What is a customizable phonics curriculum?

A phonics curriculum is customizable when teachers can adjust scope, sequence, pace, and individual student paths without leaving the program. Most curricula are scripted — the same lesson, same order, same materials for every student in the class. A customizable phonics curriculum lets you keep the integrity of the published scope and sequence while overriding per student where the data shows they need it.

Does Storytime replace UFLI, Wilson Fundations, or IMSE?

No. Storytime sits on top of your phonics curriculum. We support the scope and sequence of the leading programs (UFLI Foundations, Wilson Fundations, Amplify CKLA, IMSE Orton-Gillingham, LMW, and Storytime AI's own scope) and provide the digital practice layer — decodable books, personalized journeys, ORF scoring, mini-games — that's traditionally hard to deliver per student inside a scripted program.

Who customizes what — teacher, admin, or AI?

Teachers control everything that affects student outcomes: scope, sequence, assignments, placement criteria, recovery actions. Administrators control program-level settings: which curriculum the school uses, which features are unlocked, NDPA and roster sync. The AI generates content (decodables, illustrations, narration) inside the teacher's chosen scope — never altering the phonics caps the teacher set.

Can different students use different curricula inside the same class?

Yes. A 3rd-grade intervention student might be on IMSE Orton-Gillingham while the class baseline is UFLI Foundations. Storytime accommodates per-student curriculum assignment, so an interventionist's caseload can use a structured-literacy curriculum without disrupting the homeroom flow.

How does customization affect outcomes data?

Personalization (voice, character, illustration style) is metadata only — it doesn't bias the analytics. Scope and pace customizations are tagged so that progress data can be filtered by 'on baseline' vs 'on override.' District-level reports can show both views.

Can I change the curriculum mid-year?

Yes. If your school is migrating from one phonics program to another (e.g., shifting from Wilson Fundations to UFLI), Storytime can re-anchor student journeys to the new scope and sequence. Existing decodables in students' libraries stay readable; future journey items rebuild against the new curriculum's lesson order.

Customization layer

A customizable phonics curriculum that doesn't replace yours.

Storytime sits on top of the leading phonics programs schools actually use. We don't replace your curriculum — we make every part of it customizable for each student in the room. The published scope and sequence stays intact. The per-student knobs are what's new.

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Programs supported

The scope you already teach — extended, not replaced.

Every decodable book, journey item, assignment, and assessment is cross-tagged against these programs' scope and sequences. Pick the curriculum your school uses; Storytime anchors to it.

UFLI Foundations

K-2 + intervention
Wilson Fundations

K-3
Amplify CKLA

K-2
IMSE Orton-Gillingham

K-2
LMW

K-2
Storytime AI

K-12 native scope

Don't see your program?

We can align to any scope and sequence on district request.

The programs above are what we ship aligned out of the box. If your district has adopted something else — a state-specific scope, a less common phonics core, an internal sequence — we add it. Send us your scope and sequence and we'll cross-tag the decodable library against it. No additional cost during pilot.

Talk to us about your curriculum Or book a district pilot →

What's customizable

Five dimensions — not just "make every kid different."

Customizable doesn't mean a generic personalization slider. It means specific, named knobs with default values teachers can override per student, per lesson, per assignment.

01 · Per-student journey

Every student on a path tuned to their pace, scope, and sequence.

Journey Builder lays out a per-student literacy path from decodables, quizzes, ORF challenges, and creative activities. Each student's path can fork off the class baseline — accelerated for advanced readers, paused for re-teach, or rebuilt entirely for an intervention.

Class baseline drag-and-drop, with per-student overrides
Pace controls — advance, hold, repeat at the item level
Scope controls — fork the sequence for an individual without breaking the class
Source curriculum stays the anchor for outcomes data

02 · Per-student decodable

The library is one input. On-demand generation is the other.

Two students on the same lesson can need different books — different pattern density, different audience age, different topic. The library is cross-tagged across the supported curricula. When it doesn't have a book matched to a specific lesson, the AI generates a new one inside the same scope.

2,000+ pre-built decodables cross-tagged to the supported scope-and-sequences
On-demand decodable generation for exact-lesson gaps
On-demand Hi-Lo decodables for older striving readers
Pattern caps anchored to the lesson — nothing untaught sneaks in

Tour the decodable library

03 · Per-student personalization

Voice, character, illustration style, accommodations — set per student.

Every student in the same classroom can have different defaults: a different narrator voice, a different illustration style, a different character following them through their books. Dyslexia Mode is per-student. So is reduced-motion. The customizations stay invisible to the analytics so outcomes data isn't biased.

Narrator voice per student
Illustration style per student (Pixar-3D, watercolor, anime, …)
Character avatar per student
Dyslexia Mode + accommodations per student

04 · Per-student assignments + assessments

Different assignments, different placement, same gradebook.

Build a class-wide assignment, then override per student — different decodable, different comprehension quiz, different ORF passage, different placement gate. Each student moves forward only when they've met the criteria you set for them. The class baseline keeps the group moving; the overrides catch the outliers.

Class-wide assignments with per-student overrides
Per-student placement gates — student-level passing criteria
Per-student ORF benchmarking against grade-level WCPM
Per-student credit recovery and re-teach loops

05 · Per-student recovery actions

One-click interventions when a student gets stuck.

Skill Tree analytics flag students who aren't progressing. From the dashboard, the teacher can reset an item, release the student to the next lesson, repeat the current lesson, or assign a 'Special Mission' practice activity that becomes the student's top priority in their next session. The student doesn't see the back-end mechanics — just the next thing to read.

Reset an item (give it back)
Release to next lesson (skip after teacher review)
Repeat current lesson (re-teach loop)
Assign practice activity — flows to student as 'Special Mission'

How it pairs

You keep your curriculum. We add the per-student practice layer.

Your curriculum stays the source of truth

Scope · sequence · pedagogy

Phonics scope and sequence defined by your published program
Teaching pedagogy (whole-class explicit, small-group rotations, intervention) unchanged
Heart words, blending routines, decoding strategies all come from your curriculum

Storytime delivers per-student practice

Decodables · journeys · analytics · personalization

Library + on-demand decodables cross-tagged to your curriculum's lessons
Personalized journeys, assignments, ORF challenges, mini-games
Skill Tree analytics + recovery actions per student
Voice, character, illustration style, accommodations per student

Customization without scope-and-sequence integrity loss.

Every per-student override is logged against the class baseline. When a student is on a different scope from their classmates, the system records it as an explicit deviation — not a hidden change to the curriculum. District analytics surface deviations so an admin can see when intervention pathways have diverged from the published program.

The integrity bar: a customized journey must still be reportable against the source curriculum's standards. Per-student paths are tagged with their reference program so outcomes data stays interpretable.

FAQ

What a customizable phonics curriculum actually means.

What is a customizable phonics curriculum?: A phonics curriculum is customizable when teachers can adjust scope, sequence, pace, and individual student paths without leaving the program. Most curricula are scripted — the same lesson, same order, same materials for every student in the class. A customizable phonics curriculum lets you keep the integrity of the published scope and sequence while overriding per student where the data shows they need it.
Does Storytime replace UFLI, Wilson Fundations, or IMSE?: No. Storytime sits on top of your phonics curriculum. We support the scope and sequence of the leading programs (UFLI Foundations, Wilson Fundations, Amplify CKLA, IMSE Orton-Gillingham, LMW, and Storytime AI's own scope) and provide the digital practice layer — decodable books, personalized journeys, ORF scoring, mini-games — that's traditionally hard to deliver per student inside a scripted program.
Who customizes what — teacher, admin, or AI?: Teachers control everything that affects student outcomes: scope, sequence, assignments, placement criteria, recovery actions. Administrators control program-level settings: which curriculum the school uses, which features are unlocked, NDPA and roster sync. The AI generates content (decodables, illustrations, narration) inside the teacher's chosen scope — never altering the phonics caps the teacher set.
Can different students use different curricula inside the same class?: Yes. A 3rd-grade intervention student might be on IMSE Orton-Gillingham while the class baseline is UFLI Foundations. Storytime accommodates per-student curriculum assignment, so an interventionist's caseload can use a structured-literacy curriculum without disrupting the homeroom flow.
How does customization affect outcomes data?: Personalization (voice, character, illustration style) is metadata only — it doesn't bias the analytics. Scope and pace customizations are tagged so that progress data can be filtered by 'on baseline' vs 'on override.' District-level reports can show both views.
Can I change the curriculum mid-year?: Yes. If your school is migrating from one phonics program to another (e.g., shifting from Wilson Fundations to UFLI), Storytime can re-anchor student journeys to the new scope and sequence. Existing decodables in students' libraries stay readable; future journey items rebuild against the new curriculum's lesson order.

About the authors

Written and edited by the Storytime AI founding team.

Brian Carlson

Co-founder & CEO

Co-founder and CEO of Storytime AI. Leads the company from Baltimore, building a literacy platform that meets every reader where they are — anchored to the Science of Reading.

Scott Quinlan

Co-founder & CTO

Co-founder and CTO of Storytime AI. Owns engineering, product infrastructure, and the agentic growth pipeline — from the platform's AI generation engine to the structured-literacy content surface district leaders evaluate.

Kate Dwyer

Co-founder & CMO

Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Storytime AI. Translates Science-of-Reading research and product capability into language teachers, parents, and district leaders can act on. Based in the Washington DC–Baltimore area.

Keep your curriculum. Add the per-student layer.

Free to start. Pick your curriculum, import your roster, and let Storytime build the per-student paths underneath it.

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