On the last week of November, Ms. Sandra Jung of room 25 received an exciting email; her first period sophomore English class had been selected to win a prize from a drawing of a reading contest called TeenBiz3000. For about a month, the class had been receiving short nonfiction articles with subject matter that are of interest to students daily. Every time the articles were received, Ms. Jung’s reading lab students individually read the information, analyzing the contents, answering the accompanying eight questions and writing informant paragraphs relating to an open ended question.

   Ms. Jung’s class received the party-in-a-package on Wednesday, December 10, and the class decided to hold the party on Friday, December 12. The package included bookmarks, pens and snack-style foods for the class.

   “We’d already been doing the work; the contest win was just a result of the student’s continuing effort,” says a smiling Ms. Jung. A surprising twist is that this is not the first time this particular class has won the contest this year. The students celebrated their second win, after coming out victorious from a TeenBiz3000 contest from a previous month.

   Last year, the program was the first time the program was used at Arroyo, and the contests are held every month or so. Back then, different classes won.

   The program is set up individually assess each student, and the appropriate levels of personal student comprehension are determined. Texts and questions are sent according to the proper levels. Once a student has submitted an answer, an immediate response is sent through as to whether or not he or she is correct. If a student is right the first time around, the next question can be viewed. If the student gives an incorrect answer, another chance to submit the correct response is allowed, and afterwards the right answer is revealed.

   The aim of the sponsoring company, Achieve3000, is to test student’s reading comprehension skills, develop the ability to ask cogent questions related to the subject, and to refine writing skills through a series of regular, short but comprehensive tests, all in a relaxed environment in order to encourage the students to make personal connections to the articles. All the assignments fit state expectations, and are “scientifically proven to dramatically accelerate gains in reading levels, vocabulary acquisition, writing ability and  high-stakes test scores”, as stated on their website, http://www.achieve3000.com. The contest allows different schools within the same city to claim their own prize packages so that the chances of winning are increased.

   To be eligible to win the contest, at least seventy five percent of the class had to have answered six or more of the eight questions correctly. Once this was accomplished, the class was put into a collective list of potential winners, from which a random class would be pulled to claim the party-in-a-package—a well-earned reward for their persistent efforts.