Seven months into its partnership with Achieve3000, a Calcasieu Parish School in Lake Charles, La., saw greater than expected literacy gains on the Spring 2016 Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) for English language arts among middle school students regularly using one of Achieve3000’s differentiated literacy solutions. The goal of this long-term partnership, which started in late October 2015, is to accelerate learning and put Ray D. Molo Middle School students on track for college and career success.
Ray D. Molo Middle Magnet School has 387 students in grades six through eight. The year before the school acquired Achieve3000 literacy solutions, the pass rate for incoming sixth graders was 44 percent. This year, with Achieve3000, approximately 60 percent of sixth graders passed at or above the basic proficiency level.
The students that were in the seventh grade cohort for the 2014-15 school year have also shown great literacy gains. That year, before using Achieve3000, they had a pass rate of 33 percent; after implementing Achieve3000 in the 2015-16 school year, those students had a pass rate of 48 percent. Additionally, this same group of students was able to move from 34 percent scoring at the “unsatisfactory” level on the state ELA test to just 18 percent being at that level the following year, a decrease of approximately 50 percent.
“This great growth in their ELA scores indicates that more Molo Middle School students are getting on track for college and career readiness after working with Achieve3000,” stated Saki Dodelson, CEO and founder of Achieve3000. “This proves what is possible with a strong partnership, phenomenal school and district leadership, and a focus on using differentiated instruction to give kids precisely what they need to reach their full potential and pursue their dreams.”
Molo Middle School has implemented Achieve3000’s TeenBiz3000® for grades 6-8. The solution combines differentiated instruction, embedded assessment, and an innovative approach to blended learning to meet all students one-on-one, at their individual reading levels, and accelerate learning gains.
“We are so very proud of the English Language Arts growth of our students at Molo Middle School. Our emphasis on literacy as a true fundamental building block of educational success has surely been enhanced by our partnership with the Achieve3000 team,” said Karl Bruchhaus, Superintendent for Calcasieu Parish Public Schools. “The administrators and staff at Molo have worked extremely hard with the help of the program to ensure future academic success for all of their students.”
Molo Middle School principal, Shonna Anderson, added, “I am very enthusiastic about the school’s growth and hope to see even more improvement as the partnership continues.”
