Response:
Captured by their software? I don't see how they can figure that out
unless they're using stats only from schools that use their online
software. I'm very sure they can't access the data about my school
which is not online - and I know I didn't send any to them.
How do they know kids chose to read the book or simply took the test on
a read-aloud? When I introduce the program each fall, the kids all take
the same test on a book I just read - all 100+ in that grade level. It
definitely does not mean it's their favorite. Also, the most popular
books do not have AR tests kids would take - Guiness World Records,
Dragonology and that series, Star Wars junk.
I think this is just another example of Renaissance Learning's
over-zealous marketing arm trying to claim too much credit. And really,
no disrespect to Laura Numeroff, but if 3 of her books are the top 5
read by 2nd graders, I'd say kids at those schools are not being exposed
to a wide variety of books, nor are they being challenged very well to
read: Most of my 2nd graders are reading chapter books and would
consider any of those books too easy.
Ron Wagner
Teacher-Librarian
Felida Elementary School
Vancouver, WA
ron.wagner@vansd.org
People fail because they trade what they want the most
for what they want right now.
>>> Josephine Dervan <dervan@OPTONLINE.NET> 5/6/2008 8:41 AM >>>
My take on this was that Renaissance Learning is the parent company of
Accelerated Reading and gathered this information from AR usage which is
widespread but does not encompass schools in many parts of the US. Also
books tested may be the ones they were familiar with from classroom
usage. A visit to their web site provided this information:
At Renaissance Learning, we have arguably the world’s largest single
database of student book reading behavior, captured via our
Accelerated Reader (AR) software. As a result, we are in the unique
position to answer the following questions:
What books do students in each grade read most often,
overall and by gender?
What books do students in each grade in each U.S. census region read
most often?
What books do students in the top 10% of reading achievement read most
often?
Josephine Dervan, MLS -Online Instructor
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Stout
dervan at optonline.net
He who has a library and a garden, wants for nothing- Cicero
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