95% Group Analysis

Intervention Analysis by Danielle Schaeffer

Literacy Intervention System

95 percent Group

START

Index

Overview

Background

Critical Analysis

Intervention Evaluation Tool

Pros and Cons

Final Recomendation

Pricing

Student Artifacts

Research Base

95 Percent GroupLiteracy Intervention System

Overview

(Efficacy Studies, 2025)

95 Percent Group offers a wide array of literacy tools and programs from coaching and professional development tools to classroom instruction and intervention tools and programs. For this presentation, I have focused on the Multisyllable routine cards, Vocabulary Surge, and Comprehension grades 3-6 package.

Overview

"For nearly two decades, we’ve remained committed to the development and advancement of the science of reading in classrooms across the country." -95 Percent Group

(Efficacy Studies, 2025)

95 Percent Group program options

(Efficacy Studies, 2025)

95 Percent Group Intervention system

"Identifying and closing skill gaps early is essential and provides a strong foundation for reading success. With our digital 95 Literacy Intervention System, you’ll be able to quickly diagnose phonemic awareness and phonics skill deficits, and effectively group students to deliver precise intervention instruction to maximize student outcomes. Ongoing progress monitoring ensures that students achieve skill mastery, while student-centered data allows all literacy stakeholders to see student-level progress and optimize school-level intervention activities." -95 Percent Group

Background

(Efficacy Studies, 2025)

Background

95 Percent Group is a reading intervention program that offers intervention materials and tools for grades K-6. This program was launched in 2006 and was founded by Dr. Susan L. Hall. 95 Percent Group is clear about its foundation being the science of reading and structured literacy. On its website, it has pages dedicated to both approaches, with links to research backing them.

(Efficacy Studies, 2025)

Comprehension

Vocabulary Surge

Multi-syllable Routine Cards

Pricing

The exact pricing for the 95 Percent Group's One95™ Literacy Ecosystem is not publicly available, as it is typically customized based on the needs of a school district or school, including the number of students and desired features. Typically, they offer a tiered pricing structure based on the number of users and access level with options for individuals, schools, and districts. They do offer pricing for individual manuals and guides:

Research base

95 Percent Group Research Base overview

There is not a large body of research surrounding 95 Percent Group's intervention programs. All of the research I could find was conducted by LXD research (LXD Research at Charles River Media - ESSA Evidence Research, 2025) and was not peer-reviewed. Although LXD Research seems like a credible and reliable organization, it is important to have peer-reviewed studies as well as studies that can be reproduced. 95 Percent Group was founded in 2006, so there has been time for more research to be conducted. The studies that have been conducted have included fairly large sample sizes (over 300 students, with a few exceptions) of diverse backgrounds. They have also been conducted on various grades and in different states (Ohio, California, Maryland, Arizona, Delaware, etc). The studies have included ELL students, IEP students, and economically disadvantaged students. The majority of the studies did find positive results that support the efficacy of 95 Percent Group's phonics programs (Schechter et al., 2024; Schechter et al., 2024; Schechter et al., 2023). However, not all of the tools, programs, and materials offered by 95 Percent Group have research studies to support them, namely the Vocabulary Surge materials.

(Efficacy Studies, 2025; LXD Research at Charles River Media - ESSA Evidence Research, 2025)

Research Base and claims

The following pages will detail the research and certifications backing 95 percent group's intervention programs, tools, and materials.

95 Percent Group's website offers several efficacy studies and success stories to support their research. I mainly focused on the multisyllable routine cards and comprehension studies (there was no efficacy study for the vocabulary program), since those programs are used by my intervention department.The studies linked on the efficacy page provide an overview of the research conducted to drive these programs. I had to dig deeper to find the full published studies. Almost all of the studies I could find were conducted by Rachel L. Schechter and other researchers. Schechter is the founder of LXD Research, an independent company that partners with educational companies to conduct and evaluate research.

(Institute of Education Sciences, 2025)

Comprehension Grades 3-6 ESSA Certification

Multisyllable Routine Cards ESSA Certification

What does it mean?

ESSA Certified

(Digital Promise, 2011)

The Digital Promise Research-Based Design ESSA Tier 3 and 4 certifications are different from the tier three and four certification that come from ESSA directly. 95 Percent group has a Tier 3 Digital Promise certification for its Multisyllable Routine Card Package.

Digital Promise Certified

What does this mean?

95 Percent Group is "certified by Digital Promise for 'Research-Based Design for Instructional Learning Products' [which] confirms our product design is based in the science of reading." Digital Promise is a nonprofit organization that aims to provide equitable education tools. Their goals are to generate research and knowledge around digital technologies, connect innovative researchers and educators, and empower communities and schools to implement effective practices.

(Toms, 2024)

Additional Research

As mentioned earlier, there is not a large body of research around 95 Percent Group's intervention programs. Outside of the studies conducted by LXD Research, there was not much to be found. I was able to find a Master's Thesis conducted in Iowa in 2024 by Amber Toms that studied reading proficiency score using the 95 Percent Group Core Phonics Program for grades K-3. The study was conducted over 5 years, but the sample size was very small, only four students who were classified as struggling readers. The results did not show immediate positive outcomes, though the researcher noted additional studies may be needed and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected this study.

Cons

Pros

Pros and cons

The positives and negatives of 95 Percent groups intervention materials and programs

• Comprehensive system
• Backed by research conducted by an independant researcher
• Credentialed program
• Includes professional development tools
• PA Common Core Aligned

• Pricing
• Relies heavily on scripted curriculum
• Body of research could be larger
• Heavy foundation solely in science of reading
• Low score on the Intervention Evaluation Tool

Critical Analysis

(Efficacy Studies, 2025)

Critical Analysis Summary

There seem to be positives and negatives to 95 Percent Group's intervention programs. 95 Percent Group offers a fairly comprehensive plan that can address many areas of need over many grade levels. All of the programs are founded on the science of reading, which has value but could be more holistic if combined with other literacy education approaches. Additionally, many of the programs are heavily scripted, which can stifle teacher innovation and force a "one size fits all" approach. The materials are also expensive, but it does seem like there is some flexibility in the prices. Some of the programs have been researched and shown to have a positive impact on student learning. Many of the efficacy studies provided on the 95 percent group website are lacking in robust research. Many of the studies simply outline the research on the theories the programs are based on but do not include research on the programs themselves. Overall, the 95 Percent Group programs have value but with room for improvement and growth.

The intervention Evaluation Tool showed that the programs I am currently using at my school (The multisyllable routine cards, Vocabulary Surge, and 95 Comprehension Grade 3-6) have a lot of room for growth. Some of the main areas of concern are:

• Lack of student choice
• Lack of correlation with the content area lessons
• Scripted materials that lack flexibility

95 Percent Group scored in the middle column for most of the other areas, meaning there is some alignment with research on best literacy education practices.

Intervention Evaluation Tool

Using the intervention Evaluation Tool created by Richard L. Allington at University of Tennessee, I evaluated the programs proximity to a research-based intervention.

Student Artifacts

Comprehension

Phonics

Closed Syllable and Silent -e

Here is an example of a phonics lesson adapted to Lumio. Students sorted the words base on the pattern and starred real words.The pacing guide from the teacher manual is shown above.

Vocabulary

Prefixes

Here is an example of a prefix leson adapted to a zoom whiteboard. Students sorted the words and then used the emojis to respond to questions. The lesson from the teacher manual is shown above.

Comprehension

Questioning

Here is an example of some questions a student asked about the text Tigers of the Night. Students marked any questions they had with a question mark sticker. A section of the text is shown above.

Predicting

Here is an example of some predictions a student made about the text The Test. Students marked anywhere they found clues about what might happen with a magnifiying glass sticker. A section of the text is shown above.

Final Recommendation

Overall, I think the 95 Percent Group programs and materials have some potential but could use some work in several important areas. More research needs to be conducted on the efficacy of the programs. They would also benefit from adding more flexibility and space for teacher creativity, alignment with classroom lessons, and student choice. I think many of the 95 Percent Group materials could be useful to supplement curriculum. I do not think this program is the top choice to implement an independent intervention program. With additional research and some additions or revisions to the materials, it has the potential to be a good program, but it is not quite there yet.

LXD Research at Charles River Media - ESSA Evidence Research. (2025, January 24). LXD Research at Charles River Media.https://lxdresearch.com/ ‌

Schechter, R. L., Gross, R., & Ilievski, I. (2024). (rep). 95 Phonics Lesson Library[TM] Efficacy Study with Grades 4-5: Fall toSpring Formative Assessment Findings. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 2025Schechter, R. L., Gross, R., & Ilievski, I. (2024). (rep). Evaluating the Effectiveness of 95 Phonics Core Program(TM) in 4th and5th Grade: 2023-2024 School Year Report. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 2025.Schechter, R. L., Lynch, A. D., & Ilievski, I. (2023). (rep.). 95 Phonics Core Program(TM) 2022-2023, Grades K-1, AZ EfficacyStudy. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 2025.

Toms, Amber. (2024). Navigating literacy proficiency: Merging science of reading and guided approaches (thesis). NWCCommons. Retrieved 2025, from https://nwcommons.nwciowa.edu/education_masters/604/

Digital Promise. (2011). Digital Promise. https://digitalpromise.org/ Efficacy Studies. (2025). 95 Percent Group. https://www.95percentgroup.com/efficacy-studies/Institute of Education Sciences. (2025, January). ESSA tiers of evidence. U.S. Department of Education.https://ies.ed.gov/ies/2025/01/essa-tiers-evidence ‌

95 Percent Group Inc. (2022). Multisyllable Routine Cards Evidence Packet. ​Retrieved from https://www.95percentgroup.com95 Percent Group Inc. (2021). ​ ESSA Level 4 Evidence: Comprehension Grades 3-6 Evidence Packet. 95 Percent Group Inc.Retrieved from https://www.95percentgroup.com

References:

Thank you!

Here are the requirements for the Digital Promise Research-Based Design: ESSA Tier 4 Certification

95 Vocabulary Surge™

A series of 15-minute daily lessons that teaches students how to break words into parts, hypothesize the meanings of unknown parts, and check meaning in context. The lessons also help students learn the meaning of the most common Anglo-Saxon words, affixes, Latin roots, and Greek combining forms.

Rating Scale

40 Points: Very well designed 35 points: Well designed 30 points: Design could be improved 25 points: Not well matched to research 20 points: Close to traditional non-research-based designs 15 points: or less No evidence of a research-based design ® Richard L. Allington, University of Tennessee

(95 Percent Group Inc. 2022)

This efficacy study shows postive growth using the MSRC instruction.

Multisyllable Routine Cards™ Package

Includes:

• Multisyllable Routine Cards Teacher's Edition with scripted lessons,
• An initial digital presentation subscription, Pacing Guide, and
• a set of 4 phonics posters

These resources are used collaboratively to amplify engagement and visual accessibility while seamlessly supporting the MSRC steps and routines.

(95 Percent Group Inc. 2021)

This efficacy study does not include research done with students, but details the research behind the instructional design of the comprehension program. The ESSA level four certification simply means the design offers a clear, strong rationale and has plans for research in the future.

95 Comprehension

Includes:

• Full-color, spiral-bound Teacher's Guide
• 28 magnetic color-coded tokens
• 700 color-coded translucent tokens

Designed for Tier 2 small groups who have been identified as struggling to comprehend even though their decoding skills are strong.7 comprehension processes are taught in the following sequence: connecting, questioning, predicting, imaging, inferring, determining importance, and synthesizing