Initially we were able to team teach one reading class; she and I also used it in our other classes with students at LHS. We were thrilled with the results we were getting, even though we felt very awkward (this was really ‘out of the box teaching’ and not what we were used to!) and at times uncomfortable. We compiled rough data from our students’ achievement, both locally and on their standardised test scores, and found improvement that really surprised us. Our principal Gary Jensen took our situation very seriously and bought into the EBLI idea as a positive means to improve scores. Our entire staff (with the exception of a few math teachers) was trained in EBLI and we all taught it to some degree in ‘Academic Center’ at least one day a week. Students all became familiar with the practice and many students actually helped ‘teach’ their teachers that were hesitant. I was moved from classroom teacher to Title Teacher, using exclusively EBLI with students. I am fortunate to work with students one hour per week (from their least academic class) to improve their reading ability and scores. We are seeing much success as we see attitudes and confidence improve at least equally to scores. It is a joy to touch lives of students in a personal way that sometimes cannot be measured, and even more fun to be able to measure their success with them! One 10th grade student tested in with a fourth grade reading level. He was intimidated and embarrassed, but improved consistently. We had a school assembly where the presenter asked some students to read aloud; that student volunteered and did an excellent job reading in front of 550 of his peers! It’s common for students to be embarrassed working on their reading skills at the high school level, but once they realize that EBLI helps people at every level, they open up and are willing to work hard. Incidentally, that student improved 6 points on his ACT reading score and 5 points on his composite score! EBLI works for us, and these past few years have been the best of my 23 year teaching career because I get to work with kids who want to learn (mostly) and we see obvious signs of growth and success.”