TAC Students Reading to Achieve
Students who read are guaranteed to succeed. This year Prep and Grade 9 continue to use Achieve 3000, a computer-based reading program which assigns a reading level or Lexile to each student. Each week teachers assign articles on the same topic, but students are given non-fiction reading passages at various levels of difficulty depending on the individual student’s Lexile. Schools believe that students best develop reading skills when they read texts that are matched to his or her Lexile. The more students read in English in class and out of the classroom, the more likely they are to increase their Lexile scores.
Prep Dean, Mr. Duane “Birch” Criswell finds the Achieve 3000 program adds a great deal of depth and opportunity to the Prep and 9th grade English programs. He says, “Without a doubt, this program promotes comprehension and active reading amongst our students. Good readers make good writers, and in my classroom, I have seen tremendous improvement in student writing that directly correlates to the reading activities completed in and out of classrooms.”
The Achieve 3000 program allows teachers to track and monitor student improvement. Students may notice a space in Stickler that recognizes student reading achievement. The Achieve 3000 data reports to teachers those students who have increased their Lexile scores since beginning in September. Since school began in September, 7 Prep students have achieved Lexile scores above 1050. The Achieve 3000 program considers a student with a score of 1050 or higher to have met or exceeded the Lexile score for Grade 9. Another achievement, thus far, 60 students have increased Lexile scores by 100+ points since joining the TAC Prep year. Teachers at TAC look forward to seeing students enjoy non-fiction reading on a variety of topics. The more students read, the more likely they are to increase reading comprehension in English.
Finally, Achieve 3000 is a program of GLOBED E-learning, a pioneer of e-learning in Turkey. GLOBED was founded by TAC graduate, Esat Uğurlu, from the class of 2002. Can Yücel, GLOBED employee, from the graduating class of 2011, visited campus earlier in the year to introduce the program to new teachers.