In this episode, Dr. Erin Bailey hosts Christine Hjorth (author of the Aligned Decodables and CEO of Aligned Educational Resources), Cherish Mims (Epic's Manager of Education Relations), and Letitia Truslow (leads Epic School Plus) to discuss Epic's expansion of 250+ decodable books on its platform. The conversation covers what makes decodable texts effective for early readers, how they're aligned to 23+ different curricula scope-and-sequences, common misconceptions (that they're only for struggling readers or inherently boring), and how Epic's digital library complements print literacy initiatives like RIF's. The guests share the serendipitous origin story of the partnership, creative techniques for making decodables engaging (surprise illustrations, vocabulary building, nonfiction topics), and how the collection supports differentiation, family engagement, and English language learners.
About the guests:
Christine Hjorth is the author of the ALIGNED Decodables and CEO of Aligned Educational Resources. An expert on decodables, she has written a set of 260 decodable titles and aligned them to the scope and sequences of 22 different ELA curriculums. She has sold over 550,000 books over the last 3 years, which are in use around the country and are now found on EPIC! She is certified in Early Childhood, Elementary, and Gifted Education, with over 25 years of experience in the field, including many years as a first-grade teacher. She recently presented about the use of decodables at the International Society for Technology in Education conference and will be presenting again at the National Convention of Teachers of English in the fall.
Cherish Mims serves as the Manager of Educator Relations at Epic, where she builds relationships with educators and develops professional learning, webinars, campaigns, and community initiatives that connect teachers with engaging digital reading resources. She brings ten years of classroom experience and passion for literacy together to help educators make meaningful use of technology to support students and inspire a love of reading.
Letitia Truslow leads the Epic School Plus and Customer Experience teams at Epic, supporting school district administrators, educators, parents and students. In this role, she works closely with school communities to ensure they get the most out of Epic's platform, translating feedback from the field into meaningful improvements to the product and support experience.With a background in customer success and education technology, Letitia is passionate about building strong, lasting relationships between Epic and the districts it serves. She believes that great customer experience starts with genuinely listening to the people who use the product every day—whether that's a superintendent managing a rollout, a teacher navigating a new tool, or a parent trying to support their child's learning and literacy journey at home.
Epic! Decodable Texts: New Decodable Books on Epic
All of the amazing decodables discussed on this podcast, and found on EPIC, are available as physical copies at Decodables.com.
