Just a sloppy compilation of comments about the good and bad impacts of
Accelerated Reader on libraries and literacy received in the last day.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________
I agree with everything you've reported on LM_NET.
AR is a mixed bag and best, and an anti-reading mechanism at worst.
I've had "discussions" with the gifted-talented teacher who believes
that AR is an opportunity for enrichment for these students.
I scratch my head at this rationale.
I finally made some headway with her citing that most AR questions are
the two lowest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, (knowledge and
comprehension). ex: What color is Karen's jacket? How far did Joanna
walk to school?
I pointed out that the goals of AR are not consistant with the way we
teach reading and literacy skills: context, predicting, plot,
characterization, themes, symbolism, drawing conclusions etc.
I am not currently in a library position, I am on a leave, but you
struck a nerve with an ongoing topic I encountered in two schools.
I, too, have issues with AR as both a parent and a media specialist. As
you
point out, it is in the deployment, not the program itself. It is often
VERY
POORLY deployed!
My daughter has complained about the same thing at her elementary school
here in S. Georgia. What you have described is a common practice, it
seems,
among many of the schools I am acquainted with. Some schools are totally
AR
driven. The elementary school library I'm interning in right now has
pretty
much nothing but AR. The LMS rarely buys a book if it's not AR (unless
it is
classroom sets for teachers use, etc). This LMS, who I am know
personally
and respect greatly, does not like this overemphasis on AR, but has to
live
with it. She finds creative ways to allow her students to read outside
of
their levels or books that they really want to read. One thing she does
is
to reward kids by letting them take out an extra book if they have met
specific AR goals.
The middle school media specialist with whom I am interning recently had
me
help her weed and replace books. Her statement to me was (and I can
almost
quote her) "If it's not AR, then I don't care about it."
Last thing is an example of what this overemphasis looks like to kids.
Yesterday, at the elementary school which I talked about above, a
student
was talking with me and her mother about the books she is reading and
her AR
points and such. At one point her mother mentioned that she was eligible
to
read a non-AR book because she has tripled her AR goal. The students
reply
was, "If it's not an AR book, what's the point?!" Both her mother and I
spoke to dissuade her from thinking this way, but you see my point...
This child will keep on reading because she loves it, but as you pointed
out, how many will be discouraged by these practices. How many kids that
are
struggling and getting poor grades on AR tests and being pushed and
pushed
to "make their goal" are going to become so frustrated that they never
learn
to love to read or stop reading all together. I could go on and on but I
won't.
I applaud you for going in there and bringing these issues to the school
administrator's attention. I hope you find some satisfactory answers and
solutions for your kids and the other students in that school.
Please share what others have to say, if you are able. I would love to
know
what other parents and educators think about and how they are dealing
with
these AR issues.
You did the right thing in bringing this matter to the principal's
attention. I don't think there is a "bad guy" here other than a
system/entity that decided that a school can be properly operated
without a highly qualified library media specialist running a
fully-funded library media program. That's the travesty here, Jeff. The
principal is doing what he knows to do. The clerk is doing what s/he
knows to do. Neither of them purposely makes policy that will negatively
affect student achievement; however, when politicians get in the mix and
decide for educators what they do and do not need to run a quality
educational program thererin lies the problem.
We are fighting a similar battle here in Georgia where we are watching
our legislators roll all dedicated library media funding into the
general operating budget under the guise of "local control." It's not
like Georgia is at the top of the heap in student achievement in the
first place and, even with dedicated funding, oversight has been so lax
that we have libraries throughout the state owning collections with an
average age somewhere in the 1980s. Now we discover that our State
Superintendent plans to use the $1.2 billion in federal stimulus to
"fast track to the 21st century" by putting a huge portion of those
funds into Title I and Special Education. All this while libraries are
left to languish and the technology infrastructure crumbles around our
ankles.
Your issue is, to me, more about misguided funding/staffing ideas rather
than about AR. When you are not properly funded or staffed you have
little choice but to rely on a canned program to approximate student
achievement. Just my .02 - susan
Amen, Brother.
I TOTALLY agree with your comments about AR! My daughter was, and still
is, an excellent reader. When she was in upper grade school she was told
she couldn't read outside her reading level (lower or higher) even
though she literally ran out of books to read. She's a speed reader and
read everything they had and had a zillion points. Her teachers also
graded strictly on AR and the kids who were struggling obviously didn't
get good grades. Really made me cranky!!
AR is only a TOOL but it isn't used that way any more. Plus, it costs a
lot to provide tests and it seems to me money could be used to get great
books kids might want to read.
Enough of my rant.....
I think another battle or cause you should take up would be to get a
SLMS at the school, at least part time.
If your son's school has no way of searching for appropriate books for
AR quizzes, perhaps you could suggest QuizList Interactive to their
principal. This provides and easily used search engine with searchable
criteria windows for subject/keyword/series, author, title, as well as
levels, etc.
This database has over 120,000 AR records and 45,000 RC records. It
matches up a school's quiz collection and displays only the quizzes
owned by the school. It is an internet based search engine, housed on
our servers. Many schools use it as an alternative automated library
search program when they don't have their own library online.
Maybe its time to take some of that frustration and turn it into action.
Talk to the principal again and see if you can raise a challenge to
parents and students to go through their book shelves and closets to see
what books they might be able to donate. As a Librarian, I am always
picking up books at rummage sales, I am sure there are 100s if not 1000s
of books, many of the AR titles available for the asking. You will be
doing great by the students and your kids and giving an avenue of change
to your frustration.
I did not see your original posting concerning AR, but there is
something I do that seems to work well. I impliment what the teacher
requests concerning AR. Students come to the library with a reading
ticket with their barcode on it. If the teacher REQUIRES AR, I check
out 2 books to them--one of choice and one AR book. I also check out
groups of books to teachers that want their students reading AR books.
Hope this helps...
I'd love to see you spearheading a movement to get the district or
building to increase the collection and the staffing and the circ system
so that students can check out multiple titles. One book at a
time--certainly no way to encourage reading. Clearly students are not
going to be able to use this "library" for any research projects or for
resources for classroom projects.
As a side note: your comment "During reading month, and for the other
eleven, I'd like to dream that someday every school library can enjoy
the means to delight every youngster, not leave them bummed out." seemed
to validate some of the choices I was making today as I prepared a book
order for next year. As I was looking at some of the series I kept
thinking "Oh, my boys will love these".
I promise in this I won't get on my soap box about all the problems with
AR, even though I do think that it stifles the students from really
developing a life-long love of reading, which I feel is part of my job.
I think a lot of the schools are in this delima. In my school, some of
the teachers are extremely strict and the kids can only read on their
assigned levels and then other teachers allow them free choice on any
level. One of the moves with AR that we did was to go with Enterprise
and while that sounds expensive, I found that I was only going to be
charged about $200.00 more than what I was paying for the tests
individually and that this would give me access to all available test.
This also made around 95% of my collection AR which has really opened
the door on what the kids could read and more importantly for kids to
buy their own books or check out from the public library. That might be
a kind suggestion for that school if they have non-ar books for the
kids. They have some pretty good deals for small, economically
challenged schools. Plus it can be paid for out of Title I monies.
Couldn't they at least let the kids have 2 titles at a time? That's so
sad.
Feh. There was nothing wrong with your letter.
nicely said!
At our library, my librarian and I have begged to let the students check
out one free choice book each time. This does not go over well with
some of our teachers who want them just to check books in their AR
Range. (one teacher even has their AR level to one specific (2.3 only as
an example). If they insist on them getting two AR books I usually let
them have a 3rd free choice and tell the teacher they are reviewing it
for me.
I only allow the students at my school to check out AR materials but it
is a school rule not a media center rule. While we don't restrict the
grade levels of books they choose to read they are restricted from
taking a test if the AR level is way below the student's reading level.
I would love to change the policy and have voiced my concerns but it
remains and I have other problems to work on like 0$ in my budget which
makes any ordering of books requested or otherwise not an option.
Sadly, this happens everywhere. I fought the battle with the classroom
teachers and won..sort of. They were required to check out 1 AR book in
their range and (by my insistence) 1 NON-AR every time they came to the
library. The non-Ar could be on any subject and any book they wanted
(unless it was inappropriate for content).
Have you talked to the LMS and gotten his/her viewpoint on this? I hate
that program and everything it stands for. I had it for 8 years, and I
am glad to no longer be a part of sucking the joy out of children and
reading.
I congratulate you on a pointed and "right-on" commentary on AR and its
use and misuse. If any classroom or school program serves only to
restrict children's reading, it can not possibly be providing young
readers with the skills and motivation for life-long reading.
Thank you for sending it to the administration of your children's
school--and thank you for sharing it with the rest of us.
I congratulate you on a pointed and "right-on" commentary on AR and its
use and misuse. If any classroom or school program serves only to
restrict children's reading, it can not possibly be providing young
readers with the skills and motivation for life-long reading.
I secretly LOATHE AR as I agree it often kills the passion for reading.
Yes, I help the kiddos find and check-out books for AR, but I constantly
encourage them to select other books "just for fun." That policy seems
to satisfy the AR cheerleaders as well as the rest of us.
I even went so far as the "preach" to a class last week when I heard a
child say "I've already met my AR goal so I don't need a book"
ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!! I proclaimed that today was the day to find books to
enjoy.
Stepping down from my soap box.....
Alright Jeff!!! I do like reading programs, do not restrict the kids to
the level they can read at, what ever, and encourage volumes to leave
when ever possible, so parents and teachers often do not understand when
their kid fails a test, or has too many books to handle. I leave it up
to the children.
I just gave away RIF books this week. Many kids drooled over the books
so much you almost want to break the rules and allow them more than just
one, but that just means I have chosen well. If he doesn't understand
your straight forward, professional, eloquent letter then there truly is
a problem. My favorite part is where you say, If not, if it's actually
true that your school library media center ONLY supplies AR selections,
then it's not a school library at all. Instead,it's a dispensary for
your AR program, and calling it a library would be a damaging affront to
my profession, a profession that values freedom of choice over all.
LIBRARIES loan people what they want, Mr. *****, even people under four
feet tall."
Thank you for sharing these words of wisdom, especially with your
principal. I wonder how much better of a reader your daughter may have
been if reading had really been fostered through the library instead of
an AR dispenser? Just a thought!
I read your email, and I applaud your for clearly presenting your
convictions regarding the AR "situation" at your child's elementary
school. Unfortunately, a fellow LMS and myself both have children who
attend a school with almost the identicle situation. She and I had
discussed expressing our feelings with the principal; however, we agreed
that the message must be clearly thought through rather than written in
anger in hostility.
You did an excellent job of presenting your concerns while maintaining a
positive tone about the school in general. I read your note at the end
of the email and wish to honor your request of not forwarding the email
without your permission.
First, your response was very well written and, I believe, right on the
nose. I'm curious to know if you've first spoken to the librarian? Is
it
their policy or the principal's? If it is the librarian's policy, shame
on them and hopefully the principal can help out. If it is the
principal's policy, I hope the librarian appreciates your efforts!
This is perfect and I'll be printing it and keep it on file to share if
ever put in a similar situation. I am against AR because of teachers and
librarians misuse of the program. I'm tired of kids saying, "I need an
AR book." I always say, "Ill help you find something that interests you
and if it happens to be AR so be it." I would never limit students to
AR. It is probably my biggest battle as a media specialist.
Fighting this battle constantly with some of our teachers.
We tell these students ad nauseum that, yes you need to have one or two
books to meet your teacher's expectations, but this is a library and you
choose whatever else you want. It irks me to no end!
Is Mr. **** a librarian or parapro?
Brilliant. Well done.
Amen, Jeff.
I lasted one year at a school that REQUIRED me to shelve the books by AR
level as well as use the program school-wide, K-8. I fought the battle
the entire year, allowed the kids to check out one book that was not AR
(anything they wanted), and a lot of the teachers jumped on my
bandwagon. Unfortunately, the PTA president (who donated a lot of money
to the school) and the superintendent were both big supporters of the
program so I was stuck with it for the brief time I was there. I
generally try to 'lay low' during AR discussions on LM Net. But it was
very interesting to learn from a former volunteer at that school that
the AR program was scrapped out several years after I left. It seems
that teachers were relying solely on the program for reading literature.
It was no longer tied to writing, to projects, or anything but the TEST.
Writing scores on standardized tests plummeted.
So you might also consider letting the principal know that heavy
reliance on AR is not a sound educational practice if he's going for
standardized test scores. I won't even begin to go into cheating,
randomly taking tests, inappropriateness of some content for the level
(dino books are level 5 and 1st graders are the biggest fans, Fallen
Angels is a level 4 but the content is most decidedly not 4th grade
content, etc.). Good luck with it!
While you've been very articulate in your letter, and brought up many
valid points, I am concerned about your approach. How would you feel as
the librarian if your principal came to you with this letter? Have you
actually contacted the librarian at your child's school? Have you
verified the facts? Have you received an explanation of whatever the
policy may be ( or may not be)? I hope that is the case here--I can't
imagine you not doing that. But, whether intentional or not, your
letter to the principal is implying that the school librarian is the
"bad guy" here. I can envision many other scenarios including a very
overbearing staff, a misinformed administration, a misguided teacher
etc. etc.
I would have just called the school library media specialist first.
I agree with your letter to the school about AR. One point that I have
used in my attempt to convert what I call "AR Nazis" is to remind them
that the average reading level of the books they read for pleasure (Mary
Higgins Clark, etc) is about 5th grade. I ask how they would feel if
they were only allowed to read books on their reading level (12th and
up). Every now and then I see the light bulb go off!
Very well spoken, Jeff! Kudos to you!
I hope they think very hard about that.
My second grader, Jake, is reading at a 1st grade level. But right now
he is h*ll bent on reading Eragon. Now I understand it's too much, but
I'm so proud of him for pushing himself. We'll read it as soon as we're
done with Joey Pigza Loses Control (my son is also ADHD, which is why
his reading level is low, but he's catching up quickly!). :)
That was the policy when I took this job at Wilson - kids could only
check out books on their AR level. I was horrified! My personal
philosophy, after lots of reading and studying, is that there is no such
thing as "good AR", or good ANY computerized reading program. My
principal hired me with a specific agenda of ridding our school of AR,
which we've done. We're better readers, we're more authentic readers,
and my circulation is out the roof. I can barely keep up, but that is
the way it should be. I cried when a 4th grade boy hugged me and said,
"You mean now I can check out Eragon?! Mrs. Marshall, this is the
greatest day of my life." He checked it out, and by gosh he read it.
It was technically "below" his AR level.
HEAR! HEAR! Very nicely said and I hope that you get a good, positive
response. I have fought the fight here at my district and have become
resolved to half-heartedly supporting AR simply so that wonderful books
left
unread on my shelves (due to not having an AR quiz in our system) would
be
discovered and have started to spend my precious, limited book $$ on
quizzes. I won't go into any more details, but I have found that it is
certain teachers and their restrictions on AR levels that create the
type of
environment you describe. My libraries and my parapros try very hard to
keep the joy of reading at the forefront.
Oh I loved your letter!!!!!! I wish I could get parents to send that
type of letter to my principal. I am presently in a middle school. The
AR program is administered through the Language Arts program very
similar to the one you are describing. All students are required to
participate, it is actually part of the their grade. They cannot read
anything below the mid point in their AR range. Now if you check the
levels for AR they are all wrong once you get to middle school.
When Grapes of Wrath is leveled at 4.9 or To kIll a mockingbird at 5.7
it is obvious that the leveling doesn't work. We have parents that
have been so ingrained with AR that students come in and say that their
parents won't let them read anything below their grade level. However,
if they want an AR book on grade 7 or 8 --it is almost impossible to buy
one that they would want to read.
We also have teachers that will not allow their students to check out
non - fiction. I have been fighting this battle for 3 years here at the
middle school. When I was in the elementary school it seems I had more
control. I would tell the students that one of their books should be in
their AR range and the others were free choice - anything they wanted.
I did have one teacher who tried to insist that her students only check
out AR books but I refused on the grounds we didn't have enough AR books
and that AR did not necessarily mean a good book. It simply meant we
had bought a test.
I am hoping that a silver lining from this budget crunch will be the
elimination of financial support for AR
First of all, I want to say that I am in total agreement with both your
concerns and your idea of AR ruining kids to reading. If you want to
make
anything unpleasant, turn it into a job or make it a requirement. AR
was
never intended to take over a library or a reading program. It is
suppose
to be an enhancement only.
One of the things that I would do is to continue to present literature
and
research to the principal and school board concerning AR reading levels
and how they are restricting books which are then turning off readers. I
would actually see if I could give a presentation to the school board.
Show them the levels of books and give them examples of what kids can
and
can't read. Challenge them to only read books that were at "their
level"
(for example, they would no longer be able to read any John Grisham or
Jodi Picoult books as they would be considered below their reading
level.
Same with the average newspaper and/or popular magazine. They would
only
be allowed to read William Shakespeare books from now on.) Then,
explain
how AR actually decides on the reading level for a book (its a computer
program only so if there is a lot of dialog in the book, the reading
level
will be down. But if the author uses a lot of compound words, the
reading
level will be higher. There is no content addressed. So basically, a
book could have a very steamy sex scene but as long as it is portrayed
in
short dialog form - the book will have a 2.0-4.0 reading level). Ask
them
if they really want a computer program decide what a child should read?
(Yeah, I really believe a third grader should read America by Frank with
all of its language and sexual implications). Challenge the school and
the teachers to justify their approach to AR. Have them print out a
list
of all the books by reading level and then take a hard look at some of
the
titles. Give this list to ALL teachers. I had one teacher who still
didn't get it that the reading levels were not reliable until I showed
her
a printout list. I told her that if she really wanted to restrict her
students to ONLY books in their reading level, than they would no longer
be able to read this book and that book and this book, ect. (and many
of
those were books she was reading aloud in her class). She soon came
around.
If the school really cared about the reading of the students, then they
would do one of two things.....keep AR but take away the stipulation
that
they need to only read books in a certain reading level. At our school,
kids need to check out a Reading Counts (like AR) book with each
checkout
but there is no need to worry about reading level. All they have to
worry
about is getting 25 points per nine weeks. Plain and simple.
The second thing they need to do is get AR enterprise. This is a
subscription database that allows students a much broader range of test.
With AR enterprise, almost all of the books a child would want to read
will have a test. This would open up the range of books/test available
for the students and teachers.
Anyway, keep fighting the good fight. The kids need you to continue.
Compiled by Jeffrey Hastings
SLMS, Highlander Way Library
Michigan
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