Accelerated Reading Levels

[weeny1979]

My 8 year old had her accelerated reading level identified at 3.3, she is currently reading the BFG in her own time at school. Her teacher has told her this book is too complicated for her level, and she needs to read books that are within her range.

I don't understand why a teacher would discourage a child from reading a book - whats your thoughts on this?

I don't know what the levels mean, but The BFG seems appropriate reading for an 8 year old, my son had read lots of Roald Dahl by that age.

I remain to be convinced by this scheme. The main benefit seems to be bringing a highly competitive drive to reading, which seems to motivate some if the boys.
It is very dependent on the school having a wide variety of books at every level and there seem to be very few books which are age appropriate, enjoyable and at the upper end of the range.
Plus under ORT there were scheme books and fun books, now every book has been relegated to being part of the scheme.

Accelerated reader program seems to suck the joy out of reading. 3.3 equates to a child in (American) grade 3 and in their 3rd month. You can look up the level of books she reads on the arbookfinder website.
We now treat schoolbooks as mandatory homework and encourage him to read what he wants otherwise. His enthusiasm for school books is pretty much zero

My son hated AR - like PP said, it sucked all the joy out of reading for him (plus as a child with dyslexia, the competitive side really upset him because it left him feeling like he was failing the whole time). The tick box approach reminds me of the scheme we used at school at about that age (SRS reading scheme or something similar - you read a passage then had to do a little tick box questionnaire on it - absolutely bloody awful).

If your daughter is reading and enjoying the BFG, leave her to it. Possibly treat the school's reading books at a lower level as an irritating but necessary form of homework, but don't stress about it.

My ds get a range of levels to read between. Some teachers expected them to read at the lowest level and then only move up when they got 100%. This is ridiculous so I encouraged them to pick really short books to test on and then read whatever they wanted to between times. Luckily their current teachers encourage them to pick books from anywhere within the range (and don't seem bothered that ds3 is currently reading Harry Potter which is well outside his level) and only guide them if they are struggling with the tests so therefore struggling with the books they are choosing. I can see some pros and cons to it but ds 2 and 3 are happy enough. On the other hand I feel it is failing dyslexic ds1 badly.

If she can read the bfg independently and enjoy and understand it t it would be crazy to discourage her. Like PP it sounds like they're sucking all the joy out of reading.

I'm also very dubious about one off reading assesments. My eldest DD had hers tested twice by accident one year (she has two part time teachers and both did it)a d the results were vastly different. It's not difficult to see by chatting to a child about a book whether or not they're grasping it.

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate you all taking the time to help! xx

My Ds is a vicarious reader - accelerated reading absolutely destroyed his love of books for about a term till I went in and spoke to his teacher. If he reads a book on Friday, then over the weekend read another 2 books, tested on the Friday school book on the Monday he would have forgot loads then beat himself up for not getting top marks. I stressed to his teacher that Ds is ahead (he’s age 6, level 3.8) and that he can bloody well read what ever he wants so long as he loves it and has the thirst to pick up a book. I don’t care what he scores so long as he is bending my ear off afterwards trying to explain the plot and wanting to pick up another story afterwards.

Sorry, that was a rant, but it really pissed me off!

No idea what i is but 7yo DTs have read the BFG and most Dahl books and they are are not the accelerated anything.

DD's school uses AR but they have a much more flexible approach to it and don't mind at all if a child wants to read something that's higher or lower than their set levels.

I've not heard of this scheme.
Dd turned 8 this month and is in year 3.

Her reading record has spaces for us to record whatever books she is reading at home and all are encouraged.
She's on Topaz level ORT and has only this last year or so began reading for pleasure at home. She reads anything and everything and I would be pretty annoyed if school said that something was too complicated for her if it clearly wasn't.

Accelerated Reader is a scheme whereby 'normal' (i.e. not specially written) books are graded for difficulty. When you have read a book you can do an online test to see how well you have understood / remembered it (i.e. comprehension).

The impression I have from the outside is that it can be helpful to guide readers towards suitable books, and to encourage reading them properly. Our secondary school uses it for strugglers I believe, to encourage them to progress their skills.

"there is good evidence for the benefits of reading texts both above and below one’s official reading level. Reading easier texts can help novice readers, especially, gain fluency and confidence, and can develop readers’ enjoyment of reading at all levels. Consider how many of us enjoy relaxing with a good romance or murder mystery that is well below our adult “reading level”! On the other hand, researchers are finding that challenging students to tackle more complex texts, while supporting them in their efforts to do so, leads to greater growth in reading than simply having them read texts at or just above their current reading levels."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47426551 demonstrates the nonsense of AR levels.

Thank you for that link