama

We have used Essential Skills programs daily for five years with 40-50 Title I students. I like that the students can work independently at their own level with lots of reinforcement and repetition for each of the skills they are learning. This extra practice is just what they need to remediate areas of weakness in their academic development. This software is an excellent supplement to the classroom courses of study.

Lisa Wiginton, Reading Resource Teacher
Hamilton Elementary, Hamilton, Alabama

We use Super Phonics, Spelling Stumpers and Fun With Spelling on a daily basis with our Kindergarten through grade six students. These programs offer a good variety of instructional methods for different learning styles and a very comprehensive set of skills. They are very well organized and well balanced in the presentation and reinforcement of literacy skills. The children can hardly wait to get to these programs and once they start they want to finish. It really keeps them involved. I think every classroom should have these programs.

Shirley Johnson, Title I Teacher
San Xavier Mission School, Tuscon, Arizona

We use Readiness Skills, Phonemic Awareness, Super Phonics and High-Low Readers regularly with our K-2 students. I like the programs because they are not too gamey and they have a clear skill focus that guarantees the children learn the skills presented. The programs are a valuable and essential component of our school response to intervention.

Donna Stokes, Title I Reading Specialist
Tonalea Elementary, Scottsdale, Arizona

Essential Skills programs are very affordable. The students enjoy working on them and the phonics software fits in well with our curriculum. The programs are used by 200 students daily at our school. We have several site licenses and feel that they are an excellent value. I love the sequencing of skills and the variety of activities for the children to work on. The ability to place students at their own instructional level and have them work independently is great. Our students are definitely making gains using Essential Skills.

Barbara Vinyard, Title I Teacher
Walter Douglas School, Tucson, Arizona

The software from Essential Skills is used for the Title I reading program with students who are at risk of failing. They are wonderful programs! Our assessments show significant literacy growth. The programs are very coherent and very sequential, leading the students to acquire the basic skills they need one step at a time. These programs offer excellent skill preparation for the California Achievement Test.

Virginia Martinez, Title I Resource Teacher
Ben Hulse School, Imperial, California

We love the Essential Skills programs! We use them in our after school intervention programs and throughout the day in the computer lab. We originally bought them for our EL students to use but found they were so successful, we started using them with all our students. Our school raised their tests this past year, and it was due in part to extra practice of basic skills that the Essential Skills programs offer.

Tracy Battson, Title I Teacher
Peter J. Shields Elementary, Rancho Cordova, California