Our success story starts with a student entering 5th grade, in September reading at a 2nd Grade level for fluency and comprehension.(Lexile Level 260 on Fall benchmark for RHelevate, DRA level 14) He was very reluctant to participate when we started with the Discovery program. The Discovery program was what was being used in the primary grades and what we had access to in the district. He would sit and glare through his bangs with a pout and say he was not going to do that. He said he could read and did not need to practice first grade and kindergarten work. It took consistent work and patience to get him to open up to trying. I explained to him that we all have gaps and some of the gaps we have to re-learn, like when we use close reading and reread a passage. Something we didn't see the first time we find when we read it again. He started to work with more diligence in November. That is when we started the software program and changed from the Discovery to the Elevate program. For him, the format of how the information was on the computer page made a world of difference. He didn't think he was doing baby work anymore even though the concepts were the same. He was also able to move forward in the lessons/ chapters independently. We made a big deal of it when he was the first to complete chapter 1 and then he discovered the library. During this time, myself and the special education teacher participated in the webinar training and this made such a difference on our ability understand the program design. By going back and filling in his gaps, Reading Horizons has helped him take off academically and is making remarkable progress. Just this month, in March, he is working on 5th grade reading and writing material. He tested at a DRA 50 on instructional level and is on Chapter 4 lesson 39 on the RH elevate software. He bounces between the practice and the library and shares what he is reading with classemates. I still do the skill tests and assessment from Reading Horizons as we are teaching the lessons in Chapter 3 and he passes them with out difficulty and a smile. He has become more independent and is self motivated because he has these tools in his wheel house to make change and grow. I am very excited to share his story and because the data is evident across several resource assessments I am confident of the results we are having with him. Thank you.
Sincerely, Carol Houck, 5th Grade Teacher
***The review found on this page is based on the award-winning Reading Horizons elementary reading curriculum found in thousands of U.S. schools. Reading Horizons also creates a full range of reading curriculum including, but not limited to, a reading intervention program, and an ELL reading program. ***
Grade Level:
Elementary