HIT: ACCELERATED READER IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

["(Martha) (Taylor)" <Marliztay@AOL.COM>]

Thanks again to all who responded to my query about your experience with=20
Accelerated Reader in grades 7-12. =20
Here are the responses:

I bought AR a decade ago for my high school English students.=A0 They'd put
off reading requirements, get in a jam and cheat on the tests, take tests
over movies, tell each other answers, etc--for a while it was novel and
intriguing.=A0 For the elementary and middle grades it has been great.=A0 Th=
e
incentives super, motivation great, everything goes well.=A0 I still recomme=
nd
it for all levels.=A0 Face it when they get to hs a challenging book needs t=
o
be worked through with a class and not left to -read it and take a test.=A0=20=
I
t has great record keeping abilities and report capabilities.=A0 But nothing
replaces a good teacher and an essay test!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
don't even think about it.=A0 Way too easy to cheat.=A0 The ten questions ar=
e
quickly memorized.=A0 Try Reading Counts from Scholastic.=A0 30 questions pe=
r
title and lots of flexibility.=A0 Can set your own points and reading levels=
.
Preset reading levels are way off--can you imagine Tonight's Homecoming is
3.5--right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am the librarian at Baldwin High School (9-12) in Baldwin City, KS.=A0 We
are using Accelerated Reader with every student in our school, and I think
we are having good results.=A0 In Kansas we all required to draw up school
improvement plans in five year cycles;=A0 in the cycle we are starting now,
we are requiring every student to read at least one AR book and pass the
test each semester.=A0 This is a modest requirement, obviously----and I thin=
k
it would be improved if we asked each student to earn a certain number of
points, read at a reading level targeted individually for each kid, etc.,
as the AR people suggest at their training sessions.=A0 However, even just
this basic requirement is yielding some good things----circulation of
fiction books (which teenagers are often too busy to read just for
pleasure) is way up, I've gotten to do more reader advisory in the past
three months than I had done in my previous eight years here, and I see
kids reading more and talking about the books they are reading more.=A0 Time
will tell if we see improvement in reading scores on our state tests....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
McKinney ISD in McKinney, Texas has district-wide implementaion of the
program.=A0 You might
contact them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My school has had a very good experience with AR.=A0 We started with our
seventhgraders 8 years ago and two years ago we expanded to every grade leve=
l
(7,8,9).=A0 The teachers have noticed a marked increase in the number of boo=
ks
that students are reading.=A0 We have also noticed a steep climb in the numb=
ers
of library checkouts.=A0 The teacehrs who have the most success are those wh=
o
stick closest to the recommendations and procedures outlined by the
Renaissance Learning folk (isn't that true of any program?).=A0 We are still
waiting on actual reading level increases, but that's because we are not too
sure how much the students may be manipulating their STAR reading scores
(ninth graders are tricky creatures).=A0 The nice thing that we know that th=
e
students can't pass the tests without reading the books, so they are still
reading 5-6 books a quarter, instead of just two, as they were before.
South Jordan Middle School
South Jordan Utah
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are a comprehensive high school with grades 9-12, and we have had AR in
place for 3 years.=A0 It is used primarily by the Language Arts teachers who
have freshmen & sophomores.=A0 Some teachers of juniors use it, but most
teachers of Seniors and advanced level students do not.

The teachers who use it like it because the tests are an easier way to check
for comprehension (& that the students actually read the book) that
traditional book reports or book conferences.=A0 It DOES seem to be increasi=
ng
the amount of reading students are doing.=A0 Our circulation is way up, more
students than ever are coming to me, returning a book, and commenting "That
was a great book, do you have any more like it?"=A0 WOW!=A0 We really have n=
o
way to know whether this will affect test scores, but the students are
reading more.

Now for the down side.=A0 While I do much less than some librarians,
implementing AR is a great deal of work.=A0 I do NOT administer the tests ov=
er
books, the teachers do that in their classrooms.=A0 We do have classes come
into the library & take the STAR diagnostic test at the beginning of the
year.=A0 New students take the STAR test in their teacher's classroom.=A0 Th=
e
increased circulation increases my workload in checking out/in books,
shelving, helping students find books, etc.=A0 (How horrible!=A0 Just kiddin=
g!)
The real increased workload (and cost) comes in labeling the books, noting
AR in the MARC records, and creating lists of AR books for students to use
to find books.=A0 There is also the need to order books that you might not
otherwise order just because there's an AR test.=A0 I spent at least twice t=
he
time creating a book order this year, matching books and tests.=A0 There is
also the question of who will pay for additional tests to expand the list
over the years.=A0 Unfortunately, a large majority of my budget is designate=
d
for AR support -- new books and tests.

My biggest complaint, though, comes because students will not read books not
on the list.=A0 It is very aggravating to have a great new novel, booktalk i=
t,
have students enthusiastically ask for it, and then turn it down if it's not
on the AR list.=A0 For high school, this can be a major problem.=A0 Although=
 the
lists have improved greatly over the last few years, AR is primarily an
elementary & middle school program.=A0 There are few upper level books on th=
e
lists.=A0 Most of the books fall into the 5-7th grade reading levels,
particularly since AR changed their methods of assessing reading levels.=A0=20=
If
your teachers insist that students read "on their level" they will be
seriously limited.=A0 There are only a handful of books that fall into the
9-12 reading level and they are not very appealing.=A0 But I consider this a
management problem, not an AR problem since most popular fiction for adulst
is written on 5-7 reading level anyway.=A0 Teachers should be flexible.

Ultimately, I think there are some positive points about any program that
gets students reading.=A0 I have chosen to put up with the problems, hoping
that our students will develop a life-long habit of reading.=A0 I hope this
helps with your decision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am a media specialist in grades 6-8. Unfortunately Accelerated Reader has
taken over the reading program at our school. It has become one half of the
reading grade. Only a small percentage os students actually read the whole
book and test well. The majority of our students skim and end up with 60 -
70% test averages. They choose the easy books so they can get easy points. I=
t
is a lot more fun to go up and down the hall every day a couple of times to
get short half point books than to sit in class and read something that is
more than 100 pages. Over 3/4 of our collection sits on the shelf and is not
used at all. We don't even have to straighten those shelves any more. My AR
collection which is about 4000 books looks more like an elementary collectio=
n
than a middle school collection - because they are reading so many books on
low levels.The teachers do not move them up as they should.

We constantly set procedures and address problems but things simply do not
change. Well, we've got 5700 tests and most are custom made disks. So let's
average that out to $100 a disk of 50 tests. That's $11,400 just for the
tests. Now you have to add in the amount for prizes - and rewards are a big
part of that program. I've spent over $1200 this year already on candy bars=20=
-
which are given for every 25 points the child makes.(And that's just those
with an 85% test average. I refuse to give prizes tests kids fail.)

This is an expensive program which will cause many problems in your school.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have some suggestions regarding AR based on my inheritance of the program=20
when I came on board 3 years ago. . . It takes alot of administrative time=20
and money, so. . .=20
make sure it's funded in perpetuity. . . ours was funded with a one time=20
grant, and when that was gone, no $ for tests, tech support, upgrades, etc.=20=
.=20
. every year's a $ struggle and I won't buy those things out of our small=20
library budget. Someone really needs to be in charge to coordinate, install=20
tests, run reports, select tests to trouble shoot, etc. Teachers should go t=
o=20
the workshops offered by AR (very valuable) AND buy into the program's=20
philosophy so it's not used as an electronic book report service. I'm not=20
sold in it as it's (mis) used in my building, but I do have to say our circ=20
#s have increased and kids are reading.=A0 Unfortunately, they're only readi=
ng=20
a portion of our fiction collection. . . Check out Stephen Krashen on readin=
g=20
incentives -- he claims that any time an incentive has to be used, the=20
pleasure has gone out of reading.=A0 And, students don't get as much out of=20
what they're reading if they are reading it with test-taking in mind.=A0 The=
=20
Power of Reading, 1993, Libraries Unlimited
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are some interesting articles about these kinds of reading incentive
programs, in past issues of School Library Journal.=A0 Check these:

"Keeping Score" by Karin Chenoweth.=A0 SLJ Sept. 2001
"Formula for Failure" by Betty Carter.=A0 SLJ July, 2001
"Make Lemonade" by Mary Leonhardt.=A0 SLJ Nov. 1998
"Hold the Applause" by Betty Carter.=A0 SLJ Oct. 1996
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We just installed AR at the middle school last year. Both the elementary and
the high school have used AR for several years. At the high school, points
are required for L.A. grades.

Until last year, no teacher wanted to require AR. At the time, the 8th grade
teacher said we had to do something. Our students were getting out of the
habit of reading.

She requires 17 AR points per nine weeks from the Honors Class and 12 AR
points from the regular. Also, we expect the Honors class to read at least 5
of the 20 books nominated for the Young Hoosier Book Award 6-8 (an Indiana
Award.)

Reading has flourished. Of course, we have some students who don't complete
the required points, but they won't read no matter what we do.

We are excited because students talk about books and authors. They never did
this before.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Compiled by:
Martha Taylor, LMS
Oakside Elementary School
Peekskill, NY 10566
marliztay@aol.com

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