I was asked to post a hit about my problem with Accelerated Reader. I have
added new titles and students are testing over material that has been read
in the past. This was causing quite a problem with prizes and points. I now
understand why some schools do not give out prizes. Here are some of the
suggestions I received.
My rule is that students must have finished reading the book within the last
week! Otherwise it isn't a reading practice program; it is just a memory
testing program
If they really read the book and retained it for some length of time, then
YES! After all, reading and comprehension is the goal and in this case,
retention is the bonus. Just make sure they are not taking the test with
the book in their hand.
How would you really stop it? Grill every child as to when they read the
book? Not allow them to test on books that they own themselves? I think it
will level off shortly. I have kids who try to test on books they read in
the past. Most of the time they fail because they don't remember the
details. I always encourage students to reread books before testing, but
can't force them. I have others who read books that I will buy tests for in
the future, but the money isn't there yet. I tell them that they will be AR
and to read carefully! I encourage any kind of reading, for rewards or not.
I wouldn't discourage those who have been reading all along! Those kids
have their little bit of respect from the others for the number of points
they have earned and that is not bad. You will also find teachers who
embrace the program, read AR books to the classes often, and require and
give time for reading and tests every day. I find these classes rack up
points like crazy. Then there are other classes where the teacher doesn't
want to do it and they have zero points! Is that fair? No, but it is the
way it is.
If a student can remember enough to pass a test that is good. Do you have
rules in place that require a monitor to OK the test? The monitor does not
have to be a teacher. Reading log indicating how many pages read per
night/day could be the ticket to get to take a test. I tell my
students/teachers which tests are on order. I tell them it may be a month
or two before the tests will arrive depending upon the time the purchasing
department takes to get a PO out.
The good news is that this is likely to be a one-time problem. Many critics
of AR say children should read "for the joy of reading," not for rewards.
It seems these children who have been able to increase their point levels
(even dramatically) have been reading for pleasure. It seems wrong to
punish
them (or, to not reward them for their efforts). These kids will probably
end up being the top point earners, regardless.
At our middle school a book must be read during the current grading period
to receive credit for it.
We do not allow students to retake tests until the following year.
I think that if the students were able to remember enough about the books to
pass the tests, they probably deserve the points. That's a lot of
reading--and truly, if they read that much and remembered it well
after-their
comprehension must be terrific. I'd let them keep the points! What a great
morale booster for them
Doesn't seem fair to penalize kids who have read on their own by telling
them they can't take the tests...and they must have done a good job of
comprehending the books if they passed the tests. Besides, trying to police
who had read what and when would be an impossible job. I often have kids who
test on books they have read elsewhere. We have a fairly high mobility and
I've had new students come in and get 100 points their first week when they
retest on books they read at their old school. Just to make it "fair" why
don't you announce it to all the kids and give every one of them an
opportunity to take advantage of the new tests. That way the kids whose
teachers don't buy into the program also get a chance to participate. You
could call it an AR marathon and turn it into a school wide program.
I would say that as long as the kids are passing the quizzes, there really
isn't a problem. The main goal of AR is to increase reading comprehension.
If the students are remembering what they read, they should be allowed to
take the quiz. If there are specific students who are failing several
quizzes of books they read previously, I would talk to them privately and
tell them they need to reread the book before taking the quiz. We do have
one teacher at our school who always tells students they have to have read
the book THIS school year in order to take the quiz. As far as the prizes
go, just raise the bar to correlate with the points students are earning.
Hope this helps!
We used to have similar problems in the past, as well as another:
students trying to pass a test on a movie rather than a book. :-)
As a result, many teachers have started to use the AR reading log with
their students. In order for the points to count toward the student
goal, the book must be entered into the log, and either the parent,
teacher, or I have seen them reading the book. Students may still choose
to take quizzes on other previous reading, but it won't count toward the
reading goal.
--Karen Brostad/Teacher/Elem Tech Coord
Bennington Public Schools
Bennington, NE 68007
kbrostad@huntel.net
Knowledge is what remains when the learning stops.
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