Evidence-Based Phonemic Awareness Program for Young Learners

Today, 95 Percent Group LLC, the trusted source for proven literacy solutions, unveiled 95 Phonemic Awareness Suite™, a comprehensive program for developing awareness of speech sounds for students in grades K-1. Aligned with the latest research on phonemic awareness and part of the One95™ Literacy Ecosystem™, the new suite includes core and intervention lessons, intervention tools, assessments and teacher professional learning.

Building phonemic awareness means developing the understanding that spoken words are made up of specific sounds, called phonemes. The focus of phonemic awareness is on those sounds, but recent research reports that good phonemic awareness instruction makes the critical connection to the grapheme—a letter or group of letters—that represents the sound. The 95 Phonemic Awareness Suite is a prime example of this research brought to life in the classroom.

“Building a foundation in the ways that written words connect to spoken words begins with phonemic awareness.  Phonemic awareness is essential for developing literacy skills and a strong predictor of reading success,” said Laura Stewart, Chief Academic Officer, 95 Percent Group. “Our new 95 Phonemic Awareness Suite is grounded in the current research on phonemic awareness, providing teachers with an evidence-based, comprehensive program that will help young learners develop a foundation for becoming proficient readers.”

95 Phonemic Awareness Suite gives teachers the full array of tools they need to help K-1 students master critical skills. At the core of the suite is 95 Pocket PA™, which provides teachers with lessons to develop students’ phonemic awareness in just 10 minutes per day. 95 Pocket PA includes 50 weeks of lessons for Tier 1 students, including digital presentation files and articulation videos.

Providing additional support for students in need of intervention (Tier 2), 95 Phonemic Awareness Intervention Resource™ (PAIR) is aligned with Pocket PA, supporting a seamless transition to intervention that is based in familiar routines and instructional dialogue. Intervention resources include a teacher’s guide, Kid Lips Cards, Sound Spelling Cards and a Student Manipulatives Kit.

Teachers can pinpoint student skill gaps and differentiate instruction with 95 Phonemic Awareness Suite’s easy-to-administer assessment, 95 Phonemic Awareness Screener for Intervention™. Digital assessments are delivered over the new One95 Literacy Platform.

In addition, the suite provides professional learning for teachers, equipping them with knowledge and best practices grounded in the latest research on phonological processing, phonology and phonetics; training on implementing the suite in the classroom; and a practice-informed, follow-up session on acting on assessment data.

“This is the phonemic awareness suite every school needs to help young learners grow into readers,” said Jennifer Harris, Chief Product Officer, 95 Percent Group. “It is intentionally designed to be easy-to-use, fun and engaging, comprehensive, and effective for all students including those with language variations.”

Developed and priced for classroom purchase, an exclusive three-week free trial of 95 Phonemic Awareness Suite is available to any educator who attends the free webinar, “Introducing 95 Phonemic Awareness Suite: Shining the light on research-based phonemic awareness instruction,” on Thursday, November 2 or Wednesday, November 8 at 6:30 p.m. CT. During the webinar, 95 Percent Group’s Chief Academic Officer Laura Stewart and Director of Product Management Lia Ferro will discuss the latest research on the importance of phonemic awareness and how 95 Phonemic Awareness Suite was developed to build strong foundational skills that are essential to becoming successful readers. For additional information on the new 95 Phonemic Awareness Suite, read this Q&A.

About 95 Percent Group

95 Percent Group is an education company whose mission is to build on science to empower teachers—supplying the knowledge, resources and support they need—to develop strong readers. Using an approach that is based in structured literacy, the company’s One95™ Literacy Ecosystem™ integrates professional learning and evidence-based literacy products into one cohesive system that supports consistent instructional routines across tiers and is proven and trusted to help students close skill gaps and read fluently. 95 Percent Group is also committed to advancing research, best practices, and thought leadership on the science of reading more broadly.

For additional information on 95 Percent Group, visit: https://www.95percentgroup.com.

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