by: Yaakov Wieder
Achieve 3000 is a program created in 2000 that is supposed to help students gain critical reading skills. This year, TABC started using this program for the first time with the freshman and sophomore grades. In late October, freshman and sophomores took a test to discern their reading levels, or as the program refers to it, their lexile levels. Afterwards, students logged on to their accounts and were able to view a section listing many different career choices matched to specific reading levels. When students clicked on a particular career option, they were able to watch a video provided by Achieve 3000. The video showed them what lexile level the student had and what lexile level is needed for that specific profession.
Unfortunately, many students do not have the critical reading skills necessary for high school and standardized tests. TheAchieve 3000 Program helps to boost students reading levels and gives them the skills to make inferences from various texts. Mrs. Edelman, Director of Curriculum and Educational Technology said, “I hope that students will see a real improvement in their literacy skills from this program, and that they will also see that good reading skills will help them become independent learners.” Mrs. Edelman also exclaimed how the program is soon going to branch out to other classes such as 9th grade World History classes.
Not all students, however, support this program, as many would rather be taught by a teacher. Eli Harcsztark (‘18), a ninth grader in Mrs. Burstein’s class said, “I am not a fan because I feel that it is better to be taught by a teacher instead of an online program.” Moreover, many students do not think the program will be able to raise their reading levels. Some might believe this, however, because many teachers have not started using the program, which means that most students do not have so much experience with it.
Yet, there is still a plethora of students, such as freshman Yehuda Saks, who’ve enjoyed the program. Also a student of Mrs. Burstein, Saks said, "I enjoyed it and I wish teachers would use it more often." He further exclaimed that many of his friends concurred with his assessment. TABC Students will surely have different views of the program as it expands and becomes used more frequently in the classroom.