Educational Software Company Achieve3000 Announces Fall Launch of Literacy Software Programs, KidBiz3000 and TeenBiz3000
Company's commitment to revolutionize Web-based differentiated learning reinforced with fall launch: Updated brands feature new functionality for parental involvement and unit-building tools to integrate literacy across all content areas.
Lakewood, New Jersey (PRWEB) September 17, 2007
Achieve3000, the leader in Internet-based, differentiated instruction, with solutions for reading comprehension, vocabulary and writing proficiency, today announced the fall launch of flagship products KidBiz3000 and TeenBiz3000. The programs feature updated interfaces, new administrative features and enhanced tools for tracking student performance and increasing parental involvement.
Major upgrades include a new Parent Edition and Unit Building functionality, as well as an improved Writing Center, which is aligned to the writing process and allows students to improve their writing skills through a variety of writing assignments, including timed writing assignments and revising and editing activities.
"We know that schools truly struggle to find ways to involve parents," said Andrea Berlin, vice president of development. "The Parent Edition will invite parents and guardians to become more involved with their children's education by allowing them to track their children's progress and keep them 'in the loop' on what their children are assigned. Every week, parents receive a Conversation Guide that summarizes each daily article and includes discussion questions. These tools help create a strong home school connection," said Berlin.
"We also anticipate more teachers implementing our products from across more disciplines," said Berlin, referring to the new Unit Building functionality included in the upgraded versions of KidBiz3000 and TeenBiz3000. The new functionality invites content-area teachers to integrate literacy into different subjects so that students can read articles in the area their class is covering tailored to their individual reading levels.
"Despite extensive research on adolescent literacy demonstrating its importance, we're aware of the difficulty in getting content-area teachers to dedicate time to literacy when they have so many curricula to cover over the course of a semester," said Rivki Locker, vice president of curriculum at Achieve3000. "This new function will make it exciting for content teachers to become more involved in literacy development, as the upgraded software allows educators to customize the literacy lessons to meet the content area standards and themes." Also new for teachers are daily Curriculum Keys, which include key concepts, vocabulary, content-area extensions and links to comprehension lesson plans.
Expanded reporting features allow teachers to track state standards, record how usage has changed over time and which of their students are using the program outside of their school. Additional revisions include an improved export function to Excel spreadsheets, which allow users to generate customized reports, charts and summary tables. "Achieve3000 has always been really responsive to customers' needs and will continue to do so. Every feature in this launch is a direct response to customer feedback," said Locker.
The upgraded version embodies another step in Achieve3000's commitment to research based solutions to improve student Lexile scores and other high stakes test scores across the board. Further evidence of Achieve3000's success and growth is demonstrated by a recent $9 million investment from New York-based Insight Venture Partners, the leading private equity and venture capital firm focused on the global software and Internet industries. The funding will be used to expand Achieve3000's reach to their target market of students in grades 2 through 12 as well as grow the company's product line. Achieve3000 is currently in place in more than 1,000 schools and after school programs and is in 36 states.
About Achieve3000:
Achieve3000, of Lakewood, N. J., delivers differentiated literacy solutions proven to increase reading comprehension and fluency, vocabulary and writing proficiency for students in grades 2 through 12. Through its proprietary software engine, the company uses the Internet to provide each student with an appropriate version of the same content based on his or her reading level. The company's products include KidBiz3000 (a reading and writing program for grades 2 through 5), TeenBiz3000 (a reading and writing program for grades 6 through 12) and Spark3000 (a reading and writing program for adult learners). For more information, visit www. achieve3000.com (http://www. achieve3000.com/home. php) or phone 800-838-8771.
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