Case Study: Bridging the gap from phonics instruction to independent reading
Students were learning phonics—but not transferring those skills to real reading. This case study shows how Ringwood Primary School, a public elementary school, used LitLab’s curriculum-aligned decodable texts to close the gap between phonics instruction and fluent, independent reading.
Johnsburg CUSD 12 · Johnsburg, Illinois
Ringwood Primary School, a public elementary school, used LitLab’s curriculum-aligned decodable texts to close the gap between phonics instruction and fluent, independent reading.
2025–26 School Year
Ringwood Primary School, part of Johnsburg Community Unit School District 12 in Johnsburg, Illinois, serves approximately 300 students across grades K–2.
Like many schools implementing structured literacy, Ringwood’s educators had adopted UFLI Foundations as their core phonics curriculum, but they faced a persistent gap: students were learning phonics skills in isolation and struggling to translate that into fluent reading.
In the 2025–26 school year, Ringwood partnered with LitLab to provide teachers with curriculum-aligned decodable texts that directly reinforce UFLI lesson objectives.
After one semester of implementation, a comprehensive survey of 20 educators revealed striking results across every dimension measured: student skills, teacher satisfaction, and instructional alignment.
This case study presents the full picture of Ringwood’s implementation: the challenge, rollout strategy, measured impact, and teacher feedback.
Results at a Glance
The Challenge: Phonics Skills Without Transfer
Ringwood’s instructional leaders identified a familiar pattern: students performed well during explicit phonics instruction but struggled to apply those skills when reading connected text.
The gap between “knowing the sounds” and “reading fluently” was persistent across grade levels.
This is a well-documented challenge in structured literacy implementation. Phonics instruction teaches students to decode individual words, but the transfer to fluent reading requires extensive practice with texts that are well-aligned to instruction. Without that bridge, students develop decoding strategies but struggle to translate it into fluent, automatic reading.
Ringwood needed decodable texts tightly aligned to their specific phonics programs’ scope and sequence, not decodables aligned to a different phonics program. And they needed students to actively practice reading aloud those decodables so that they could apply exactly what they’d just been taught.
The Solution: Curriculum-Aligned Reading Practice
LitLab stood out to Ringwood’s leadership because of its direct, lesson-level alignment to Ringwood’s chosen phonics program, UFLI Foundations. Rather than offering a generic library of decodable texts, LitLab maps every story to specific UFLI lessons, ensuring that students encounter only phonics patterns they have already been taught. This tight curriculum alignment was the decisive factor in adoption.
“The decodables were able to focus on the UFLI skill of the week… it has strong decodability rather than students being introduced to words they have not been taught to decode yet.”
— Dawn Barrett
Beyond alignment, LitLab provided Ringwood teachers with tools to personalize and differentiate instruction. The custom story generator allowed teachers to create decodables featuring student names and interests, a feature that Dawn specifically credited with boosting engagement. The digital student practice mode gave students the ability to read independently on Chromebooks and iPads. And the platform’s print-ready formats made it easy for teachers to send decodable texts home for additional practice.
Critically, 95% of surveyed teachers agreed that LitLab saves them time finding high-quality instructional materials. Time that was previously spent searching for decodables that matched their scope and sequence, often unsuccessfully, was able to be repurposed and put towards students.
Lightweight Rollout, Wide Classroom Impact
Dawn championed a thoughtful approach for Ringwood’s rollout to best fit their small district size while minimizing disruption and building internal expertise. LitLab offered Ringwood a virtual onboarding at the beginning of the school year. Dawn prioritized this training for Ringwood’s two MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) leaders. These leaders became the school’s resident LitLab experts, and brought LitLab to their teaching staff.
This lightweight approach worked. Ringwood’s teachers reported high ease of use across all dimensions, with 95% of teachers saying that it was easy to find stories, and 85% reporting that it was easy to assign practice aligned to their curriculum
Flexible Use Across Grade Levels and Settings
One of the most notable findings from Ringwood’s implementation is how naturally teachers adapted LitLab to different instructional contexts across the foundational literacy continuum:
👉 Second Grade: Teachers used LitLab decodables primarily as independent center work, giving students the autonomy to read curriculum-aligned texts on their own during literacy rotations.
👉 Kindergarten and First Grade: Teachers used LitLab in small-group instruction, reading decodables together with students in guided contexts to scaffold fluency development.
👉 SPED, Title I, and MTSS: Specialists used LitLab to supplement intervention sessions. One SPED resource teacher noted that she gives students choices among several LitLab books and that “they like having control over that portion,” building agency alongside skills.
👉 Multilingual Learners: Ringwood’s ML teacher reported that her students “are always asking me to print off more books for them to practice at home,” a strong signal that the texts are accessible and engaging even for students navigating a new language.
👉 Home Practice: Multiple teachers reported sending LitLab decodables home with students, extending practice beyond the school day. One first-grade teacher shared that her “students love the decodables and share they practice them often at home.”
Impact: Stronger Student Outcomes and Actionable Data
Teachers reported impact across six dimensions:
| Student Outcome | % Agree |
|---|---|
| Develop stronger phonics and decoding skills | 100% |
| Improve performance on UFLI-based weekly assessments | 94% |
| Stay engaged with reading practice | 90% |
| Build confidence and agency as readers | 90% |
| Improve reading fluency and accuracy | 85% |
| Increase reading comprehension | 80% |
Teachers are seeing LitLab’s impact show up directly on the assessments they already trust. With 94% agreeing that students improved on UFLI-based weekly assessments, the gains are visible in the same formative measures Ringwood uses to track phonics progress.
That assessment signal is reinforced by a broader instructional shift. 100% of teachers agreed that LitLab developed stronger phonics and decoding skills, which supports LitLab’s role in helping students move beyond isolated skill work into real reading.
Student Data That Is Actually Actionable
Teachers were also asked how well LitLab delivers on its core promises to educators. The results confirm strong alignment with instructional priorities:
| Value Proposition | % Agree |
|---|---|
| Content aligns well with our core phonics curriculum | 95% |
| Saves me time finding high-quality instructional material | 95% |
| Supports differentiation in foundational literacy | 95% |
| Improves the quality of student independent practice | 94% |
| Student data helps me monitor and respond to student needs | 92% |
The strongest signal here is how consistently teachers point to data as actionable, not just informative. With 92% agreeing that student data helps them monitor and respond to needs, LitLab isn’t just surfacing progress, it’s tightening the feedback loop between practice and instruction. Teachers can see skill-level performance tied directly to phonics patterns and immediately adjust grouping, pacing, or intervention without needing to triangulate across multiple tools. That shifts data from something retrospective to something operational, embedded in daily instructional decisions rather than reviewed after the fact.
In Their Own Words: Teacher Perspectives
Teachers were also asked how well LitLab delivers on its core promises to educators. The results confirm strong alignment with instructional priorities:
“LitLab is a great resource for independent practice with UFLI skills. They are also great books to print and send home.”
— 1st Grade Teacher
“My students love the decodables. They practice them often at home.”
— 1st Grade Teacher
“The students seem to really enjoy the books… My ML students are always asking for more.”
— ML Teacher
“Students are engaged… they like having control over their reading choices.”
— SPED Resource Teacher
“It’s a great program to practice phonics skills independently.”
— 2nd Grade Teacher
Looking Ahead
Ringwood Primary’s experience demonstrates what happens when practice is tightly aligned to a school’s phonics scope and sequence: students transfer skills from instruction to reading, teachers save time and trust the materials, and the gap between “learning phonics” and “reading fluently” begins to close. Every teacher surveyed agreed that LitLab strengthens students’ decoding skills. Teachers across every role — gen ed, SPED, Title I, MTSS, and multilingual learner — found ways to integrate the platform into their instruction. And students are not just building decoding and fluency skills; they’re building confidence, independence, and a genuine love for reading.
Methodology
Data collected via online survey administered January 2026 after one semester of LitLab implementation. Twenty (20) respondents across grades K–2, including classroom teachers, SPED resource teachers, a Title I reading teacher, MTSS specialists, a multilingual learner teacher, and a student teacher. Student outcomes and value propositions measured on a Likert agreement scale. Behavioral observations were multi-select. Ease of use measured on a four-point scale. Open- ended responses from site lead collected via structured interview.