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Our mission: ALL children are reading at grade level.
Indiana Department of Education Approved Dyslexia Training Vendor
From the Students
From the Professionals
Lisa Jones
North Harrison Community Schools
Curriculum Coordinator
"One of our teachers is using OG as an intervention with her students who are not reading at grade level. The last time I spoke to her, she was tickled with the progress her students were making! She and her colleagues can now "speak the same language" with their students to reinforce their learning during classroom time.
We appreciate you so much! I do not remember a training that has impacted our students as significantly in all of my 34 years!"
4/5/23
T.P.
Parent
“As a parent of a first and sixth grader, I definitely notice a difference between their phonetic skills. As bright as my sixth grader is, there are words she often mispronounces.
I have had both of them read the same passage, that contain a mixture of low & high vocabulary words, and my first grader always shines. She also loves ‘OG’ time at school!
So for what it’s worth, I’m glad, yet not surprised, that our district is ahead of the reading requirement curve.”
4/4/23
Sidney Baker
Caston Elementary School
Special Education Teacher (K-5)
"As a Special Education Teacher, I see that my students will frequently know a concept one day and forget it the next. After introducing OG in our school, I am seeing that my students who cannot maintain a concept consistently are able to remember the letter names, sounds, and signs that go with them as well as consistently repeat them on a daily basis. It has done wonders for increasing their letter and sound awareness.
Thank you for all your help! "
3/19/23
Shanna Hinman
Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation
Special Education Teacher
“As a special educator, I have been using The Orton Gillingham program for years to help students improve their reading skills and meet academic goals. This program is a fun and interactive way to work with students in a small group setting. This program is an extremely impactful way to facilitate reading skills such as decoding, blending, and writing unknown words. The sound cards help ‘train’ students’ eyes to look for hunks and chunks within words. This program uses a multi-sensory approach utilizing hand and body gestures to help students learn different rules and syllable types. I have found the Orton Gillingham reading program to be an invaluable tool to help students improve their reading skills and foster a sense of success. I give the Orton Gillingham program my highest recommendation.”
11/30/20
Heather Pence
Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation
2nd Grade Teacher
“My Orton Gillingham Phonics training was a game changer for me. It has structured my phonics instruction for student engagement and gives me flexibility to adjust to student needs. When I hear my students read with confidence and apply skills when decoding an unknown word, I attribute it to the components of my O.G. program!”
11/30/20
Will Klein
SUPER School, IPS
First Grade Teacher
“Thank you, M. A. Rooney Foundation and all the Orton Gillingham coaches and Therese, Ann P-H and all the wonderful people at the Foundation. I have been an ESL teacher for 4 years and now a 1st grade teacher and I can truly say the most enjoyable part of my day is teaching the Orton Gillingham lesson. The lesson is very structured and well thought out. The best part of working with them is their tireless pursuit for helping students improve their reading ability. They provide each individual student data to see where student is to increase their reading ability and to take to them to the next level.
I don’t know where we would be without them. Thank you.”
10/26/20
Debbie Garcia
SUPER School, IPS
Principal
“I would like to thank Therese, Ann P-H, and the entire staff at the M. A. Rooney Foundation. They have provided training, coaching and data support. This has given our team an opportunity to close the gap in our students reading skills. Their commitment to help students achieve is inspiring. We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with them.”
10/26/20
Emily Diemer
SUPER School, IPS
Special Education Teacher
“I have worked closely with the M. A. Rooney Foundation as the Orton Gillingham coach at SUPER School. The M.A. Rooney Foundation has been incredibly helpful assisting in revamping our OG Program. They have provided resources and additional support in our building. They coach, collect data and progress monitor our students. They observe teachers and teach lessons. We have seen tremendous growth in our students. They have made a huge difference in lives of our students at SUPER School. The M. A. Rooney Foundation is a wonderful group of people who care deeply about children.”
10/26/20
Kelly Key
Fairview Elementary School
1st Grade Teacher
“OG is a wonderful approach for teaching phonics to students. There are many wonderful things about OG. First, it is incredible to use with ALL students-no matter what level of phonics students come in with knowing and having. Next, the strategies taught in OG are easily seen being transferred into students’ writing, problem solving in reading, and spelling each and every day. Kids say, “Use your b checker” when spelling and writing. They identify “h brothers” in spelling or when reading. The students learn to apply the rules in all areas, not just use them during “OG time”. Third, it is great for educators as well. It helps us “freshen up” on the phonics rules that we were taught or may not have been taught throughout our own education. Lastly, OG is an approach that encompasses strategies to help reach auditory learners, kinesthetic learners, and visual learners.
I say these statements having been an educator for 27 years-as a classroom teacher and as a Title I teacher. I’ve seen things come and go, but OG offers so much to so many.”
10/26/20
Theresa Simpson
Edgewood Primary School
1st Grade Teacher
“OG is a wonderful program which is providing my students with a clear understanding of reading fundamentals. What I absolutely love is that it is beneficial for ALL students. I enjoy watching and listening to my students apply and recite the rules. The growth my students experience in reading (and spelling) is due primarily to the understanding of the rules. I LOVE OG!!!”
10/23/20
Brenda Whitaker
Edgewood Primary School
Principal
“As a primary school, we have tried many different literacy and intervention programs. OG has been by far the most effective program we have used in teaching our students the fundamental skills of decoding and learning the rules and patterns of our language. This is our fourth year implementing the OG program. Each year since starting the program, our first-grade teachers have noticed a considerable improvement in their incoming students' ability to decode words. Our second-grade teachers have noticed an improvement in both fluency and comprehension. This year, in spite of the fact that our second-grade students had not received in-school instruction for the final quarter of the school year, the third-grade beginning-of-year reading scores were higher than any other grade level in K-5! We attribute that to four solid years of O-G instruction. We deeply appreciate the training, support, and encouragement we have received from the M. A. Rooney Foundation.”
10/23/20
Casey Gibson
Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation
Director of Title One
“I am truly grateful to the M.A. Rooney Foundation for their partnership with us, Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation, to ensure our teachers and support staff are fully equipped to implement Orton-Gillingham in our K-2 classrooms as well as during Tier 3 and Special Education interventions. As a district, we have implemented the systematic approach of using Orton-Gillingham during all of our K-2 Tier 3 intervention groups daily. Our staff follows the M.A. Rooney Foundation’s lesson plans that are provided on its website. Through this approach, we have seen our struggling readers become proficient readers. More than that we have seen our struggling readers begin to love reading!”
10/20/20
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