What is Sound Partners?
Sound Partners is a research-based, supplementary tutoring program designed to enhance early reading skills. With individualized instruction, Sound Partners emphasizes phonemic and alphabetic skills, phonemic decoding skills, and assisted oral reading practice with decodable texts. Sound Partners benefits students learning to read in grades K–1 and provides intervention for students in grades 2–3.
NEW Edition!
The new edition of Sound Partners is here, incorporating the most recent research to build early reading skills. Separate student and teacher books and a redesigned layout support easier tutor delivery and enhanced student engagement in the learning activities. Explore this tutoring solution that targets foundational reading skills – a program with strong research support that helps students develop accuracy and fluency in essential foundational reading skills.
Research-Based and Validated
*Vadasy, P. F., & Sanders, E. A. (2011). Efficacy of Supplemental Phonics-Based Instruction for Low-Skilled First Graders: How Language Minority Status and Pretest Characteristics Moderate Treatment Response. Scientific Studies of Reading, 15(6), 471–497.
- ESSA evidence level: Strong
- Journal of Educational Psychology Study
- Scientific Studies of Reading Study
Thoughtfully Designed to Support Teachers and Students
Whether you need supplemental instruction in K–1 or effective intervention in grades 2–3, Sound Partners includes an explicit scope and sequence that:
Lessons include applying word reading skills in storybook reading practice.
Lesson activities include tutor modeling and student practice opportunities
Kindergarten instruction emphasizes alphabetic and phonemic skills with applications to blending and segmenting.
Improves alphabetic, phonemic awareness, decoding, word identification, and spelling skills
First grade instruction extends from alphabetics, phoneme blending and segmenting, through reading more complex words
Tailored Tutoring
Sound Partners accelerates students’ to grade-level reading by enabling schools to provide:
- Individual support for students needing more intensive instruction and practice to learn alphabetic and decoding skills.
- Lessons designed specifically for tutors, paraprofessionals, and assistants with detailed guidance about how to deliver the lessons.
- Science of reading-based strategies.
- Individual instruction, 4 or 5 days per week for 30 minutes.
- Tutor modeling and scaffolding instruction for students who need more explicit instruction and practice opportunities.
How Can Sound Partners Be Used?
Sound Partners can be used alongside:
- Tutoring programs
- Intervention programs
- Before or after school programs
- Extended learning programs
- Summer school or intersession programs
What You Get With Sound Partners:
- Tutor Lesson Book
- Student Lesson Book(s)
- Tutoring and Implementation Manual
- Decodable Books (Bob Books)
- Sound Cards (in the Tutor Lesson Book)
Award Winning Sound Partners
Resources
Creative Staffing: Using Structured Interventions To Increase Student Support
Schools can expand reading intervention—even during teacher shortages—by using highly structured, easy‑to‑deliver programs that empower any trained adult to support early literacy. Tools like Sound Partners, Power Readers, and Supercharged Readers provide scripted lessons, clear guidance, and built‑in practice so paraprofessionals, nonreading teachers, volunteers, and families can confidently help students build foundational skills. With the right materials, schools can creatively extend their intervention workforce and ensure students receive consistent, high‑quality support.
How Schools Are Addressing the Teacher Shortage With Paraprofessional-Led Reading Intervention?
Teacher shortages aren’t just creating vacancies, they’re limiting access to the targeted support students need most. As districts face ongoing challenges filling certified teaching positions, many are looking for ways to expand interventions and tutoring using the staff already in their schools. Paraprofessionals can play an important role in delivering reading intervention, but success depends on having programs designed specifically for their experience level. With explicit, scripted solutions and appropriate support, districts can extend the reach of evidence-based reading instruction and help more struggling readers receive timely intervention, even amid persistent staffing shortages.