The Purpose of Accelerated Reader:
Powerful Practice
Reading is a skill and, as with every skill, it requires not just instruction but practice.
Reading practice serves a number of purposes. It enables students to apply the skills
and strategies they are taught. It gives teachers the opportunities to check student learning and identify weaknesses. And it draws students into the world of “real” reading—a world in which people learn from and enjoy books. Practice does not automatically lead to growth, however. To be effective, practice must have certain attributes:
· It must be at the right level of difficulty
· Cover a sufficient amount of time
· Be guided by the instructor
· Be enjoyable enough to sustain.
The purpose of Accelerated Reader is to enable powerful practice. It does this by:
· Providing data that helps teachers and parents monitor and personalize reading practice.
· Encouraging substantial amounts of practice, according to guidelines based on research findings.
· Making practice fun for students by facilitating successful encounters with text.
Accelerated Reader and Curriculum
Accelerated Reader is designed to be part of a comprehensive reading program. It does not replace basal-reader series or other instructional materials; rather, it supports and enhances them. As the National Reading Panel stated in its 2000 report, Teaching Children to Read, effective reading programs are balanced: Students receive direct and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics skills, and comprehension strategies, and they are given opportunities to apply their knowledge in a variety of “natural settings.” One of the primary benefits of Accelerated Reader is that it is a vehicle for this essential learning transfer.
Accelerated Reader provides other research-proven benefits as well. It promotes wide reading, which is the most effective method for building vocabulary. And through its progress-monitoring and feedback mechanisms, it reinforces student effort—one of the most important practices in classrooms that work, according to education expert Robert Marzano. Supported by a vast body of scientific research, AR has been favorably reviewed by the What Works Clearinghouse and the National Center on Student Progress Monitoring.
How Accelerated Reader Works
At the heart of Accelerated Reader are a few basic steps:
1. Students make time for daily reading practice. Students select and read library books that match their individual ability levels and interests.
2. When a student finishes a book, he or she takes an AR Reading Practice Quiz on the computer. This quiz assesses general comprehension of the book just read.
3. Accelerated Reader scores the quiz, keeps track of the results, and generates reports. This data can be used to monitor each student’s practice, guide students to appropriate books, and target instruction.
AR Measures Practice with Points
Because points are based on word count, AR uses them to keep track of how much reading a student has done. Students “earn” points by taking the AR quiz for the book they have just read. If a student reads a 10-point book and scores 100 percent on the quiz, he earns 100 percent of the points. If the student scores 90 percent, he earns 90 percent of the points, and so on. To earn any amount of points, a student must score at least 60 percent on a 5- or 10-question quiz and 70 percent on a 20-question quiz. Points make it easy to see how much reading practice a student has successfully completed. For example, a student who has accumulated 50 points has read many more words than a student who has accumulated 10 points.
The Importance of Good Comprehension
Our research shows that the most important factor in accelerated reading growth is good comprehension. Therefore we encourage students to strive for high scores on AR quizzes and maintain an average score of at least 85 percent—with 90 percent being even better. Why then, you may be wondering, does AR give students points for scores of 60 percent and higher, if an average of 85 or 90 percent is the goal? Remember, points tell you how much reading practice a student has done. If a student spends two weeks reading a 10-point book and scores 100 percent, AR records 10 points, which is a fantastic accomplishment. If the student only scores 60 percent, AR records 6 points, which is not so good but does document the time and effort he put in. The teacher’s role is to either guide the student to a more appropriate book and/or help the student develop comprehension strategies so that he will be more successful with future books and quizzes
