AR books have short multiple choice quizzes and have been assigned a readability level (ATOS). Students are encouraged (or required by some teachers) to select books within their ZPD that also match their age/interest level. Among other diagnostic information (such as percentile ranking and grade equivalency, the test establishes a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) reading range for the student. The STAR test is a computer-based grades 1-12 reading assessment that adjusts levels of difficulty to student responses. Renaissance Learning sells its STAR Reading™ test to partner with the AR program. How is the Student’s Reading Level Determined? (Passing the quiz is an indication that your child understood what was read.) AR gives both children and teachers feedback based on the quiz results, which the teacher then uses to help your child set goals and direct ongoing reading practice.” When finished, your child takes a short quiz on the computer. Your child picks a book at his own level and reads it at his own pace. But first, for the uninitiated, is a brief overview of the AR system.įrom the Renaissance Learning website, A Parent’s Guide to Accelerated Reader™, we get a concise overview of this program: “AR is a computer program that helps teachers manage and monitor children’s independent reading practice. Hence, The 18 Reasons Not to Use Accelerated Reader. Many readers may be interested in my companion article, Comparing Accelerated Reader and Reading Counts!įollowing are short summaries of the most common arguments made by researchers, teachers, parents, and students as to why using AR is counterproductive. As one measure of popularity (as of January 2019), the AR program has about 180,000 different books with quizzes, while HMH has about 43,000. The second place challenger is Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s (HMH) Reading Counts! (formerly Scholastic Reading Counts!). As is the case with many monoliths, detractors trying to chip away at its monopolistic control of library collections, computer labs, and school budgets are many. Renaissance Learning, Inc.(RLI) is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol RLRN and makes a bit more than pocket change off of its flagship product, AR. From an economic standpoint, simple often is best and AR is a publisher’s dream come true. Accelerated Reader™ (AR) is a simple software concept that was at the right time (late 1980s) and right place (public schools during a transition from whole language to phonics instruction) that has simply grown into an educational monolith.
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