LM_NET: Library Media Networking
- Subject: HIT:SEC:Accelerated Reader/STAR
- From: Colton Frankie <coltonf@M.OGDEN.K12.UT.US>
- Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 10:24:05 -0600
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Thanks to everyone who responded for your help.
For what grades? 1-5 / SCHOOLWIDE (K-5) / 9-10 / 6th-8th, and we will
be expanding to 5th next year / 2 through 8 boys school / K-4th / 6-8 /
7th graders /
For all students or selected students? all / SELECTED K-1 STUDENTS AND
ALL 2-5 /all / For MOST students. This is our first year, and initially
we didn't have enough low level books to really serve our lowest
students, so the SDC and At-Risk did not participate this year because
their teachers opted out. / All grades / All except at K, where the
teacher decides / All students have a reading class either 2 or 3 days a
week / All 7th graders /
How long have you been using it? 2 years / 5 YEARS /3 years / This full
school year and a short trial run at the end of last year / AR since Jan
1998, Star since Jan 1999 / Second year / Third year / Four years /
Where do students take their tests? in classroom / library and lab / IN
THE CLASSROOMS / in English classrooms / We began with testing in the
library, but we now have the capability to test students in our computer
lab and some of the classrooms. / AR last year in the Library. This
year, 2-5 uses classroom machines to test most of the time. 6-8 Reading
teacher still sends to the library since she only has it on one
computer. This year is much more manageable. Star is used in the
classroom / In the classroom or in content mastery / In library or
reading class / In teachers' classrooms, in writing lab /
Who monitors student progress? teachers, CLASSROOM TEACHERS AND
ASSISTANTS, English teachers / Language Arts teachers and library staff,
but we are working to make it easier to include ALL staff in the
monitoring process / Last year I did reports and gave them to the
teachers. This year the teachers do. / The reading teacher monitors
progress and they get a grade based on tests taking and coming to class
prepared and settling down to read. / individual teachers /
Overall, how well is it working? It works well. I have all the books in
the library marked with AR tags so the students know which books they
can take a test on. We have about 1200 tests. / OUTSTANDING! /Well / We
like what we see. AR doesn't reach its full potential until about the
third year, and I can see why. You need some time at first to just get
the students and teachers into it and operating smoothly. Initially our
students were resistant, but are beginning to be a lot more active with
it. / Overall, it is getting the students to read. It is mandatory in
the classroom. / Overall it is catching on. I have one student who
earned over 200 points in third grade and last year he did nothing. It
has been a lifesaver for him since his father committed suicide this
year and he was on the fence because of discipline and attitude. It was
worth all the work I've done just for him, no matter how I feel. / I
think it is working very well. The requirements are left up to each
teacher so there is not consistency in the program. For example the
sixth grade teachers are very strict about allowing students to read
under their reading level and some of the 8th grade students don't even
know what their level is. / For the teachers that support it and promote
it, it works VERY well; for those who are just doing it because they
have to, not well at all. /
Are students' reading scores improving? We don't know yet / YES / Yes
/ Haven't received this year's SAT9 or other standardized scores yet. /
Don't know yet. Mixed reports from the teachers about improved reading
levels from the Star report. some students have dropped levels (done
worse on the second Star test than the first) / I don't know. We don't
have the Star program because I felt the cost didn't merit the benefits.
Our TAAS scores went down. / The first year I administered the Sandford
Diagnostic Reading test in the fall and the spring for all students.
What we found was that we really helped the kids who read at or above
grade level, but were no longer reading on their own. We also helped the
lower readers to improve their grades. / YES /
On what tests? ON THE FCAT AND ON THE FLORIDA WRITES! TESTS / Texas
Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) / SAT9 and a Spanish standardized
test, I believe SABE. / Don't know / Our TAAS scores went down. /
Do students like it? YES / Some students are very motivated. Some are
required to take certain tests. We have an incentive program which many
students like. This is funded through our instructional materials
money. / Yes / By and large, yes. With students the age ours are
(6th-8th) (and with the attitudes about education they have here) we did
need to employ both the carrot AND the stick. They do have AR as a
portion of their classroom reading grade. / Some do, some don't / Some
like it, some don't respond. / The majority of the students are happy
with the program. Lazy students don't like it, because it challenges
students to at whatever level to stretch temselves. Since we like many
schools teach to the middle, this may be the only place that our better
students have to work hard. / More than they think they do -- especially
when they go back to regular book reports as eighth graders. /
Do you like it? Yes, because many students are reading books they would
not be reading if they were not AR. My only concern is that the older
students look for books with the greater number of points instead of the
content of the book. Many times they do not read the books with the
greater number of points because they are just too hard. / YES, BUT HAVE
A FEW RESERVATIONS. BUT BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE DISADVANTAGES. / VERY
much. Most of the staff like it, too. some were not happy about having
to have it as part of the grade, but we did mandate that, since we are
doing this on a grant and needed some hard data to prove we were getting
somewhere. / I have been happy. Circulation is up and I know the books
are being read, which I was sure wasn't happening with all students
before the program. / I could write paragraphs about this one. Overall,
I support the program, because it works well with the seventh grade.
BUT I am glad that no everyone uses it, because there are 100's of great
books which there are not tests for. /
As an incentive to read it is okay. I am all for almost anything to get
students to read. The key word is almost. I do not like the fact that
you only have one test per book, if you fail the test and the teacher
allows the student to reread and retest the teacher or myself must
delete the record and then the student takes the same test again this
original test then is not included in the record average etc, some of
the AR reading levels are very different than other suggested reading
levels, and the worst possible scenario is your teachers will want you
to become an AR library. I have
fought against this all year. Teachers wanting to push AR refuse to
allow students access to other books because they are not AR, not
testable. Several examples; Students can only check out AR books until
they have met the 9 week goal or Students are required to read so many
minutes in an AR book for homework every night and have an AR book for
class, this keeps most of our students from enjoying other fun reads
just because we don't have the test. The AR is pushed because these
books are testable so therefore considered measurable. We are all in
the accountability crunch. I am new to this school and was told AR had
to be shelved separately from the other books, needed to make an impact
when contributors passed through. Students rarely used the rest of the
collection unless they needed research materials. I fought this battle
continuously. This winter I suddenly ran out of room to house AR
separately, oh what a shame. The students were amazed that we had so
many titles. Wow. I even had one student ask why a particular author
wrote so many books but only wrote one book for AR. I wanted to cry.
The students solved my problem. They wanted to read the other titles.
It was as if they had only ever tasted one flavor and now became aware
of the other thousand and one. Some wanted to taste all and some did
not. Several teachers even commented on how enthused the students were
at all the choices. Please excuse my long winded comments here but what
I am trying to say is to keep all things in perspective, keep a
balance. AR can be good and provide an incentive or needed push, but
can also be detrimental if carried to the extreme, as can everything. /
I have my reservations. I resent the prices the Advantage Learning
charges. I don't
think the quality is that good. I am not happy with the choices of
disks that have so
many out-of-print books so you have wasted funds and if you order a
custom disk you spend so much more for a seemingly small task. Their
program is archaic and needs revision. The program Scholastic uses which
is supposedly an old revised program is much more graphic. Advantage
sent out a long letter with all the disadvantages for using the
Scholastic program. So far AR is a monopoly. If a group of librarians
got together today and started a testing program I'm sure it would be
thousands of times better due to selection, quality, and price. But
that won't happen because they are "the only people in town" /
What else should we consider before getting into AR/STAR? I would check
out the Scholastic Reading Counts and compare cost I like Scholastic but
they do not offer as many tests as AR. AR needs to update, their
program is too DOS. The format is the same for every test. / GO FOR IT.
/ Your English teachers or whoever will be using AR need to fully
understand and buy into the program. Attending a Reading Renaissance
seminar is a must. The librarian must be willing to assist with the
program -- marking and labeling AR books, ordering AR books, etc. I
highly recommend that you do NOT allow students to take AR tests in the
library at the high school level -- you will be constantly monitoring to
prevent cheating or taking
tests under other students' names. / Consider who will be in "charge" of
the program and the atmosphere created by it. I think it's easy to get
too rigid about it. Most of the folks who complain about it are those
who have had it thrust upon them from above in a very rigid way
(Students only allowed to read AR books and ONLY on their level - very
lockstep.) Also be sure to get AR BookGuide - otherwise you
will go nuts trying to keep track of which books and tests you
have/need. Once you are rolling you will need to constantly "refresh"
your collection to keep kids interested, because they will be reading
more of what you have. /You may want to check out Scholastic Reading
Counts and SRI - before you make a decision. It is a more sophisticated
program. / I don't get the magazine browsing that I got before, but
after talking to some teachers about the probelm, they have instituted a
program that allows students who have their goal for the quarter to have
a day of free reading.
Oh, and by the way, if your principal is behind you and the program it
will make a major difference. There are two other schools in the
district that are booming AR
school due to principals backing, money and otherwise. Not that that is
all good.
My junior high and my elem use AR/STAR. The Junior high does not do
STAR correctly. The kids are not tested three times a year, and no one
keeps up with their reading levels. When the librarian decided to check
them the end of this year, most of them were going down--some
alarmingly. It could be because the kids were just blowing off the
tests. The elem computer lab teacher is more conscientious--three tests
a year, reports to teachers. The horror to AR/STAR, however, is most
evident in the elem. because teachers police the reading levels: "You
can't read that book! It's not on your reading level." You can just
imagine how that is demoralizing to a young reader. I'm having a hard
time deciding which is worse: AR/STAR that is used negligently or
AR/Star that is used diligently.
I would recommend strongly you look into Scholastic Reading Counts.
Until this year it was Electronic Bookshelf that I've used for 15
years. Kids love it and read like you've never seen before with minimum
promotion. Teachers love it. I put it in my high school this last
fall, and a 9/10 English teacher came in last week to say incredulously,
"Mrs. Cook, the kids are reading." I said, "That's the idea." And she
insisted, "No, you don't understand. They are reading because they want
to." I've seen EBS do this for 15 years in seven schools. It will only
get better. You will be forever happy that you found EBS/Reading Counts
before AR
EBS is Reading Counts' predecessor. If you look in the archives, you'll
find a lot of comparisons between the two. There isn't too much
available about Reading Counts yet, since Scholastic just acquired EBS
in February.
Frankie Colton
Library Media Teacher/Storyteller
Ben Lomond High School
Ogden, UT
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Thanks to everyone who responded for your help.
<p><u>For what grades?</u> 1-5 / SCHOOLWIDE (K-5) / 9-10 / 6th-8th,
and we will be expanding to 5th next year / 2 through 8 boys school / K-4th
/ 6-8 / 7th graders /
<p> <u>For all students or selected students?</u> all / SELECTED
K-1 STUDENTS AND ALL 2-5 /all / For MOST students. This is our first year,
and initially we didn't have enough low level books to really serve our
lowest students, so the SDC and At-Risk did not participate this year because
their teachers opted out. / All grades / All except at K, where the teacher
decides / All students have a reading class either 2 or 3 days a week /
All 7th graders /
<p> <u>How long have you been using it?</u> 2 years / 5 YEARS /3 years
/ This full school year and a short trial run at the end of last year /
AR since Jan 1998, Star since Jan 1999 / Second year / Third year / Four
years /
<p> <u>Where do students take their tests?</u> in classroom / library
and lab / IN THE CLASSROOMS / in English classrooms / We began with testing
in the library, but we now have the capability to test students in our
computer lab and some of the classrooms. / AR last year in the Library.
This year, 2-5 uses classroom machines to test most of the time. 6-8 Reading
teacher still sends to the library since she only has it on one computer.
This year is much more manageable. Star is used in the classroom / In the
classroom or in content mastery / In library or reading class / In teachers'
classrooms, in writing lab /
<p><u>Who monitors student progress? </u>teachers, CLASSROOM TEACHERS
AND ASSISTANTS, English teachers / Language Arts teachers and library staff,
but we are working to make it easier to include ALL staff in the monitoring
process / Last year I did reports and gave them to the teachers.
This year the teachers do. / The reading teacher monitors progress and
they get a grade based on tests taking and coming to class prepared and
settling down to read. / individual teachers /
<p><u>Overall, how well is it working?</u> It works well. I have
all the books in the library marked with AR tags so the students know which
books they can take a test on. We have about 1200 tests. / OUTSTANDING!
/Well / We like what we see. AR doesn't reach its full potential until
about the third year, and I can see why. You need some time at first
to just get the students and teachers into it and operating smoothly. Initially
our students were resistant, but are beginning to be a lot more active
with it. / Overall, it is getting the students to read. It
is mandatory in the classroom. / Overall it is catching on. I have one
student who earned over 200 points in third grade and last year he did
nothing. It has been a lifesaver for him since his father committed
suicide this year and he was on the fence because of discipline and attitude.
It was worth all the work I've done just for him, no matter how I feel.
/ I think it is working very well. The requirements are left up to each
teacher so there is not consistency in the program. For example the
sixth grade teachers are very strict about allowing students to read under
their reading level and some of the 8th grade students don't even know
what their level is. / For the teachers that support it and promote it,
it works VERY well; for those who are just doing it because they have to,
not well at all. /
<p><u>Are students' reading scores improving?</u> We don't
know yet / YES / Yes / Haven't received this year's SAT9 or other
standardized scores yet. / Don't know yet. Mixed reports from the teachers
about improved reading levels from the Star report. some students
have dropped levels (done worse on the second Star test than the first)
/ I don't know. We don't have the Star program because I felt the cost
didn't merit the benefits. Our TAAS scores went down. / The first year
I administered the Sandford Diagnostic Reading test in the fall and the
spring for all students. What we found was that we really helped
the kids who read at or above grade level, but were no longer reading on
their own. We also helped the lower readers to improve their grades. /
YES /
<p><u>On what tests? </u>ON THE FCAT AND ON THE FLORIDA WRITES! TESTS
/ Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) / SAT9 and a Spanish standardized
test, I believe SABE. / Don't know / Our TAAS scores went down. /
<p><u>Do students like it?</u> YES / Some students are very motivated.
Some are required to take certain tests. We have an incentive program
which many students like. This is funded through our instructional
materials money. / Yes / By and large, yes. With students the age ours
are (6th-8th) (and with the attitudes about education they have here) we
did need to employ both the carrot AND the stick. They do have AR as a
portion of their classroom reading grade. / Some do, some don't / Some
like it, some don't respond. / The majority of the students are happy with
the program. Lazy students don't like it, because it challenges students
to at whatever level to stretch temselves. Since we like many schools teach
to the middle, this may be the only place that our better students have
to work hard. / More than they think they do -- especially when they go
back to regular book reports as eighth graders. /
<p><u>Do you like it?</u> Yes, because many students are reading books
they would not be reading if they were not AR. My only concern is
that the older students look for books with the greater number of points
instead of the content of the book. Many times they do not read the
books with the greater number of points because they are just too hard.
/ YES, BUT HAVE A FEW RESERVATIONS. BUT BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE DISADVANTAGES.
/ VERY much. Most of the staff like it, too. some were not happy about
having to have it as part of the grade, but we did mandate that, since
we are doing this on a grant and needed some hard data to prove we were
getting somewhere. / I have been happy. Circulation is up and I know the
books are being read, which I was sure wasn't happening with all students
before the program. / I could write paragraphs about this one. Overall,
I support the program, because it works well with the seventh grade.
BUT I am glad that no everyone uses it, because there are 100's of great
books which there are not tests for. /
<p>As an incentive to read it is okay. I am all for almost anything
to get students to read. The key word is almost. I do not like
the fact that you only have one test per book, if you fail the test and
the teacher allows the student to reread and retest the teacher or myself
must delete the record and then the student takes the same test again this
original test then is not included in the record average etc, some of the
AR reading levels are very different than other suggested reading levels,
and the worst possible scenario is your teachers will want you to become
an AR library. I have
<br>fought against this all year. Teachers wanting to push AR refuse
to allow students access to other books because they are not AR, not testable.
Several examples; Students can only check out AR books until they have
met the 9 week goal or Students are required to read so many minutes in
an AR book for homework every night and have an AR book for class, this
keeps most of our students from enjoying other fun reads just because we
don't have the test. The AR is pushed because these books are testable
so therefore considered measurable. We are all in the accountability
crunch. I am new to this school and was told AR had to be shelved
separately from the other books, needed to make an impact when contributors
passed through. Students rarely used the rest of the collection unless
they needed research materials. I fought this battle continuously.
This winter I suddenly ran out of room to house AR separately, oh what
a shame. The students were amazed that we had so many titles. Wow.
I even had one student ask why a particular author wrote so many books
but only wrote one book for AR. I wanted to cry. The students
solved my problem. They wanted to read the other titles. It was as
if they had only ever tasted one flavor and now became aware of the other
thousand and one. Some wanted to taste all and some did not.
Several teachers even commented on how enthused the students were at all
the choices. Please excuse my long winded comments here but what
I am trying to say is to keep all things in perspective, keep a
<br>balance. AR can be good and provide an incentive or needed push,
but can also be detrimental if carried to the extreme, as can everything.
/
<p>I have my reservations. I resent the prices the Advantage Learning
charges. I don't
<br>think the quality is that good. I am not happy with the choices
of disks that have so
<br>many out-of-print books so you have wasted funds and if you order a
custom disk you spend so much more for a seemingly small task. Their program
is archaic and needs revision. The program Scholastic uses which is supposedly
an old revised program is much more graphic. Advantage sent out a
long letter with all the disadvantages for using the Scholastic program.
So far AR is a monopoly. If a group of librarians got together today
and started a testing program I'm sure it would be thousands of times better
due to selection, quality, and price. But that won't happen because
they are "the only people in town" /
<p><u>What else should we consider before getting into AR/STAR?</u>
I would check out the Scholastic Reading Counts and compare cost I like
Scholastic but they do not offer as many tests as AR. AR needs to
update, their program is too DOS. The format is the same for every test.
/ GO FOR IT. / Your English teachers or whoever will be using AR need to
fully understand and buy into the program. Attending a Reading Renaissance
seminar is a must. The librarian must be willing to assist with the
program -- marking and labeling AR books, ordering AR books, etc.
I highly recommend that you do NOT allow students to take AR tests in the
library at the high school level -- you will be constantly monitoring to
prevent cheating or taking
<br>tests under other students' names. / Consider who will be in "charge"
of the program and the atmosphere created by it. I think it's easy to get
too rigid about it. Most of the folks who complain about it are those who
have had it thrust upon them from above in a very rigid way (Students only
allowed to read AR books and ONLY on their level - very lockstep.) Also
be sure to get AR BookGuide - otherwise you
<br>will go nuts trying to keep track of which books and tests you have/need.
Once you are rolling you will need to constantly "refresh" your collection
to keep kids interested, because they will be reading more of what you
have. /You may want to check out Scholastic Reading Counts and SRI - before
you make a decision. It is a more sophisticated program. / I don't get
the magazine browsing that I got before, but after talking to some teachers
about the probelm, they have instituted a program that allows students
who have their goal for the quarter to have a day of free reading.
<p>Oh, and by the way, if your principal is behind you and the program
it will make a major difference. There are two other schools
in the district that are booming AR
<br>school due to principals backing, money and otherwise. Not that that
is all good.
<p>My junior high and my elem use AR/STAR. The Junior high does not
do STAR correctly. The kids are not tested three times a year, and
no one keeps up with their reading levels. When the librarian decided to
check them the end of this year, most of them were going down--some
alarmingly.
It could be because the kids were just blowing off the tests. The
elem computer lab teacher is more conscientious--three tests a year, reports
to teachers. The horror to AR/STAR, however, is most evident in the
elem. because teachers police the reading levels: "You can't read
that book! It's not on your reading level." You can just imagine
how that is demoralizing to a young reader. I'm having a hard time
deciding which is worse: AR/STAR that is used negligently or AR/Star
that is used diligently.
<p> I would recommend strongly you look into Scholastic
Reading Counts. Until this year it was Electronic Bookshelf that
I've used for 15 years. Kids love it and read like you've never seen
before with minimum promotion. Teachers love it. I put it in
my high school this last fall, and a 9/10 English teacher came in last
week to say incredulously, "Mrs. Cook, the kids are reading." I said,
"That's the idea." And she insisted, "No, you don't understand.
They are reading because they want to." I've seen EBS do this for
15 years in seven schools. It will only get better. You will be forever
happy that you found EBS/Reading Counts before AR
<p> EBS is Reading Counts' predecessor. If you look in the archives,
you'll find a lot of comparisons between the two. There isn't too much
available about Reading Counts yet, since Scholastic just acquired EBS
in February.
<p>Frankie Colton
<br>Library Media Teacher/Storyteller
<br>Ben Lomond High School
<br>Ogden, UT</html>
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