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Want to Dream Again?
Hope is a Place Called School
By Kevin Baird
So Much More Than Testing
By Ray McNulty
National Lexile Study
Special Message from Malbert Smith
Student Assessment and Evaluation: Measuring Growth Versus Measuring Achievement
By Janis Effner
How to Help Students be Safe on Social Media Apps so They Someday Shine Online
By Josh Ochs
Four Questions Education Leaders are Asking to Find the Best EdTech
By Sierra Noakes
Case Study: Twin Falls School District 411
Make the Most of the Federal Stimulus Funds
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2021 National Literacy Summit
November 9, 2021 | 8:30 AM – 7:00 PM ET

Chief Executive Officer
Kevin Baird
Chief Academic Officer
Rob Bruno
Technology Officer
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Jon Swan
Creative Director
Rebecca Salem
Senior Marketing Manager
© 2021 Achieve3000, Inc.
Achieve Magazine is published five times per year by Achieve3000, Inc. It is available free of charge to customers of Achieve3000 as well as interested educators and parents. To start your free subscription, visit http://magazine.achieve3000.com/subscribe. Articles submitted to Achieve Magazine may be edited for style and content prior to publication. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent Achieve3000 policies or positions. Please seek permission from the publisher before reproducing articles.

elcome to the beginning of what may be the most important school year of our lives. For if last year was the most challenging, then the way we actually bounce back and comport ourselves will decide if last year was a learning experience making us better, or a multi-year burden ultimately impacting a generation of learners.

racing heart. Eyes wide open. Excitement mixed with anxiety. The first day of school … for teachers!


racing heart. Eyes wide open. Excitement mixed with anxiety. The first day of school … for teachers!

Than Testing
ave you ever had the chance to watch a pendulum? After it swings in one direction, momentum swings it back nearly equally distant in the opposite direction. There is a balance of energy that creates a smooth, continuous motion. If you could ride the pendulum, you’d see all the points along the arc and see how they are strung together.
SCHOOL YEAR

xpected growth and assessment are part of all successful teaching plans. The general expectation is that for every year in school, students will accumulate a year’s worth of new knowledge, but how do we successfully assess students, especially when they’re learning online? And when we take the time to measure, should we focus on growth or achievement?
Shine Online
tudents today are beyond comfortable picking up any smartphone or logging into a new social media platform to connect with people they know, and people they do not know. Educators and parents alike question that level of comfort and the dangers that are present in these often-uncontrolled environments that encapsulate students’ lives at all ages.

fter a year of fast-paced, high-pressure decision making, you are now called on to figure out which EdTech products will support your learners and educators.



State: Idaho
Location: Small Remote Town
Schools: 17
Teachers: 493
Number of Students: 9,700
English Learners: 824 (8.5%)
IEPs: 995 (10.3%)

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of the Federal
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