ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Achieve3000®, the leader in differentiated instruction, today released its annual National Lexile® Study during the National Literacy Summit. The independent analysis conducted by MetaMetrics® shows that students using Achieve3000 surpassed expected Lexile growth and got closer to being on track for college and career readiness. The national study analyzes the literacy growth for many different student profiles, including English learners, struggling and advanced readers, and students receiving special education services. This year's study includes first-ever predicted reading growth models created with deep neural network analysis.
Nationally, Achieve3000 students achieved more than 3.5 times their expected reading growth when completing two or more lessons each week. Likewise, students who completed at least one lesson per week achieved more than 2.5 times their expected Lexile growth. Achieve3000 defines high quantity and quality of practice as having completed at least 40 lessons with an average first-try score of greater than or equal to 75 percent on the embedded assessments within each lesson. When students achieve this level of performance, Achieve3000's platform automatically increases the complexity of text they receive to ensure they remain challenged.
In addition to literacy growth, this year's study includes an additional analysis that provides a better understanding of how students' level of engagement with the reading content and accompanying features such as learning and language scaffolds, writing activities, and embedded assessments within Achieve3000 impacted their predicted reading growth. MetaMetrics created a series of models that show the predicted reading growth using deep neural networks to analyze the large sample of data from nearly 1.2 million students. The first model affirms a theory known as the "Matthew Effect"—students who enter school with lower levels of literacy have lower predicted growth and those with higher levels have higher predicted growth. When usage behaviors within Achieve3000's platform were added into the data set, a new pattern emerges, breaking the Matthew Effect, and showing increased reading growth for students across grades and levels of literacy. Based on these models, MetaMetrics concluded that greater engagement is strongly associated with and predictive of greater reading growth.
Since Achieve3000 is designed to meet the needs of all students, the study also examined reading growth in struggling readers, who performed at or below the 35th percentile at the beginning of the school year, and advanced readers, with a reading performance level at or above the 75th percentile. For both struggling and advanced readers, literacy growth increased by at least two-fold. The study also noted double the reading growth for both English language learners and students in need of special education services.
Alistair Van Moere, Ph.D., of MetaMetrics and Bill Daggett of the Successful Practices Network (SPN), an educator-run design lab improving education for all learners, will discuss the findings during the National Literacy Summit, taking place in Lake Buena Vista, Florida today through Wednesday, November 13th.
"Year over year, we have seen students put in the work to improve their reading skills. The results of this year's national study have proven to us yet again that achieving literacy is possible for every student," said Ray McNulty, President of Successful Practices Network. "I'm hopeful that we are only going to continue seeing significant reading gains like these."
Achieve3000 uses the Lexile Framework® for Reading, a scientific method that uses the same scale to measure readers' ability and the level of complexity of reading material. The platform matches students to appropriate content using their individual Lexile measures to support a range of learning needs.
"Every student deserves the chance to embrace literacy, and no matter their starting point, they should continue to measurably build their reading skills. I'm thrilled to see that Achieve3000 students at every reading level showed growth," said Stuart Udell, Chief Executive Officer at Achieve3000. "The annual National Lexile Study is proof that students are experiencing accelerated and meaningful reading growth using our platform."
To view the 2018-19 National Lexile Study, visit: http://www.achieve3000.com/national-lexile-study.
About the National Lexile Study
The sample in this report includes 1,179,898 Achieve3000 students who were enrolled in grades 2 through 12 during the 2018 – 2019 school year. The data in this report include English-only program usage and performance data. The final sample includes students from all 50 states, Washington D.C. and five U.S. Territories. Students were included in the analytic sample if they met the following criteria: Had a Pre-test LevelSet Lexile measure (from beginning of school year); had an end-of-year Lexile measure (from either a post-test LevelSet or automatic monthly adjustment by the Achieve3000 system); had at least 150 days between the pre-test LevelSet Lexile measure and the end-of-year Lexile measure; completed one or more multiple-choice activities; were associated to only one school; did not receive any manual adjustments; did not use the Achieve3000 Intensive (summer program); and did not have more than 500 logins.
About Achieve3000
At Achieve3000, we believe literacy is the key to unlocking student success. Since 2001, we have partnered with schools and districts to accelerate literacy growth for all students with our flagship PRO platform for differentiated literacy instruction. We also offer Smarty Ants for personalized foundational literacy and Actively Learn for secondary curriculum depth. Together, our solutions help all preschool through adult learners reach their full potential and succeed in a rapidly changing global economy with increasing information demands.
About MetaMetrics
MetaMetrics is an award-winning education technology organization that offers the only scientifically valid, universal scales for measuring reading (Lexile) and math (Quantile) with future plans to develop measures for listening, oral reading fluency and writing. The Lexile and Quantile Frameworks measure student ability and the complexity of the content they encounter. Lexile and Quantile measures and related technologies link assessment to instruction and provide next steps for students of all ages and abilities. The measures also provide valuable insights about students' potential for growth. MetaMetrics' measures, products and services are licensed to dozens of education product companies to help achieve that growth. For 35 years, MetaMetrics' work has been increasingly recognized for its research-based approach to improving learning. For more information, visit metametricsinc.com.
SOURCE Achieve3000
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