Spotlight Idaho: A gradual approach creates sustainable, district-wide literacy change
Madison School District's gradual implementation of structured literacy tools has created remarkable results—kindergarten scores doubling in less than a year and students retaining skills even after months away from their English language literacy instruction. Their phased approach built teacher buy-in while diagnostic assessments ensured no student fell through the cracks, proving that systematic implementation creates sustainable literacy change.
Madison School District 321 Snapshot:
- 5,668 students
- 35% Title I
- 12% Special Education
- 6-7% Hispanic
Product highlight:
- Resources for all tiers from One 95 Literacy Ecosystem™ *
*Including but not limited to: 95 Phonics Core Program™, 95 Phonics Lesson Library™, 95 Literacy Intervention System™, 95 RAP™
Students at Madison School District 321 in Idaho are showing mastery and retention of foundational literacy skills at a very high rate—even from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next. In fact, when an elementary student who participates in intensive literacy intervention spent three months away from school in a non-English speaking environment and then returned, her Phonics Screener for Intervention™ (95 PSI™) assessment revealed something extraordinary—she had retained every literacy skill she’d mastered before leaving. Her story—and so many others—beautifully illustrates what happens when districts implement an effective, systematic, and research-based structured literacy approach.
We need this—now
10 years ago, Madison School District’s Director of Curriculum, Darnea Lamb, knew something wasn’t quite working for her elementary students when it came to literacy acquisition. They were using an ELA curriculum that didn’t have dedicated phonics instruction, and as students entered the upper elementary grades, they were having a hard time decoding multisyllabic words.
Presenting at a Title I conference Lamb attended, was Dr. Susan Hall—a now-retired cofounder of 95 Percent Group. She was there to present on the 95 Multisyllable Routine Cards™ (95 MSRC), a product targeting the type of advanced decoding skill Lamb knew her students were missing.
Lamb turned to her colleague and said, “We need this…right now.”
And that was just the beginning.
Access the full story: What you’ll learn
- How gradual implementation builds teacher buy-in and sustainable change
- Why diagnostic assessments should drive daily instruction, not just compliance
- How complete preparation and embedded training maximize program success
