Fueling literacy growth across tiers of instruction

Tell me about your background and experience in education. Key accomplishments?

I’ve been involved in education sales for nearly 30 years—selling education solutions to support programs across early learning, K-12, higher education, law schools, and nonprofit organizations. My biggest accomplishment is my track record of developing strong, passionate teams who build long-lasting, trusted relationships with education partners throughout the country and world.

What do you love most about 95 Percent Group’s literacy offerings?

95 Percent Group offers a full, strategically designed system of resources in our One95 Literacy Ecosystem™. It is unmatched in how it provides schools and districts with wraparound professional learning services and evidence-aligned literacy tools and materials for instruction that are consistent and connected across all tiers of instruction. For instance, educators gain easy-to-use teachers’ editions and student workbooks with scripted lessons and routines and digital tools that enhance their instruction. Students gain the ability to focus on learning to read in fun, meaningful, and familiar routines, rather than having to master new methods of learning each day and in each tier of instruction. This approach is the secret sauce for how 95 Percent Group accelerates the development of reading skills.

Our programs—based in science of reading and designed with grade-level specificity—are what set us apart in a crowded field of science of reading products. We don’t force teachers to stretch content designed for 3rd graders, for instance, into 4th and 5th grade classrooms. Our programs are uniquely designed with grade-level specific content for every student, from K-5 and beyond.

Why grades 4, 5, and beyond?

Today’s older students not only require ongoing reading instruction, but they also need learning designed explicitly for their grade level to develop and strengthen their foundational skills, including especially in vocabulary and comprehension. It’s a must. Too many middle schoolers and high schoolers don’t have those skills and as a result, they don’t read well and therefore don’t love to read. I believe 95 Percent Group’s resources are best-in-class for unlocking literacy and joy for every child, no matter where they are in their literacy journey.

Tell us about your vision for introducing tiered and other solutions.

So this is really exciting. We recently launched a new “solutions” model within our literacy ecosystem, starting first with our “tiered solutions” which unite complementary resources in packages that optimize literacy instruction, practice, assessment, and intervention. All are teacher-directed solutions, in keeping with our commitment to this pedagogy.

• 95 Tier 1 Phonics Solution brings together resources that combine instruction with practice to build strong foundational skills.
• 95 Tier 2 Phonics Solution empowers educators with the very best in intervention: the ability to assess, instruct, and report on progress being made across instructional areas.
• 95 Tier 3 Literacy Solution offers schools the most effective, tech-enabled, teacher-directed solution on the market for providing intensive intervention that works.

We will build upon this solutions-based approach and talk about it far and wide as we tell the story of why 95 Percent Group is the wisest choice in literacy instruction today.

How is this model better for educators?

We are making it easier for school partners to access all the effective resources in our ecosystem— and in doing so making it easier for them to improve literacy. I am a big believer in solution-based offers rather than individual product offers. From my experience, clients love solution-based or “combination” offers. Namely because the approach brings together complementary components that align with one another and meet the needs of each tier of instruction, while also mapping to an educator’s daily workflow, responsibilities, and objectives. In addition, unlike individual products, our approach of tiered solutions offers financial incentives, which can be a big appeal for our buyers and their budgets. This model also further reinforces best practices teachers can learn from, share, and test as they embark on their science of reading professional development journey.

Why would a large district choose this approach rather than building their own toolkit?

School districts of all sizes benefit from our Tier 1, 2, and 3 solutions-based offerings. Educators gain consistent, familiar routines and language within and across tiers through resources that are proven to make a difference and work alongside each other.  And with that they gain peace of mind. But that’s no surprise. Our literacy solutions were built with significant teacher input, as we wanted to ensure that our resources would work for them. We want to empower them with innovative, easy-to-use literacy tools and materials that help every student—really help each one—catch up to grade level and develop into literate citizens in the most efficient way possible.

How do these solutions integrate with existing programs, such as an ELA curriculum?

95 Percent Group’s literacy solutions integrate with any existing ELA curricula that a school may be using. Our supplemental, tiered solutions complement and enhance, rather than compete with, existing resources across any literacy program.

How do they streamline the literacy transformation process?

Quality is very important but so is utility. We know our resources need to be easy-to-use so they are a delight to use while delivering real, differentiated value. We get consistent, positive feedback regarding the ease of use of our tiered solutions.

When it comes to change management and literacy transformation, each teacher takes his or her own personal journey from their current to desired future state. The ability to navigate through that transition stage varies by individual teachers and is assisted significantly by the ease of use and adoption of our solutions. Change management is a passion of mine and our commitment to our school partners goes well beyond product development. In particular, we place a premium on partnership, thought leadership, and professional learning. All are incredibly important when embarking on a change or transformative initiative. It’s not only about product; it’s also about partnership.

How is your team equipped to help bring lasting literacy change?

Our team of sales representatives is comprised of former administrators and educators with strong experience in districts, schools, and classrooms. They understand the challenges and are, therefore, well-equipped to offer extensive support to our school partners. To start, we engage our school partners in our professional learning courses, workshops, and on-demand content. There are also plenty of opportunities for our school partners to connect with our nation’s top literacy thought leaders, who are part of our company and experts in the science of reading and implementation science. Of course, we offer industry-leading, high-quality resources that are easy-to-use, which frees our school partners to engage proactively in thought leadership, learning, and best practices in product adoption. Our sales team has been trained in change management with a focus on ensuring we help advance the objectives of each teacher across any given program. In fact, our core sales development learning path combines change management, psychology, and cognitive science. This interdisciplinary knowledge helps our team proactively relate to our school partners in a unique and authentic way to build strong relationships.

In brief: How does 95 Percent Group stand out in the market?

We are the leading supplemental literacy provider in the market. Our solutions are proven, evidence-aligned resources supported by a commitment to partnership that is unparalleled in the United States. They are based in our unique formula: alignment + consistency = acceleration of reading skills.

What do educators need for professional learning and ongoing coaching to help make these solutions succeed?

Simply put: they need to partner with us. As part of our commitment to change management, we prioritize the needs of each individual educator in mastering effective literacy instruction.

Biography

Kevin Stehr
Chief Revenue Officer

As Chief Revenue Officer, Kevin leads a team of literacy professionals who work with teachers to advance literacy development gains through evidence-based literacy solutions supported by a world-class ecosystem aligned to the science of reading. For more than 20 years, Kevin has held multiple sales, strategy, and marketing leadership roles in the technology space with a concentration in the education market. Kevin served previously as Chief Revenue Officer at Teaching Strategies and in prior roles at Blackbaud, ProQuest, and LexisNexis.

Learn more

Interested in learning more about 95 Percent Group’s literacy ecosystem? Curious how our unique tiered solutions can benefit your school or district? We are here to help! Get in touch and our literacy experts will be there for you every step of the way.