‘Lexia Lets Them Fly:’ How Core5 and PowerUp Are Accelerating Student Literacy in Mason City Schools

With more than 70 languages represented, Mason City Schools has many multilingual learners coming in at various levels of English literacy.

 “We had so many kids come to us needing reading skills that are typically mastered in the early grades,” Kasi Hockensmith, an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher for grades 5–6, said. “It's really hard when you have a student come to this country eager to learn—but they need phonemic awareness, or phonics, or more vocabulary, and it’s hard to remediate without embarrassing the student. But they still need those skills.” 

District leaders decided to pilot and then adopt Lexia® Core5® Reading and Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® to provide support and level the playing field across the board.

Hockensmith and Emily Pate, an ESL teacher for grades 7–8, report student growth in literacy skills since adopting Core5 and PowerUp. 

Thanks to content that’s engaging, age-appropriate, foundationally solid, these school leaders have seen student confidence grow as well, because multilingual learners don’t feel turned off by “babyish” content or feel embarrassed to be behind their peers. The real-time insights and built-in scaffolding of Core5 and PowerUp give students what they need to continue their progress.

At Mason City Schools, the multilingual learners are quickly catching up with their general education peers—and Hockensmith and Pate are motivated to keep using these data-driven tools to make their students “unstoppable.”

This year, educators at Mason City Schools have intentionally incorporated Core5 and PowerUp into their Learner Centered Systems of Support Model (MTSS) to ensure all students receive personalized literacy supports. Learn how Lexia is making a difference in their district.