They challenged us to expect more from ourselves as professionals. And they challenged us to reflect critically, not just upon our content and our curriculum, but also upon our practices, methods and approaches to teaching and learning.

It is a fact that children learn at different rates, and that as children age, their cumulative feelings of success or failure become critical, sometimes defining elements, for their rate of learning and ultimate trajectory.

Simply put, how a student feels about the experience of learning is as important, if not more important, than the knowledge and skills we ask them to master. This provocative, and yet well-researched finding suggests that the role of teacher is as much confidence-builder as it is “guide on the side”.

Confidence, self-esteem and self-identity are culturally constructed. Our feelings about ourselves and our abilities stem from the world around us and our interactions with it — our culture. When presented with continuous negative feedback, messages of failure, embarrassment or even physical frailty, our confidence and self-esteem are less supported than in the opposite scenarios. Even one instance of feeling that we failed, especially if we are working to please an important adult whom we admire, can devastate and have lifelong consequences. The feelings of failure and memories of embarrassment never leave us. Ever.

And so they challenged us to imagine our classrooms as embodying a shared culture of success, where every student is assumed to be skilled, capable, with a worthwhile opinion and gifts to share. A classroom where every background brings something to the table, and where our investigations draw from the authentic stories, histories, interests and experiences of the students themselves. Cultural relevance begins with authentic student voice — it does not begin in an outside text or “culturally responsive” curriculum, although these elements can support students in voicing their authentic experiences.

Achieve3000 is devoted to the ideal that all learners are capable, and that success builds upon success. We are dedicated to including authentic voices from the broadest set of human stories, and especially stories of students in the world. In the coming weeks, we will launch early reader content from NABU, stories written and illustrated by members of the African and Haitian diaspora. Our Kids and Teen Channels are populated with stories by and about the amazing contributions of young people from all walks of life. But our ultimate promise to you — and to our readers — is that every Achieve3000 learning experience results in success. The feeling you get when you can read, when you really understand, and when you find stories which speak to you and to your own experience.

ACHIEVE3000 is devoted to the ideal that all learners are capable, and that success builds upon success. We are dedicated to the inclusion of authentic voices from the broadest set of human stories, and especially stories of students in the world.