Frequently Asked Questions

Juniper Reading CoLab is a modular reading intervention ecosystem for students in grades 3–12. It includes six tools — Navigate, Decode, Fluency, Close Read, Constructed Response, and Coach — that cover the full intervention pipeline from diagnostic assessment through instruction and teacher professional development. Each tool works independently or as part of the connected platform.

Juniper Reading CoLab is designed for teachers, interventionists, reading specialists, and instructional coaches working with students in grades 3–12 who struggle with word-level reading. It fits MTSS Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention structures and is built for the realities of the general education classroom — short periods, limited planning time, and students who need to work independently.

Two things. First, every tool is designed with dignity-first principles — no cartoon characters, no gamification, no exaggerated praise. The instructional framing treats decoding as expert knowledge, not remediation. Second, the ecosystem is modular. A school can start with Navigate for free and add tools as needed. There's no all-or-nothing buy-in.

Yes. All products are grounded in structured literacy research, the Science of Reading, and the Gradual Release of Responsibility instructional model. The curriculum follows a systematic, explicit, complete 8-level scope and sequence covering foundational phonics through multisyllabic word analysis and morphology.

Juniper Navigate is a free, teacher-facing diagnostic and placement tool. Teachers enter existing phonics assessment data — or use the built-in Juniper Screener — and Navigate generates an individualized scope and sequence for every student automatically.

Yes. Free for teachers — no trial, no credit card, no expiration. A free account saves your data across sessions.

Navigate accepts data from the built-in Juniper Screener, CORE Phonics Survey, DIBELS 8, aimswebPlus, FASTBridge, and easyCBM. Teachers with other assessment data can enter results manually.

Navigate accepts results from CORE Phonics Survey, DIBELS 8, aimswebPlus, FASTBridge, and easyCBM — but only the built-in Juniper Screener is designed to the same scope and sequence as Juniper Decode, covering all eight levels. Imported assessments cover some levels and not others; Navigate shows you exactly which levels each tool can and cannot see, and recommends the screener when a placement lands near a coverage gap.

Navigate identifies each student's instructional starting point — the first level where the assessment finds a gap. Levels a student has already mastered stay mastered, so instruction begins where it's needed, not back at the beginning. Teachers can always override placement.

Navigate requires only a first name and last initial. No student PII is collected or stored.

About 5 minutes per class set of scores. Enter your data, and Navigate generates the scope and sequence immediately.

Juniper Decode is a structured phonics intervention app for students in grades 3–12. It provides systematic decoding instruction from foundational phonics through multisyllabic word analysis and morphology.

The app delivers all instruction and practice using the Gradual Release of Responsibility model — from explicit instruction and modeling through guided and independent practice. Corrective feedback and targeted reteach are built into every lesson. The app handles the full instructional arc.

No. Decode was specifically designed because existing tools fail older students. The content addresses the multisyllabic decoding and morphology skills that upper elementary, middle, and high school students need. The design, language, and framing are age-respectful throughout.

It means the app never signals to a student that they're behind or broken. The framing is “You weren't taught this” — not “You need to catch up.” No confetti, no badges, no tile-based letter games. Practice words appear as natural text being examined, not game tokens being manipulated. This approach is grounded in David Yeager's research on adolescent motivation.

Yes. Decode is browser-based — no downloads, no installs, no IT request required.

Decode offers a 14-day free trial — no credit card required. After the trial, pricing depends on your roster size: up to 20 students is $9.99/month or $79/year, and 21–40 students is $15.99/month or $129/year. Schools with 41 or more students can contact us for custom pricing. The first 100 subscribers receive permanent Founding Member pricing at 20% off.

Yes. The r-controlled vowel lesson in Level 4B has a free first session — no account needed. Session 2 requires a free email signup. Teachers can also start a two-week free trial of Decode with just an email signup — no credit card required. Once you have an account, the onboarding course walks through the teacher dashboard with sample data.

Juniper Fluency provides timed reads, prosody practice, and automaticity building that bridges the gap between accurate decoding and fluent reading. Coming soon.

Juniper Close Read is a structured close reading intervention with nonfiction and fiction tracks. It builds comprehension through evidence-based reading strategies for students in grades 6–12. Coming soon.

Juniper Constructed Response teaches students to construct clear, evidence-based written responses to what they read. Students learn to restate the question, answer with evidence, cite text, explain their reasoning, and restate their answer. Coming soon.

Juniper Coach provides professional development for educators — implementation support, teacher routines, error-pattern guidance, and training that extends beyond literacy into the instructional practices that make any intervention sustainable. Coming soon.

Decode routines are designed for 15–20 minute blocks. They fit intervention periods, small groups, or the start of an ELA block. Navigate takes about 5 minutes per class set of scores.

Yes. All products are designed to fit Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention structures with short, repeatable routines and clear mastery thresholds.

For independent classroom use, no. Students sign in with only a first name, last initial, and a code from their teacher to access Decode lessons and Navigate assessments — no student PII is collected. Some districts may want a Data Privacy Agreement for broader adoption — that's supported.

Navigate is designed to be intuitive — most teachers are up and running in minutes. Decode delivers its own instruction to students. Built-in onboarding walks you through each app when you get started. Juniper Coach will provide deeper implementation support and professional development when it launches.

Genevra Self — 20+ years as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, and Education Program Manager at an edtech startup. Every product is rooted in instructional routines she developed and used with her own students.