News

Atlas: What It Takes to Make Assessment the Engine of Instruction

Achievement Network — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 15:00:02 GMT

Today, Kiddom announced Atlas, a new AI-enabled Learning Intelligence Technology embedded in Illustrative Mathematics®. We’re proud to share the role ANet played in building the curriculum-aligned assessment engine that powers it.

Announcing ANet's new CEO, Michelle Odemwingie

Kate Shanahan — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 04:00:00 GMT

Dear friend of ANet,

I am so excited and humbled to accept the role of Achievement Network's next CEO, effective July 12th, 2021.

In 1982, my parents immigrated to the US from Nigeria. They raised four daughters while working odd jobs like cleaning Bingo halls at night and serving as a line cook in fast-food restaurants before starting their own businesses. They understood the potential of quality education in America and continually sacrificed to instill in us the values of rigor and excellence in our education. While they couldn’t always help me with my homework, they always triple-checked that it was done. While we didn’t always live in the best neighborhoods, they did everything in their power to ensure that I had access to the best schools. Together, they leveraged any and every opportunity to ensure that I saw myself as brilliant, my education as vital, and my voice worthy.

The same principles I learned from my parents are central to high-quality teaching and what I carry with me as I step into the role of CEO for Achievement Network (ANet). After nine years in this organization, I continue to feel inspired by our work to guarantee all students receive equitable instruction and live up to our commitment to ensuring students have opportunities for “voice, choice and agency” in their learning environments. I credit my life’s achievements to my parents and their fight for my access to high-quality education. We do this work to ensure that parents don’t have to fight for what should be guaranteed.

Education, like many fields, is at a time of profound transformation as we work together to dismantle the systemic racism that plagues our schools. It is an honor to serve as CEO alongside other leaders of color who are stepping into their seats at the table. I am humbled to be among such phenomenal peers.

It’s essential for us to always remember that “the table” is a flawed concept. My role may be new, but this work is just a continuation of my life commitment to giving agency and voice to the teachers, school leaders, and the students I represent.

Let’s get to work. The future for our children is already here.

In partnership,
Osarugue Michelle Odemwingie

ANet Gets Results!

Achievement Network — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 04:00:00 GMT

As our CEO Michelle Odemwingie has said many times, “There are no silver bullets. All schools are different and need a tailored approach. Knowing that, I want to continue to make sure our organization listens deeply and studies carefully.”

Our work with partners across the country is multi-layered, integrated, and cohesive, promoting scalable impact throughout districts or systems. For the past five years, ANet engaged five schools across the country in a multi-year, multi-level study called the Breakthrough Results Study, supported by the Ballmer Group and evaluated by a research team at the University of Southern California (USC). The long-term study demonstrates what’s possible for sustained school and system improvement in a partnership over time between ANet and diverse districts across the United States focused on integrating curriculum, assessments, and instructional leadership.

Our Breakthrough Results Study members experienced transformational results for students, including:

Students in ANet schools who met their yearly instructional leadership goals were on average 8% more likely to achieve proficiency in math and 5% more likely to achieve proficiency in ELA than schools who did not meet their goals.
After curriculum selection, adoption, and implementation of a new, highly-aligned curriculum

More teachers used the the materials, providing grade-level instruction to more students.
More teachers believed their new materials were high-quality and standards-aligned.
Teachers reported using district-provided materials more frequently than in past years.

ANet’s instructionally relevant assessments can accelerate student learning. In both ELA and math, partners saw a statistically significant, positive relationship with student performance when teachers reported frequent use of ANet interim assessments and data-driven decisions.

As Michelle said, there are no silver bullets: these results are because of many decisions, shifts, and improvements that add up to changes in adult approaches that lead to better student outcomes.

The data from our Breakthrough Results Study echos results we saw in our rigorous internal evaluation of 21-22 summatives. As we continue to carefully study our work, we see clear evidence that ANet supports work in improving student learning.

ANet partners are outperforming their peers.
In a rigorous comparison of like schools based on demographics and historical performance data, ANet students outperformed their peer group in both ELA and math on the 21-22 state summative assessments.
Rising scores in ELA and math.
In a time when we are seeing historic lows in student math and ELA scores across the country, the majority of ANet partners made positive gains.
Longer partnership leads to better results.
Those who partner for at least 3 or 4 years see positive impact.

Our multi-year, multi-level partnerships pinpoint the places where the greatest changes have been made. Our new website featuring our progress with the Breakthrough Results Study participants shares stories about passionate leadership, shared vision, teacher empowerment, and, especially, a student-centered mindset.

Our organization continues to work strategically across systems, to help our partners seed equity throughout. By understanding the overarching, interconnected conditions and structures that drive instructional equity at each level, we see success with our partners. Discover our insights for yourself at ANetGetsResults.org.

A message from ANet's CEO: Taking anti-racist action, together

Kate Shanahan — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Dear partners and friends,

We feel grief, anger, and outrage at the deepening national strife caused by the senseless loss of George Floyd, one of so many Black people lost at the hands of authorities. We extend care and solidarity to the partners, students, families, and communities we serve that are experiencing heartbreak, fear, and trauma as they process Mr. Floyd’s death. We stand in solidarity with communities of color who work to dismantle systems of oppression because true freedom is dependent on their liberation.

I am sickened by the police brutality and the brutal loss of life we have witnessed over and over again. It is gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. At ANet, my colleagues and I have heard from our partners across the country that they are committed to doing unprecedented work to combat the inequities their students face. We know that police brutality, unemployment, and COVID-19 disproportionately affect people of color, including in our own ANet community. And we believe dismantling the racist systems endemic to our national structures is the only way to recognize the basic humanity, ensure the safety, and realize the potential of every Black and Brown child and adult.

As educators, our work in equity and anti-racism demands that we look not only at these systems, but at ourselves. We must take bold action to ensure justice for Black students, families, educators, and communities. As we work toward this goal together, I want to share with you some of our partners’ reflections and commitments as well as my own.

The principal of Shaker Heights High School in Ohio wrote a letter to his community in response to the killing of George Floyd, and this letter inspired me to share a personal reflection with you. As ANet’s white CEO, I have been on a journey to deepen my compassion for people of color—people whose lived experience includes things I’ve never had to think about. This journey has been wrought with personal mistakes, realizations of ways I’ve previously failed my own staff, and recognition of a disconnect between our more technical work and our work with partners to help them understand the purpose beneath the data. It has been an ongoing process for years, fueled by calls to action by courageous people of color on our staff. They have helped me understand that being “not racist” is nowhere near enough as we work together to dismantle the immense systemic barriers in our educational system and our country.

Racism and other forms of oppression continue to prevent students of color from experiencing equitable instruction. These systems of oppression do not stop at the schoolhouse door—they directly impact employees in our organization. Across the past seven years at ANet we have committed ourselves to anti-racism: dismantling systems of oppression by addressing structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism.

In this moment, we have the opportunity to break down systems of racism and oppression that harm our students. We have the opportunity to deepen our anti-racist journeys both personally and as educators. We have the opportunity to provide transformational leadership and contribute to radical change.

I am grappling with many emotions as I look for ways we can take action that will meet the magnitude of this moment. But for communities of color this pain is not new—it is not just a moment. That is why we must focus on creating enduring change. At ANet, we’ve been engaging in these conversations and taking action as an organization for seven years. Here, you’ll find a statement of what ANet is doing and our anti-racist policy if you would like to learn more about this ongoing work.

Below are just a few things our partners shared with their school communities that inspired us this week. I hope they also inspire you as we all strive to do more and commit actively to anti-racism.

In partnership,

—Mora Segal, ANet CEO

LEADERSHIP FOCUSED ON CHANGE

“[W]e believe in equality and justice, and we stand with the Black community. We will strive to stand against any acts of racism, cruelty, intolerance, or injustice. We will use our voices and our platform to affect positive change, encourage healing, and promote thoughtful action as we move forward.” —Great Oaks Legacy Charter School

“Springfield Public Schools administrators have been engaged in some difficult work around the stinging issue of race. Personally, I have learned some hard truths about white privilege and what it means. I understand the importance of using my status to help elevate the demand for justice and reform. I try to walk that path and in that light. As a school district, we will not back away from the work on diversity and inclusion that we have started. My commitment is to work harder than ever before because the need for change becomes stronger every day.” —Daniel J. Warwick, Springfield Public Schools

BUILDING A SAFE SPACE TO TAKE COLLECTIVE ACTION

“I would like to actively hear from you about how we can come together as a staff during this time to hold space to talk and to process and determine how to reach out to our students proactively. I want to hear from you about how we can hold space for our students and parents to have their voices heard. Please reach out with your ideas.” —Megan Moilanen, ACE High School

RECOGNIZING AND EMPOWERING OUR STUDENTS

“In light of what's happening within this country and has been going on throughout history, I wanted to shine on two students [...] who are using their voices as a platform for Black and Brown youth to discuss peace, justice, and effects of this pandemic. As protests are growing in numbers across this country, response to the ongoing injustice against Black people, I'd like to shine on Jayla Fudge and Aniya Gordon-Ellis, who created a youth program called The Pandemic Diary for students who are dealing with COVID-19 and racial inequality that are happening within this country. I learned of their program during our Global Arts Final Art Project Presentation on the impact of COVID-19 and was blown away!” —Sophia Domeville, Great Oaks Legacy Charter School

For more resources on anti-racism and dismantling bias, please visit our Resource Hub.

Achievement Network launches Breakthrough Results Fund

Kate Shanahan — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 05:00:00 GMT

ANet is excited to announce the launch of our Breakthrough Results Fund, a multi-year collaboration with five school systems focused on creating coherent supports for great instruction at both the school and central-office levels.

The Fund will bring ANet’s resources for teachers and coaching for school and system leaders to these new partners in underserved communities. ANet’s coaches and researchers will study the impact these changes have in classrooms and share what they learn with the education field at large.

Participating systems will be identified through a competitive selection process. Each system will receive one-to-one matching funds to fuel the partnership, made possible by a $10 million gift from Ballmer Group Donor Advised Fund.

Read the full press release.

Blog home

Investing in the future of equitable and empowering education

Michelle Odemwingie — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 14:51:00 GMT

Recently, it was announced that Achievement Network (ANet) is among a few notable non-profits across the country to receive a generous gift of $15 million from esteemed philanthropist, MacKenzie Scott. This donation is the largest single gift our organization has ever received. We are deeply honored to be in such great company, for the recognition of all that we have accomplished and for confidence in what we aspire to achieve as an organization. But more importantly, it is another humble reminder of the belief in the future for the communities that we serve.

In her post, Scott reflected, “Equity can only be realized when all people involved have an opportunity to help shape it.”

And this is the true power of gifts like this; they are an orientation towards trust-based agency and ensure that community-embedded organizations like ours feel authentically empowered to identify the opportunities we feel positioned to lead on and design our path forward. Gifts like this not only have the potential to shift the education space but to embody what we all aspire for — more voice and choice in communities that for too long have had the terms of our liberation defined for us and the opportunity as a collective to take one bolder step closer to designing a more equitable future.

This gift is a critical catalyst in our organization’s journey toward ensuring more equitable instructional practices across the country because the past few years have illuminated what we already knew even more brightly:

We must focus on mitigating the inequities that exist for our most vulnerable students.
We must stand shoulder to shoulder with educational leaders and teachers to provide them with the tools needed to empower our incredibly diverse students to reach their fullest potential.
We cannot solve 21st-century challenges with antiquated ideas that do not engage and elevate the voices of the students we serve.

Since the announcement, we have been fielding questions about what we will do with the gift and where we go next. While there are many details aligned to our strategic plan that we will share later, we hold a commitment to paying this gift forward in a manner similar to how it was given to us. The most essential principle we are anchored on is ensuring that we leverage this gift to contribute tools and services that create more opportunities for agency for vulnerable students and their educators.

Achievement Network is committed to working toward a future where all students are engaged in academically rich and empowering learning environments.

ANet is committed to working toward a future where all students are engaged in academically rich and empowering learning environments. We will continue to work directly alongside educational leaders in classrooms, schools, and school districts, equipping them with the most actionable suite of services, resources, data, and assessments in the field. We look forward to making the very most of MacKenzie Scott’s generous gift and to seeing the continued impact on the lives of the students and educators we serve, especially those most marginalized by the education system.

Thank you all for your continued partnership and support. I’m excited to share more details in the coming months.

In partnership,
Osarugue “Michelle” Odemwingie
Chief executive officer

As if we needed another reason to close the achievement gap

Achievement Network — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMT

We believe that addressing the achievement gap is primarily a moral issue. It’s about what kind of society we want to live in, what kind of future we want for our country’s kids.

A new study from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth highlights a more prosaic justification for working to make education more equitable: boosting economic growth.

The study, described in this New York Times article, shows that moving up just a few notches in the OECD education rankings would increase U.S. GDP by 1.7% over the next 35 years—resulting in an additional $900 billion in government revenue that would make up for the cost of the investment many times over.

If we could match Canada's results, the increases would be an incredible 6.7% and $10 trillion, respectively!

You’d think numbers like these would make getting serious about the achievement gap a no-brainer.

We already think a willingness to ignore it shows a lack of heart.