Investing in teachers is what students need most.

Classmates Literacy Foundation provides structured literacy training to teachers in Illinois and Wisconsin at low or no cost through our partnership with Slant System™ - an Orton-Gillingham, phonics based, multimodal professional development program. Structured literacy is the gold standard in literacy instruction for ALL students, and essential for students with reading difficulties or dyslexia which affect 1 in5.

Slant System™ is accredited by the International Dyslexia Association and endorsed by the Center for Effective Reading Instruction.

Research and Findings

It was noted through research and supported by the evidence of a 2023 efficacy review, conducted by LXD Research, that after intervention using Slant System™, the following results were observed:

  • All kindergarten students performed above benchmark on aimsweb initial sound fluency subtest after implementing the Slant intervention.

  • The number of students referred for special education assessments decreased.

  • The percentages of first graders who met benchmark expectations on aimsweb subtests increased.

  • Third grade state test scores for these schools improved at a higher rate than the whole district’s progress over two years.

  • By the end of the second full year of Slant implementation all third-grade students met or exceeded the reading benchmarks on the Illinois state test.

  • Students scores on the TOWRE subtests and CTOPP significantly improved over the four years.

Together, we can help solve this problem.