Product Overview

Achieve 3000 is a program used to help students gain practice and skills for reading nonfiction texts. It
is a web based program located at achieve3000.com. The program takes true newspaper articles, mainly from
Associated Press, and rewrites them at twelve different tiered reading levels based on lexile. To determine their
lexile, students take a pre-test at the start of the year to provide a baseline lexile for teach student. As each
month progresses, student activity on each article helps to determine the increase in their lexile, and thus, the
difficulty of the articles assigned to them.
There is a set routine that students go through when they read news articles on Achieve 3000. Students
are expected to complete an opinion poll, read the article, and answer comprehension and analysis questions
related to the text. There are additional options that teachers can assign such as a thought question and a stretch
article which is written on grade level. The program allows for various scaffolding opportunities and
accommodations for students; students can be assigned vocabulary and oral administration accommodations as
well as language translations and assistance for ESOL students. The program also features small group
instruction lesson plans to help with key standards such as cause and effect, summarization and sequencing.
These lessons are based on the students MAP test scores as Achieve has now integrated NWEA MAP score
data into its interface. This program is meant to be used on a weekly basis throughout the school year to give
students practice and to grow their nonfiction reading lexile.

Multimedia Principles- Analysis

Redundancy Principle
Achieve 3000 adheres to the redundancy principle. Its structure and format for learning does not repeat
information. According to Mayer, the redundancy principle applies when ... information presented to learners
is not needed for learning...such information be eliminated rather than presented to the learners (p. 248).
Achieve 3000 does a nice job with not repeating information throughout the learning process. When students
are asked to answer test questions, they refer back to the original text; there is not repetition of material such as
showing an entire section of the text again to the students and creating cognitive overload. In the screenshot

below, a sample analysis activity question is featured. Note how it has a link to the original text for students to
refer back to the text, but it does not repeat information:

Coherence Principle
The Achieve 3000 interface does a good job with its use of the coherence principle. According to Mayer, the
coherence principle is the idea that ...people learn more deeply from a multimedia message when extraneous
material is excluded rather than included (p. 280). Achieve 3000 accomplishes this by making sure that its
user interface and learning materials are clean, clear and concise. There is not a lot of extra materials present
within the learning activities; everything provided to students has a specific academic purpose. When graphics
are included, it is done so purposefully. When words are repeated, it is for the sake of including vocabulary
definitions to aid with comprehension. There are not any materials provided that need to be removed as all of
the parts work together towards building a complete lesson. In the screenshot below, an example of the student
user interface is provided. This is the screen that students see the most often as it is the anchor text of a lesson.

Notice how Achieve 3000 only includes materials that directly relate to aiding reading comprehension and are
also only included to help students achieve mastery on their activity questions. The extra items at the bottom
right hand side are not a part of the main screen. It provides the teacher the option of adding in materials, but
does not take away from the overall learning by adding extraneous materials to the learning process.

Segmenting Principle
A final principle that Achieve 3000 uses to its advantage is the segmenting principle. According to Mayer, the
segmenting principle is when a multimedia message is presented in learner-paced segments rather than as a
continuous unit (p. 316-317). The purpose is the eradicate any extraneous overload to allow the working
memory to process new information efficiently. Achieve 300 accomplishes this in a variety of ways. The
overall structure of the website is based on student choice and student pacing. Students are able to view a
variety of articles under the My Lessons tab and choose something to read. When a teacher chooses to assign
an article, the actual process is still based on each students individual pacing and needs. The students are in
control of what they access and when they access it as the website steps are set up by tabs. Students go through
the materials in sections divided by pre-labeled tabs. It allows for the brain to have a signal when the task is
changing and the content is shifting. It also helps students keep organized with their new information. The

example below features the first step in the five step process on Achieve 3000. Take note of the tabs that
separate each section of information as well as the headings at the top featuring access to different materials.

Redesign
If I were able to redesign the Achieve 3000 program, I would make the segmented steps more pronounced and
easier to follow. Adding signals such as numbering or automation on to the next tab when a student hits next
step would all be helpful with students since this program is self-directed. I would also make the My
Lessons section a bit more clear, allowing students to sort by completed and incomplete as well as date
accessed because sometimes students forget what they left unfinished. I would also make it a bit more userfriendly for teachers who are trying to use Achieve for small group instruction by being able to sort the articles
by skill, topic, and focus a bit more precisely than already offered.

Final Impressions
Overall, I believe that Achieve 3000 is a quality multimedia learning product for classrooms. It adheres
to principles that often are overlooked or absent in other web-based learning programs. If used to its maximum
capacity, it can be a useful tool to help provide students with their individual needs while doing so in a clear and

concise way. I would suggest that teachers use this as a tool and that teachers need to still provide instruction
and strategies for students. It is not meant to replace the roll of instruction of reading. Rather, it is meant to be a
place of application of strategies and practice at each student's individual level.

References
Differentiated Instruction Solutions | Achieve3000. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2016, from
http://achieve3000.com/
Mayer, R. E. (Ed.). (2005). The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. Cambridge University Press.