Madison Elementary School staff are excited about the success they’re seeing with Achieve 3000. “Achieve 3000 is a non-fiction comprehension reading program. It’s been implemented since September until now. We’ve seen amazing growth in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, and the students see their growth as well,” said Nicole Cervone-Gish, English Learners teacher. In the past six months, she said teachers have seen students read 40 to 178 non-fiction articles. Many work on the articles after school or on weekends by their own choice, she said. By the end of the year, students are supposed to earn 70 Lexile points, but many Madison students have already exceeded that at the midway point, with some nearing 500. Many students received certificates Wednesday from Achieve 3000 personally because of their hard work. A statement from Achieve 3000 on Madison’s success reads: “We are proud of the large number of dedicated students and teachers at Madison Elementary and we are proud of our partnership.” Cervone-Gish said all of Madison’s fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade teachers use Achieve 3000 in some way. Taylor Golding is a first-year teacher at Madison. Cervone-Gish said his dedication to Achieve 3000 has been amazing and because of it, “We’ve seen tremendous growth in the fifth grade. (Principal Tom) Kline, (Warsaw Community School Director of Language Programs and Communications Wendy) Long and I want to thank him for all of his work.” Golding said he didn’t know if there was a secret to the success he’s had in his classroom with Achieve 3000. “I just wanted to make sure all my students had access to it, not just a few students, weekly,” he said. He credited his student teacher advisor Shae Proctor for mentoring him and showing him the benefits of Achieve 3000. “Reading is one of the essential skills that students do. Achieve 3000 allows them to pick any topics they’re interested in and at their own level,” Golding said. “Also, you put anything on a computer and it interests kids.” He said they also incentivize the program and give rewards to students for the work they do. Cervone-Gish said sixth-grade teacher Jamie Byron also has been using the program “amazingly” as well. She said Byron, Golding and sixth-grade teacher Robin Reichard all have had students go to state in Achieve 3000. When a student goes to state, that means they beat out every other student in the state. Golding had a student go on to the national level in January, which Cervone-Gish said was never done before. His fifth-grader was a national winner and weekly national winner, but she didn’t know what she had achieved – she was just excited to read. Cervone-Gish also noted that students in Kevin Lancaster’s class worked very hard and won a national contest. Achieve 3000 sent “goodies” to them. Students aren’t just given articles at their level to read, Cervone-Gish said. They also are given questions to answer that are quite hard so it’s also about reading comprehension. Some of the non-fiction articles are extremely long with extensive vocabulary, she said. Byron said she and Reichard see growth even in their high-level readers, which they say is impressive. “To see them continue to want to raise that up is amazing,” Byron said. Cervone-Gish said Byron and Reichard have made their students see how important reading is. “They can incorporate it not just in reading, but also in math and science,” Cervone-Gish said. From here, Cervone-Gish said teachers just want to keep the success going. “As an Achieve 3000 facilitator, I’m beyond impressed.” Byron said, “They’re continuing to wow us.” The reading program was developed to reach struggling readers, Golding said, but it’s reached even the highest readers. Externally motivated kids like to see their levels go up, Reichard added, and it’s like a contest now to them. Byron said, “It’s a very valuable program and I would like to see it continue in the future. I really see the potential in this.” Golding agreed. “It’s one program we use where my kids don’t get burnt out on it no matter how much we use it. I know with other programs my students get tired of it and ask if we can do Achieve 3000 instead.” Since all sixth-graders in Warsaw schools have an iPad through the corporation’s 1:1 program, Byron said the sixth-grade classrooms at Madison don’t need a computer lab to log into Achieve 3000 and can do it at home. That opens the computer lab to the other grade levels. Janelle Myers, EL bilingual assistant, said, “This program challenges our students at any level and allows them to explore topics of interest while growing academically.” For more about Achieve 3000, visit its website at www.achieve3000.com
