“From the beginning of November to the end of January, we moved over 100 students from being ‘not on track for college/career readiness’ to being ‘on track.’ We didn’t necessarily think that in three months’ usage we would surpass that expectation, but we did.”
– Earl Metzler, Superintendent, Timberlane Regional School District
“At the middle school level, we saw a 2 percent jump in students on track for college/career readiness within a month of implementing Achieve3000.””
– Christi L. Michaud, M.Ed., Director of Data, Assessment, and Accountability
Implementation Overview
- Timberlane Regional School District in Plaistow, N.H., implemented Achieve3000®’s differentiated literacy platform in its middle and high schools.
- Students learned what Lexile® level they needed to be on track for college and career readiness, set monthly and year-end goals with teachers, and tracked their own growth.
- Within the first few weeks of implementation, teachers were already seeing real results regarding their students’ Lexile proficiency and college/career readiness.
School Profile
Name: Timberlane Regional School District
Location: Plaistow, New Hampshire, United States
Size: Approximately 3,700 students
Staff: 400 professional staff and 300 support staff members
Maximizing the Impact of Rigorous Instruction
With the holiday season looming and a compressed schedule to contend with during the November-January time period, Timberlane Regional School District in Plaistow, N.H., knew it had picked a challenging time to try to boost student achievement. The 3,700-student district had recently implemented Achieve3000’s patented literacy solutions in an effort to raise students’ Lexile reading levels and improve their career/college readiness, and was on track to roll the solutions out across its middle and high schools.
After piloting Achieve3000 in September 2016, Timberlane started its full implementation in November 2016. Most of October was spent establishing students’ baseline Lexile levels and bringing teachers up to speed on the new system. At the end of the month, with levels set for about 98 percent of its students, the district began tracking performance indicators like the number of students scoring 75 percent or higher, the percentage of students who were on track with their reading levels and the number of activities completed.
“Over the course of a month we saw an increase in the number of activities being completed,” says Christi L. Michaud, M.Ed., the district’s Director of Data, Assessment, and Accountability. “At the middle school level, we saw a 2 percent jump in students on track for college/career readiness within one month of implementing Achieve3000.”
As they went into the first week of December – having just returned from Thanksgiving break – those college/career readiness numbers jumped up to 37 percent (a number that’s since increased to 45 percent).
“From the beginning of November to the end of January, we moved over 100 students from being ‘not on track for college/career readiness’ to being ‘on track,’” said Earl Metzler, superintendent of schools for Timberlane Regional School District. “We didn’t necessarily think that in three months’ usage that we would surpass that expectation, but we did.”
Preparing for Success After High School
Timberlane’s middle and high school students have been using Achieve3000 twice a week, both in core classes and at home. As a result, more than a hundred secondary students in grades 6-12 have increased their Lexile reading levels to be “on track” for college and career readiness – that is, meeting or exceeding the Lexile goal set for their grade level.
Timberlane’s early, positive results helped create a groundswell support for Achieve3000 on the part of its teachers. “Teachers love to see tangible results of their efforts,” says Michaud. “And, with Achieve3000 real-time reports, it gives our teachers immediate feedback and a window into the long-term impact of their efforts on a student’s life after high school.”
“Our teachers have seen firsthand Achieve3000’s impact on maximizing rigorous instruction, and that’s been very helpful in terms of supplementing their curriculum,” says Metzler, who adds that Timberlane’s differentiated learning approach is still in its early stages. “We’re just getting started, but it feels good to already see the trajectory going in the right direction.”