Author: Gina DiSalvo

4 Tips to Help Students Slay Writer’s Block for Good

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4 Tips to Help Students Slay Writer’s Block for Goodby Luke Trayser Let’s get one thing out of the way up front: Writer’s block is real.   Everyone runs into walls, from the greatest novelist down to students who can’t stand the mere thought of writing because they think they’re no good at it. Writer’s … Continued

A Transformation Through Data and Leadership

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Certain students enter the classroom at the beginning of the year and leave transformed. Their eyes light up, and they start to walk with a newfound confidence. As Buckminster Fuller observed, “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” This is where the story of 3rd grade resource … Continued

The World is at Gavin’s Fingertips Now

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When Gavin spoke about his life before Snap&Read, it was clear he needed a moment to compose himself. His emotions welled up when describing how he stayed up until midnight struggling with homework. Just trying to make sense of words on a page was overwhelming. By the time he reached fifth grade, Gavin was reading independently … Continued

Extremely Dyslexic, Extremely Gifted

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How would you find your way around an unfamiliar city if you couldn’t read the signs? Could you catch the right train, order from a restaurant menu, read a hotel bill? If extreme dyslexia prevented you from accessing written text at school, work, and in daily life what would you do? Would you pursue an … Continued

I’ll See it When I Believe It

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As a student growing up with dyslexia in the 1950s, most people had very little hope for me. Not much was known about dyslexia back then other than what people saw. What they saw was a troublemaker who couldn’t read. I heard that I was just lazy. I’m sure they would have believed in me … Continued

uPAR: Supporting Equity and Excellence in Wisconsin

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uPAR arrived at an auspicious time for special education in the Janesville, Wisconsin School District. Janesville’s Director of Student Services, Barbara Kelley, Ph.D., was leading the development of an Equity and Excellence plan to address the achievement gap for their students with special needs. The Plan engages case managers to create goals, strategies and timelines … Continued

How One Small Bit of uPAR Data Made a World of Difference

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Trei Federer, a 6th grader in Lander, Wyoming, learned something that he will likely never forget. Although he reads two grade levels below most of his peers, Trei, it turns out, can also vastly out-perform them. The revelation came about when Trei took a new assessment: the Universal Protocol for Accommodations in Reading (uPAR). The results re-framed his … Continued

uPAR Success Story: Central Community School District in Iowa

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Iowa educators from the Central Community School District are determined to learn how to best support their students’ reading goals. They know that students with reading deficits will fall behind in their general education classrooms if they cannot effectively access grade-level curriculum. It’s why the district is trialing uPAR, the online tool for assessing the effectiveness … Continued