AR Concern

[Janet Ahern <JanStamper@AOL.COM>]

I am wondering if I am totally off-base with a concern I have about AR, so I
thought I would ask my peers.
I work in a K-6 school.  When I purchase a book for my library, it is
generally with the notion that it will be good for most. I am not necessary
recommending it or specifically endorsing it but just feel that it is a good
addition to the collection. (Maybe it is something that wouldn't particularly
interest me or I just didn't like the story but some students might or it may
even have some content issues.)
My concern is that when I choose tests for AR, I feel that I am giving some
kind of an endorsement for that book.  I feel that because not all books have
tests that we are giving students a fine tuned list of what is available in
the library and in some ways narrower choices; therefore I feel that the
choices I make for tests has to be somewhat more careful and different to how
I would make a choice for adding a book to the library collection. (To me
this goes along with matching content to maturity.) I struggle with this more
for students who are reading at the higher ranges, 5th and 6th graders at
10th grade reading level (although our collection has very few books that are
in this range that are not non-ficition.)  The person that runs the AR
program disagrees.  She feels that any and all books within the library, if
there is a test to match should be added to allow more choice.
I'm not certain if the way I am stating this makes sense or if I am just way
off base? I would really like your opinions.

Janet Ahern, Librarian
Christa McAuliffe Elementary
Sammamish, Wa
JanStamper@aol.com

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