Implementation and Results with Achieve3000
The Timberlane Regional School District implemented Achieve3000®’s differentiated literacy platform in the middle and high schools in November 2016. Students quickly learned what Lexile® level they needed to be on track for college and career readiness, set monthly and year-end goals with teachers, and began tracking their own growth. Within the first few weeks of implementation, teachers were already seeing real results regarding their students’ Lexile proficiency and college/career readiness.
This process began with a pilot program in September 2016. Most of October was spent establishing students’ baseline Lexile levels and bringing teachers up to speed on the new system. At the end of the month, with levels set for about 98 percent of its students, the district began tracking performance indicators like the number of students scoring 75 percent or higher, the percentage of students who were on track with their reading levels, and the number of activities completed.
“Over the course of a month we saw an increase in the number of activities being completed,” says Christi L. Michaud, Director of Data, Assessment, and Accountability. “At the middle school level, we saw a 2 percent jump in students on track for college/career readiness within one month of implementing Achieve3000.”
As the district went into the first week of December – having just returned from Thanksgiving break – those college/career readiness numbers jumped up to 37 percent (a number that’s since increased to 45 percent).
“From the beginning of November to the end of January, we moved over 100 students from being ‘not on track for college/career readiness’ to being ‘on track.’ We didn’t necessarily think that in three months’ usage we would surpass that expectation, but we did,” states Dr. Metzler.
In preparing for success after high school, the middle and high school students have been using Achieve3000 twice a week, both in core classes and at home. As a result, more than a hundred secondary students in grades 6-12 have increased their Lexile reading levels to be “on track” for college and career readiness – that is, meeting or exceeding the Lexile goal set for their grade level. The district’s early, positive results helped create an outpouring of support for Achieve3000 on the part of its teachers. “Teachers love to see tangible results of their efforts,” says Michaud. “And, with Achieve3000 real-time reports, it gives our teachers immediate feedback and a window into the long-term impact of their efforts on a student’s life after high school.”
“Our teachers have seen firsthand this program’s impact on maximizing rigorous instruction, and that’s been very helpful in terms of supplementing their curriculum,” says Dr. Metzler. In noting the district’s differentiated learning approach is still in its early stages, he adds, “We’re just getting started, but it feels good to already see the trajectory going in the right direction. Achieve3000 is a great learning tool that supports our goal to increase rigor, accountability, evaluation, and support necessary to drive student achievement and we have the data to prove it!”
February 23, 2017 *Source: Achieve3000 case study