During the 2022-23 school year, secondary students at Maine School Administrative District 75 (MSAD 75) in Topsham, Maine, received Seeing Stars instruction to develop symbol imagery for phonological and orthographic processing. 

The district partnered with Lindamood-Bell for Schools to address the needs of its struggling readers and to provide teachers with additional support.

“We had students who were going to be going into high school the following year who were reading at a 1st and 2nd grade level,” shared Heidi O’Leary, MSAD 75 Special Education Director. She explained that this was partly due to students’ growth being stunted during the pandemic. 

The end of middle school is a particularly critical time to address any reading challenges before students head to high school where reading is incorporated into math, science, and social studies. 

After 92 hours of instruction, students made significant large standard score changes in the critical parts of reading. “I 100% love the way the program is designed,” O’Leary said. “What I observed was students who were engaged. I could almost SEE the growth happening.”

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