Achieving College and Career Readiness for students of cultural diversity, linguistic diversity, and poverty presents numerous, oft-times seemingly insurmountable challenges. In schools where heterogeneity underscores the gaps, brain-shaming adds an additional burden for students at-risk. Equal access is not always equitable. Blended and personalized learning provides the ideal toolset for improving literacy outcomes through a data-driven, culturally appropriate RtI (Response To Intervention) implementation.

In this highly participatory edWebinar, Dr. Almitra Berry-Jones, author of the book Effecting Change: Intervention for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners, will address the following questions:

• What are othering and brain-shaming, and how do they affect the learning environment?
• What does College and Career Readiness look like for students who have been traditionally disenfranchised?
• Why do culturally and linguistically diverse learners require a culturally appropriate response to instruction and intervention?
• How do you ensure equity for all rather than just equal access?
• How will the new ESSA regulations impact achieving College and Career Readiness through RtI for culturally and linguistically diverse learners under the DeVos DOE?

There will be time to ask Dr. Berry-Jones your questions during the Q&A segment following her presentation. K-12 administrators, classroom and special education teachers, school psychologists, counselors, behavior specialists, and librarians as well as those curious about how culturally appropriate RtI improves a school’s learning and social environment are invited to attend this engaging edWebinar.

We’re thrilled to announce the winners of the Achieve Summer 40-Activity Challenge! This summer, thousands of students from across the country were challenged to complete 40 Activities with a first-try score of 75% or above to get entered into a raffle to win an iPad mini™.

Why 40? Research has consistently proven that when students complete 40 Activities with a first-try score of 75% or above with Achieve3000 lessons, they experience double to triple the expected reading growth. That’s why we sponsored this challenge – to encourage reading growth during the summer months.

Who won? Here’s the list!

• Hernesto F., student at John I Leonard High School, in Greenacre, Florida
• Hana N., student at Harvest Christian Academy in Barrigada, Guam
• Kyle M., student at Niu Valley Middle School in Honolulu, Hawaii
• Hana A., student at Susan B. Anthony Middle School in Revere, Massachusetts
• Cristian C., student at Roosevelt Elementary School in Kearny, New Jersey
• Nischal T., student at O. D. Wyatt High School in Fort Worth, Texas

Winners will be contacted. Thanks to all of the wonderful students who participated in this year’s challenge!

If you have questions about the contest, please email contests@achieve3000.com.

Achieve3000^® is excited to announce a contest for KidBiz3000^®, TeenBiz3000^®, and Empower3000^® students!

From November 6 through December 8, we’ll be awarding Read to Succeed points to your class. The class in each school that has the most points, wins!

Class Prize

The winning class will win a $30 virtual gift card to spend on a class celebration of their choice.

How to Earn Read to Succeed Points

From Monday, November 6 through Friday, December 8, every time a student in your class does a multiple choice activity your class earns one point. For every score of 75 percent, your class earns two points. And for every score of 88 percent or higher, your class earns three points!

If your class has the most points on average, per student, you’ll win a class party!

Note: To be eligible to win, 75 percent of your class must complete at least eight multiple choice activities during the contest period.

Registration

If you haven’t already, log into your Teacher Edition and register between October 23 and November 5 in order to participate. To register, sign into your Teacher Edition and scroll to the CELEBRATION AND SUCCESS section. In the Read to Succeed Contest panel,  click the More button to register. (Note that once a single teacher in your building has registered, your entire school will be registered for the contest.)
Please be sure to register before November 6!

Student Flyers

Print these flyers for complete contest rules and to get kids excited about participating!

• Download Read to Succeed Flyer (English)
• Download Read to Succeed Flyer (Spanish)

Throughout the contest share your success using #R2SAchieve3000 on Facebook and Twitter!

Congratulations to all of the teachers and students who participated in the 2017 LevelSet® Challenge. We’re excited to announce the winners of the contest!

The goal of this contest was to get a minimum of 75 percent of a classroom’s Achieve3000 students to complete their LevelSet online reading assessments within the contest time frame.

Teachers whose classes met this requirement were entered into a national drawing to win a $50 Amazon gift card for their classroom, or an Achieve3000 travel mug.

Grand Prize Winners

These 10 lucky teachers received a $50 Amazon gift card for their classrooms!

Second-Place Winners

These 25 lucky teachers received an Achieve3000 travel mug.

Join Achieve3000^® and Dr. Douglas Fisher, author of Text Complexity, Raising Rigor in Reading, as he explores text complexity and matching students with texts that are just right for them.

You’ll leave this engaging session with a clearer understanding of rigor and innovative strategies you can use immediately to meet all students at their current reading levels and dramatically accelerate their literacy gains.

Register for November 16, 4 PM ET!

Join Achieve3000^® and Heather Anderson, co-author of Text Dependent Questions K-5 and 6-12 with Dr. Doug Fisher and Dr. Nancy Frey, to discover proven methods for helping your students build independence as they progress towards college and career success.. In this engaging edWeb event, Heather Anderson will explore proven strategies based on the gradual release of responsibility (GRR) model and scaffolded classroom instruction proven to drive success for all students.

You’ll leave this motivating session with a clear understanding of  How anytime/anywhere access to “just-right” leveled content fits within GRR practices for engagement and interaction across the curriculum and beyond the school day!

December 13, 2 PM ET

Register now!

Most schools begin January with a “test prep priority” and yet student skill growth doesn’t always show improvement on the assessment.

In this research-based presentation, participants will review five surprising facts that are often overlooked in the rush to prepare students for high stakes tests. Using sample assessment items, we will deconstruct the student’s experience to focus on those skills which are most critical for student proficiency—long-term learning as well as short-term performance. We will look at how the new assessments measure significantly different skills as compared to traditional high-stakes tests, and we’ll learn how students can develop specific strategies which help them to improve their overall critical reading, thinking, and writing skills while also impacting immediate performance.

Kevin Baird, Chairman at the non-profit Center for College & Career Readiness, leads a faculty which includes authors and contributors for the most utilized assessments in the United States (TEKS, SBA, PARCC, SAT, ACT). Known for his engaging style as well as practical and pragmatic teaching strategies, Kevin works with teachers across the US to make sense of new standards and tests, ensuring that we are always doing what is right for kids.

Register now for January 22,  5 PM ET!

Most schools begin January with a “test prep priority” and yet student skill growth doesn’t always show improvement on the assessment.

In this research-based presentation, participants will review five surprising facts that are often overlooked in the rush to prepare students for high stakes tests. Using sample assessment items, we will deconstruct the student’s experience to focus on those skills which are most critical for student proficiency—long-term learning as well as short-term performance. We will look at how the new assessments measure significantly different skills as compared to traditional high-stakes tests, and we’ll learn how students can develop specific strategies which help them to improve their overall critical reading, thinking, and writing skills while also impacting immediate performance.

Kevin Baird, Chairman at the non-profit Center for College & Career Readiness, leads a faculty which includes authors and contributors for the most utilized assessments in the United States (TEKS, SBA, PARCC, SAT, ACT). Known for his engaging style as well as practical and pragmatic teaching strategies, Kevin works with teachers across the US to make sense of new standards and tests, ensuring that we are always doing what is right for kids.

Register now for January 22,  5 PM ET!

We’re excited to announce the Make the Break holiday contest, Achieve3000’s way of supporting outstanding student achievement even while students are out of school.

Here’s how it works:

Students who complete at least five lessons in KidBiz3000^®, TeenBiz3000^®, or Empower3000® between December 18, 2017, and January 7, 2018, will be entered in state-wide drawings for a chance to win Beats by Dr. Dre^® Tour2 In-Ear Headphones. Students who complete 10 lessons will be entered twice! With over 50 winners, students have a good chance of getting a prize!

Get Students Involved!

Print flyers for students to take home with them on their break:

• Make the Break Student Flyer (English)
• Make the Break Student Flyer (Spanish)

New! Holiday Boot Camp Course

To support outstanding achievement over the holiday break, Achieve3000 has released an all-new Holiday Boot Camp course for students. One of 10 engaging lessons will display each day when students log in during their vacation, keeping them motivated and building key literacy skills while school is out. These lessons offer exciting content for students to complete toward the contest goal.

In literacy-rich classrooms, many children learn the skills and strategies necessary for reading and writing through engagement in meaningful activities. Songs, poems, games, chants, listening comprehension, and classroom discussions all help children to pick up new vocabularies, understand the similarities and differences in language, and develop phonemic awareness.

However, it is important for educators to accommodate diverse learners and to adjust teaching strategies to meet individual needs. Some children need explicit, systematic, and direct instruction to master the skills and strategies necessary for reading and writing, and educators have opportunities to modify instruction to achieve a balance between meaningful activities and foundational skills practice.

Join Marisa Russo for this engaging edWebinar as she reviews effective interventions for struggling readers and explores online, research-driven tools that differentiate instruction in foundational reading skills, frontload vocabulary for ELLs, and ensure that teachers are supported in meeting the needs of diverse learners. There will be time for questions after the presentation. Everyone interested in K-12 literacy is invited to attend this event, including general and special education teachers, ELL specialists, librarians, and administrators.

Register now for February 20, 3 PM ET !

In this engaging edWebinar, Kevin Baird will refocus the question of curriculum efficacy from one that looks only at student achievement to one that also considers the teacher’s sense of confidence and well-being as a classroom’s instructional leader. Instead of asking simply “How does this help students accelerate learning?”, Kevin will propose that decision-makers look at everyone affected by a curriculum implementation. Topics we will cover include:

• Current research on the state of teacher wellness and the link to classroom outcomes
• Highest impact areas for teacher enablement
• Pragmatic and practical steps to increase support to teachers that translates directly into student learning

There will be time to get your questions answered during this live, interactive event. K-12 classroom and special education teachers, instructional leaders, professional development specialists as well as all building and district administrators are invited to attend. Join Kevin for this exploration of how teacher confidence creates higher student achievement!

Register now for January 16, 3 PM ET!

Back by popular demand, Achieve3000^® is excited to announce another contest for KidBiz3000^®, TeenBiz3000^®, and Empower3000^® students!

From February 12 through March 9, we’ll be awarding Read to Succeed points to your class. The class in each school that has the most points, wins!

Class Prize

The winning class will win a $30 virtual gift card to spend on a class celebration of their choice.

How to Earn Read to Succeed Points

From Monday, February 12 through Friday, March 9, every time a student in your class does a multiple choice activity, your class earns one point. For every score of 75 percent, your class earns two points. And for every score of 88 percent or higher, your class earns three points!

If your class has the most points on average, per student, you’ll win a class party!

Note: To be eligible to win, 75 percent of your class must complete at least eight multiple choice activities during the contest period.

Registration

If you haven’t already, log into your Teacher Edition and register between January 29 and February 11 in order to participate. To register, sign into your Teacher Edition and scroll to the CELEBRATION AND SUCCESS section. In the Read to Succeed Contest panel,  click the More button to register. (Note that once a single teacher in your building has registered, your entire school will be registered for the contest.)
Please be sure to register by February 11!

Student Flyers

Post these student flyers in your school to get kids excited about participating!

• Download Read to Succeed Flyer (English)
• Download Read to Succeed Flyer (Spanish)

Engage Families

Extend the impact of this contest by signing and sending home a letter to parents.

Download a letter to parents

Cultural Relevance and Academic Equity in the Age of ESSA
Thursday, March 22, 2018 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT

Presented by Dr. Almitra Berry-Jones, Author of the Book Effecting Change: Intervention for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners and Executive Director of District Partnerships, Achieve3000
Sponsored by Achieve3000

REGISTER HERE

A nationally renowned expert in culturally and linguistically diverse learners at risk, Dr. Almitra Berry-Jones aims to introduce educators to a culturally relevant pragmatism that regards the culturally and linguistically diverse learner as one who brings to school a divergent order of reality that influences the efficacy of traditional instructional methods.

In this engaging edWebinar, Dr. Berry-Jones will explore what culture means for students, including their relationships to home, peers, and school. She will take on questions of equality and equity in American public schools, looking at the history of educational (in)equality and both the origin and pervasive nature of achievement gaps.

Next, Dr. Berry-Jones will take attendees through the creation of meaningfully different and culturally responsive instruction as well as how technology can serve as an instructional lever. She will give specific approaches for addressing ESSA goals for traditional disenfranchised learners, including five actions for creating a change mindset for adult stakeholders, five objectives for examining and implementing effective practices, and what she calls the “J-Curve of Change.”

Achieve3000^® is excited to announce a contest for KidBiz3000^®, TeenBiz3000^®, and Empower3000^® students!

From November 6 through December 8, we’ll be awarding Read to Succeed points to your class. The class in each school that has the most points, wins!

Class Prize

The winning class will win a $30 virtual gift card to spend on a class celebration of their choice.

How to Earn Read to Succeed Points

From Monday, November 6 through Friday, December 8, every time a student in your class does a multiple choice activity your class earns one point. For every score of 75 percent, your class earns two points. And for every score of 88 percent or higher, your class earns three points!

If your class has the most points on average, per student, you’ll win a class party!

Note: To be eligible to win, 75 percent of your class must complete at least eight multiple choice activities during the contest period.

Registration

If you haven’t already, log into your Teacher Edition and register between October 23 and November 5 in order to participate. To register, sign into your Teacher Edition and scroll to the CELEBRATION AND SUCCESS section. In the Read to Succeed Contest panel,  click the More button to register. (Note that once a single teacher in your building has registered, your entire school will be registered for the contest.)
Please be sure to register before November 6!

Student Flyers

Print these flyers for complete contest rules and to get kids excited about participating!

• Download Read to Succeed Flyer (English)
• Download Read to Succeed Flyer (Spanish)

Throughout the contest share your success using #R2SAchieve3000 on Facebook and Twitter!

The “Summer Slide” is real. Research indicates that most students lose reading proficiency during the summer recess, with students from low-income households losing several months of academic growth. In this research-driven presentation, we look at ways students have actually gained literacy skills during summer break. Join this live webinar with Kevin Baird, Chairman at the non-profit Center for College & Career Readiness, to learn five best practices and review real-world case studies for successful summer literacy programs.

Register for March 27, 3 PM ET!

When your students engage with the Read-Discuss-Read course and share their opinions about the lessons’ content, they can win a $150 gift card to spend on sports equipment.

Can you create unstoppable nonfiction literacy growth for all students even in the summer? Yes, you can! By helping students tap into engagement, grit, and a growth mindset, Achieve3000 can help your students turn summer slide into unstoppable summer thrive!

As we head toward summer vacation, students look forward to a few months of fun in the sun, being outside, and being free of the classroom walls. And typically, these months of summer come at a price with students losing up to two months of reading comprehension, and teachers spending up to 8 weeks re-teaching lost literacy skills as school starts.

All students deserve the adaptive ability to thrive with literacy even during the summer months through differentiated reading and writing strategies that build a growth mindset. Join Dr. Debi Crimmins for an interactive discussion where we’ll grapple with grit, growth mindset, and “literacy thriving” through the summer months.

Register now for a convenient session.

April 10, 3 PM ET

April 11, 4 PM ET

April 17, 5 PM ET

April 24, 2 PM ET

Literacy experts agree that for students to succeed in college and career goals, mastering a 1300 Lexile® level with informational text is nonnegotiable. The question is, can you create unstoppable standards mastery and content fluency when it comes to informational text for all students? Yes, you can, by tapping into students’ grit and building passionate perseverance through adaptive digital literacy scaffolds. As educators, we have the power to create a classroom culture that values struggle and risk-taking more than just getting the right answer. Technology empowers students to read, discuss, and thrive!

We have the power to nurture a growth mindset—the belief that success comes from effort—and not a fixed mindset—the notion that people succeed because they are born with a gift of intelligence or talent. We also have the power to support all students’ academic achievement and fluency regardless of the content area, assessment, or outcome expectation.

Students need individualized strategies that allow them to own standards that propel them to the 1300 Lexile level of informational text mastery. All students deserve personal reading and writing strategies that empower them and increase their motivation to learn.

Join us for an interactive session led by Dr. Debi Crimmins, Vice President of Customer Advocacy for Achieve3000, and learn how adaptive digital literacy scaffolds support a growth mindset and the grit needed to accelerate informational text proficiency. This edWebinar is designed for all K-12 educators, librarians, literacy leaders, and administrators. There will be time at the end of the presentation for Dr. Crimmins to answer your questions.

Register now for May 21, 4 PM ET!

Can we design learning experiences our students will love? Pandora does this for music; in fact, their mission is “to play music you’ll love.” They use the power of their music discovery platform to create a win-win partnership that helps artists find their fans and listeners find music they love.

Now, imagine an education system designed around learner preferences; where students discover new concepts in ways that are most comfortable for them and then demonstrate their understanding of those concepts using abilities and talents unique to them.

Dr. Cindy Elsberry, former Superintendent at Horry County, South Carolina, will illustrate that—just like Pandora—schools can design learning experiences that students will enjoy. Technology affords educators the opportunity to design student-centered experiences that will meet each student where they are academically and continue to challenge them. Teachers are then freed to design authentic, experiential learning challenges that engage students in learning in real and meaningful ways. Join this edWebinar to learn practical steps you can take to begin the journey to customized “learning that students will love!”

This edWebinar is designed for all K12 educators, librarians, literacy leaders, and administrators. There will be time at the end of Dr. Elsberry’s presentation to get your questions answered.

Register now for July 16, 3 PM ET!