Helping children learn to read:
Evaluating the programs from Essential Skills Software in the context of current research

Jo Ann Walters Elementary School
Dierks, Arkansas
Russ Johnson, Principal

We administered the Ekwall-Shanker Reading Inventory to our target group of second grade students, which consisted of 3 boys and 3 girls. The assessment was given as a pre-test in early September and again as a post-test following a ten-week program utilizing the Essential Skills Reading Comprehension Level 1 software. Students worked on the Essential Skills program for thirty minutes each morning during the ten-week period. The levels of the Ekwall-Shanker Inventory are basically equivalent to grade levels. That's what's so exciting about our results.

The following chart reflects the results.