Thanks to all who responded to my request for feedback on Scholastic Reading
Counts. I am posting a hit of the overwhelmingly positive responses. There
were a couple of negative reviews regarding management headaches.
We have Reading Counts in the Middle School, grades 6-8, and think it is
great. It has been used here for <many> years, back when it was still 5 and
one quarter inch floppies . The quizzes have a data base of 30 questions,
and it can be set to select anywhere from 5 questions and up. We use 10
questions and students must score 8 out of 10 to pass. They can take quiz
twice before they are blocked. These are all options you can set up
depending on your individual circumstances. Our quizzes count for 20 percent
of language arts grade. We give one piece of hard candy, usually Jolly
Ranchers, for each passed quiz. So the motivation of a prize is not that
great.
The program is very adaptable to your circumstances whereas AR is pretty
much set in stone. We also allow our students the option of doing "book
reports", written or oral, for those books which don't have quizzes. Then in
the grade book it is entered as a quiz and scored accordingly. You can write
your own quizzes and add them; there is no limit to number of teacher-made
quizzes you can add. AR does have a limit, but I don't know what it is
offhand.
We have used it for the last 6 years, beginning when it was
Electronic Book Shelf. The most important features for us (distinguishing
it from AR) are the 30 questions in the pool which are used to make up a
quiz (so that kids won't get the same quiz on the same book), the ability
to have kids take a quiz more than once if they don't pass the first time,
and the ability to tailor the parameters for a class, grade or student
(number of questions in a quiz, number needed to pass, how many times a
kid can take the quiz, etc.).
We are very happy with the program, and we don't use any 'things'
as incentives. I just wish our district didn't have a stonger commitment
to AR because of its higher profile in advertising.
Let me know if you have other specific questions that I might be
able to answer.
This year the Language Arts Department in the middle school where I am the
librarian began using Reading Counts for independent reading. The students
were assigned a number of points which they had to read each semester - it
was their responsibility to read the books and take the tests. Students liked
the vast selection of titles that were available to them. To help students
find reading counts titles we put blue tape over the dewey numbers on the
spine labels.
The program is on the computers in the Language Arts room and in my office.
A nice thing about the program is teachers can add tests to it for titles
that are not available through reading counts.
The language arts teacher that used the program was pleased with the
results. I saw students reading books that they otherwise would have ignored
if it wasn't for reading counts.
Scholastic Reading Counts is much more flexible than
other programs on the market. You can customize all
testing criteria such as number of questions in a
quiz, passing score, whether you use points or not.
Quizzes are randomly generated from a database of 30
questions so no two students ever get the same quiz.
If it really so flexible. We user it across the
district.
We use Reading Counts and love it. We switched from AR and are not
sorry at all. Our kids create name tags on sentence strips that we put
on the wall in the library when the reach 20 points. Once they get 20
more points, we move them on the wall. The kids love seeing their
names on the wall and comparing who's ahead of them, etc.
At the end of the year we have a party with refreshments and prizes.
The two students with the highest points per grade level are given
certificates. We are looking at T-shirts or something else for this
year. Students also get prizes at the party by having their name drawn
from a hat. The more points you have, the more times you name is in
the hat so the better your chances of winning. We try very hard to
have everyone get something.
Some classroom teachers require a certain number of points as part of
their grade but we are trying to discourage too much of that since it's
not how the program was intended to be used. The kids love the
congratulation screens they receive when they pass a test. I like it
that they can retake a test if they fail.
Our school is entering the 2nd year of RC. With kindergarten, I read the
books, then we take a test as a group. The 1st- 5th grades read for a certain
number of points to earn trophies. The teacher sets the lowest allowable
reading level for the student.
The group reading with kindergarten was successful because the first graders
are off and running already (school began last week).
All of the grades are excited and I've already had parents in checking out RC
books. One of my 2nd graders already has 75 points.
Last year the students just had to read a certain number of books to achieve
their goal, but that encouraged reading the shortest and easiest books they
could get. By using point values assigned by Scholastic, they are rewarded
for reading longer books.
My biggest complaint with RC has been the reading level assigned by
Scholastic. I have seen books with no more than 8 words on a page given a
RL3.5 that I would have SWORN shouldn't be more than a 1.5. Reading levels
can be changed in the administrator's module. It's easy to maintain
(especially since most students take their tests in the classroom) and tech
support has been very good. It's easy to make your own tests, but at only
$2.50 each, I'd rather order them.
I have RC at both of my schools. I have had it at one
school for 3 years now. I love it and the kids love
it. Our district has 14 elementary and middle schools
and they were so impressed with it after I purchased
it that they bought it for the entire district. The
only way it will work though, is to get your teachers
to buy into it. I enter the kids, and maintain the
data base. I give monthly rewards, but the teachers
are responsible for day to day reward system. They
set points and rewards. We also use the SRI program
with it. If you have that it gives them a great level
to start their reading. It is a much more manageable
program than Accelerated Reader.
We have been using SRC since it was the Electronic Bookshelf (12-15
years maybe more). I partially manage it through the media center, but
most of my language arts teachers require it's use for book reports. I
have one that requires 2 passed tests each nine weeks. Another that
requires 20 points each nine weeks. Both teach 7th grade. We are
implementing the Scholastic Reading Inventory to set target levels for
the students to read for book reports. Students will be allowed to read
any book in the library for pleasure, but asked to read within their
target for actual book reports. We reward at the end of the year with
Bronze, Silver and Gold medals for the top 3 grade-level readers. We
give certificates and ribbons or plastic bronze silver and gold stars
for attaining different levels. 25 points blue ribbons, 50 points red
ribbons, 100 points bronze star, 250 points silver star and 500 points
gold stars. I had one student last year with over 1000 points, another
with over 800 points and 5 with over 500 points. My numbers appear to
improve each year. I tell the kids their breaking me. I have a
treasure box with stickers, bookmarks, and penny candy (is there really
penny candy anymore) for kids who pass tests in the library. Sometimes
I have a drawing from kids who pass tests as well. This year, when
they pass we're going to post flower shapes in our "Garden of Readin' "
I hope that works well for us.
I like the flexibility of the SRC program. Some classes take a 10
question quiz with 3 tries per student. Pass on first try get an A,
second try B, 3rd try c. Unsuccessful students get as high as 60
depending on their scores. Other teachers give 20 questions and allow 1
retake. I'm not sure how they score that. My talented and gifted
teacher in 8th grade requires 20 questions and no retakes with each
question worth 5 points. It allows up to 30 questions per test.
If you have any questions I haven't' answered, please write back with
specifics. I love the program. Haven't had too many technical
problems. Most problems are our network, not SRC.
I'd be glad to tell you about Reading Counts! The best thing about it is
that there are more questions per book than AR, and kids can take quiz on a
book as many times as you want them to, with a different mix of questions
each time. So we use it as a teaching tool. If a student doesn't make 8 out
of 10 on the first try, he reviews the questions and is expected to re-read
the book before the next quiz. Here we give them three chances to pass the
quiz on a book before they must choose another book. And they're required to
read at least two books every nine weeks as part of their reading grade--not
just an incentive program.
I've been using Reading Counts since it was converted from Electronic
Bookshelf. The only drawback is that it's not yet as well-known as AR, but
it's gaining ground every year and more and more titles are added to the RC
database.
This is now my 4th year of using Scholastic Reading Counts at my elementary
school. I am the technology coordinator of a K-5 building, and we switched
from AR to Reading Counts and we couldn't be happier. The kids at the time
really liked the graphics and all of the 'neat stuff' that came along with
the program compared to what they had been using.
We use Reading Counts across the board at each and every grade level. As a
matter of fact, we started school last week and our kindergarten classes
have already taken one quiz. We take quizzes as a whole group in
kindergarten (and at the beginning of the year first graders). I'll read a
story with a whole group(or the classroom teacher will), and we'll discuss
it and really talk about the author, and then we take a quiz. I usually say
that I'm going to call on the 'best listener' to help answer questions. This
really helps to first of all get them to listen intently so they can pass
the quiz to earn points, and secondly, it's a great way to teach test taking
skills. It's amazing that by doing these quizzes whole group as
kindergartners how quickly they are able to migrate to taking quizzes on
their own in late kindergarten or early first grade.
For our other grades, the students take quizzes on almost anything they read
whether it's together as a shared read aloud book or maybe on an independent
reading book. Each teacher sets class and individual goals, so the rewards
vary from class to class. However, we do share success on our morning news
show and we have school wide awards and special recognition programs too.
Reading Counts has become a super addition to our reading program and it's a
vehicle which provides fantastic motivation to all students to read, read,
READ!
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