https://www.achieve3000.com/learning-solutions/intervention/■Retail price: (Note: A school or district needs to have a subscription to Achieve3000 in order to add the new BOOST programs.) Achieve3000 subscriptions start at $42 per student per year, with additional discounts available depending on a number of factors, including number of subscriptions, length of contract, and number of schools. Adding BOOST costs an additional $2,500 per building or $500 per teacher per year and provides access to expanded routines (vocabulary, discussion, and writing) and additional resources for specialized instruction for Tier 2 and Tier 3 students. As with all Achieve3000 solutions, BOOST can be customized to meet the needs of each school or district.
Products available: KidBizBOOST—grades 2–5; TeenBizBOOST—grades 6–8; EmpowerBOOST—grades 9–12. Each product runs on all platforms.
Quality and Effectiveness: BOOST is an RTI and special education online solution for students who need more targeted, personalized, differentiated instruction. Different state editions are available so that teachers can access their state standards as they use the program.
BOOST contains standards-aligned lessons based on solid current research that use Lexile levels for literacy assessments. Lessons focus on nonfiction reading in science, social studies, and current events, and passages are available with linguistic supports for English language learners. The program also gives teachers access to excellent assessment data.
Ease of Use: Students have their own devices to access customized lessons and to see and interact with supporting vocabulary. The key words in stories are highlighted and vocabulary words are clickable so students can see definitions and pictures with audio support. The program also offers interactive choices for answering multiple-choice questions with the option of a writing page to explain answers. Students receive immediate feedback to interactive multiple-choice answers and are able to save work at any time. There’s also an option to print articles at different Lexile levels—so students can practice independently to build stamina or build strength by reading the same article at a higher level.
BOOST provides teachers simple paths to monitor literacy with easy point-and-click and drop-down menus to access student work or create reports. Choices include user management, customization of instruction, and usage and performance reports. Instructional supports are easily accessible from teacher menus.
Creative Use of Technology: Students can easily access supporting resources such as images, podcasts, maps, puzzles, graphs, rubrics, and audio vocabulary definitions as they use the program. Teacher resources include answer and curriculum keys, graphic organizers, access to state standards, instructional supports, and gifted and talented assistance.
Suitability for Use in a School Environment: BOOST programs are smoothly integrated into the main Achieve3000 program and easily accessible with cloud computing. Content contains 12 levels in English, with optional Spanish-language supports. Informal assessment is embedded in every lesson, with formal assessments up to three times a year.
OVERALL RATING:
For those who have or will purchase Achieve3000, BOOST is a very good, user-friendly option for meeting the needs of students who require RTI intervention for Tier 2 and Tier 3 to build reading strength.
TOP FEATURES
• Fills the need for a literacy program for a specific group of students.
• Easy for students and teachers to use.
• Makes data readily available for a variety of assessments.
