As part of our One Year Later series, we’re sharing the stories of four students who have made remarkable progress with Imagine Learning English in just one year. This is the first of four posts in the series.

If you’re like me, you’re wondering where 2010 has gone. The new year always seems to sneak up on me, and I’ll probably be dating my checks wrong well into February.

At the same time that I wonder where the year has gone, I also like to take a moment to reflect on what a difference one year makes. One year ago no one knew what Wikileaks was. One year ago LeBron James was beloved in Cleveland. And one year ago no one knew that something called an iPad would become the best-selling electronic device in history.

One year later
One year can also make a big difference in the life of a student. Recently, Imagine Learning had the chance to catch up with four students we had first visited in November 2009, when the students were just beginning to use Imagine Learning English. In November of 2010, the video team returned to see the progress these students had made in just one year with Imagine Learning English.

While the students faced very different obstacles to learning – some were English learners, one was a struggling reader, and one had a learning disability – the one thing they all shared was a newfound confidence stemming from the progress they had made with Imagine Learning English.

Alexis
When I met Alexis in November 2009, the first thing I noticed was that she was painfully shy. We had flown to Denver to capture her story on film, but as we had dinner with her and her family that first night, I wondered if she would say anything on camera. She was 13 years old at the time. I tried to make conversation, but her answers were short and barely audible. She kept her head down and avoided eye contact.

Alexis had been classified as a student with disabilities, or an alternative learner, as her teacher Christine Bailey preferred to say. Ms. Bailey could see the potential in Alexis, and she knew that with enough confidence, Alexis would be able to enter mainstream classes. But first she had to catch up to her peers.

Individualized instruction through technology
In November 2009, Alexis had recently begun using Imagine Learning English, a software program designed to help her learn to read and speak English by adapting to her individual needs. Once she started using the program, Alexis began making improvements, particularly with reading comprehension. Her teacher loved the Imagine Learning English reports; they showed her which concepts Alexis understood and which concepts she did not, helping Ms. Bailey tailor her instruction to Alexis’s needs.

One year later, in November 2010, the video team returned to see how Alexis was doing. I barely recognized Alexis. Physically, she actually hadn’t changed very much. But in terms of confidence, the change was very apparent. Instead of a shy girl who kept her head down and rarely looked you in the eye, I saw a happy and confident student who now talked with her head held high.

See for yourself the difference one year made in the video below:

What a difference a year had made. And what a difference Imagine Learning English had made in the life of Alexis Sarazen.

Read part two in our One Year Later series.