What Is the Goal Tracker?
Our research team put together a Frequently Asked Questions document to help our customers understand exactly what the Goal Tracker is and does. The first question on that document is ‘What is the Goal Tracker. They answered that question with a simple statement: ‘The Goal Tracker provides information to help track students’ monthly progress towards proficiency targets on the state assessment test. While that statement is accurate, the Goal Tracker does so much more.
The Big Picture
The Goal Tracker takes the available data and translates it into several views that are easy to follow and understand. From the perspective of an administrator at a district, the student success and Lexile growth can be tracked at the district and school level. This can allow an administrator to pinpoint which schools are making the most of Achieve3000 Literacy, and which are not. It allows them to engage other administrators in conversations about overall progress, and pinpoint schools where growth is lagging. District administrators can have discussions with the various schools, even reaching out to Achieve3000 for support, be it for further training, additional licenses, etc. It’s one thing to look at data, it’s another to understand it, and the Goal Tracker makes it easy to understand the data.
A Deeper Dive
Where this tool provides its greatest benefits, is at the school level. At this level, teachers can step in and directly interact with at-risk students. What we have seen done in the past, is that school administrators will export the ‘Student Level report within the Goal Tracker and provide this information to each teacher. This page shows the individual students and how they are progressing towards the proficiency levels of the state assessment test.
From the moment a student takes their LevelSet online assessment, the Goal Tracker provides a monthly update of the progress of each student. It will provide the estimated monthly Lexile gain needed to achieve their expected goal but will also provide a goal towards higher levels as well. And while the name of the feature is the Goal Tracker, one of its most valuable benefits is actually its ability to assist teachers and students in setting learning goals. ‘Goal setting is an incredibly important motivational tool for students, said Steve Tardrew, Vice President of Assessment and Research at Achieve3000, ‘and the Goal Tracker enables teachers to have meaningful conversations with their students about goals and progress.
‘Goal setting is an incredibly important motivational tool for students, and the Goal Tracker enables teachers to have meaningful conversations with their students about goals and progress.
Steve Tardrew, Vice President of Assessment and Research at Achieve3000
Not Just a Number
The data and the views available in the Goal tracker do so much more than provide information. They tell compelling stories. The most important story is that of each student. With the ability to track how many activities a student has completed, their Average Activity Score, starting and current Lexile scores, and more, a teacher can see how each student is performing. This allows for the ability to provide each student not just with a plan to achieve their expected goal but will actually challenge a student to accelerate their growth and aim higher. Most notably, teachers can see which students are struggling and falling behind.
With the information provided in the Goal Tracker, teachers can work with each student, develop a plan of action, and help get their students get and stay on track. With monthly updates to the Goal Tracker, it means that adjustments to each individual student’s needs can be monitored to ensure students are not falling behind. Students can be tracked to ensure they get back on track and are on a path toward growth and success. Every student is unique, and the information provided by the Goal Tracker allows for the data of every student to have a voice.
Who Can Use the Goal Tracker?
Currently, the Goal Tracker dashboard is available to school and district administrators in California, Florida, Nevada, Texas, Washington, and Hawaii. The Goal Tracker launches at the beginning of October after most students have completed their initial LevelSet. After that, the dashboard is updated every month until May. If you have access to the Goal Tracker, you will find a button that launches it by logging in to Leadership Edition. Once in the Goal Tracker, you will be able to adjust various filters that align with your level of access.
Why the Goal Tracker?
While we already offer a variety of reports, the Goal Tracker is unique in its combination of tables and visuals. It is interactive and offers possibilities for the potential each student can achieve. It shows what goal a student is tracking towards achieving on the state assessment test, but it also shows what they need to accomplish if they want to not just achieve their intended level goal but the next goal as well. More importantly than this accelerated level of success, it provides the ability to track underachieving students, and help get them back on track. The Goal Tracker shows the level of engagement of each student, by providing their Average First Try Score and # of completed activities, current Lexile measure, and the Lexile growth needed to achieve each level. All this information being available in one place allows administrators to make the necessary adjustments to ensure every student succeeds to the best of their abilities.
What’s Next for the Goal Tracker?
The Goal Tracker is an incredibly valuable feature, because it enables teachers and administrators to track student progress and make sure that Achieve3000 Literacy is actually doing what it’s supposed to: accelerate literacy growth for all students, especially those who are most in danger of failing. It also allows our learning partners to utilize this data to better plan and measure success for both their schools and individual students. Although it is currently only available in a half dozen states, we are in the process of making it more widely available.
The administrators and teachers who have used it so far have given us nothing but positive feedback.
As Judith Gould, Regional VP, Achieve3000 notes, ‘Our customers are excited about using the Goal Tracker, because it allows them to connect Lexile growth to gains on state assessments. They find this to be motivating for both school personnel and students. As more of our partners begin to utilize this unique feature, we are confident its power and efficacy will become evident to all.
Our customers are excited about connecting Lexile growth to gains on state assessments. They find this to be motivating for both school personnel and students.
Judith Gould, Regional VP, Achieve3000
