Accelerated Reader

[acceleratedreading]

DC's school has switched over to Accelerated Reader but the communication on the switch and programme has left a lot to be desired. Those of you who are familiar with the scheme - how does it work? Does it correspond to book bands at all (previously followed coloured book bands but now they are bringing home books across such a wide range of levels - from really simple to 40+ pages which doesn't make sense to me)

Are all quizzes usually completed in school? Should they be allowed to see the book when they do the quiz? DC often does the quiz 2-3 days after reading book and says they forgot so doesn't do well.

I am going to put questions to the school but want to find out a bit more myself before doing this.

Hopeful bump

Yes they do the quiz in school. They should be doing the quiz just after finishing the book, not 2-3 days later and no, they won't have access to the book to answer the questions. The idea is the quiz tells them what level book they need to pick so they shouldn't pick a new one until they've done their test in case there's a change.

I suspect your school can only allow access to a computer to do tests at certain times/doesn't have enough IT for everyone to test when they need to.

The wide range of books will be because they're not levelled in the same way as book bands and you might find a mix of book bands in the same level category on AR.

DCs school have Accelerated Reader (have for several years) - our children have actually been shown how to access the tests at home, so they don't have large time gaps from finishing to taking the test. If they do, it definitely affects the results.

They do the tests directly after reading in my experience. I think they are quite good as reading schemes get very tedious with more able readers

Thank you all. In that case, as I suspected, it is the gap between reading and the test which is the issue here. Book is read at home, we discuss storyline and characters and it’s clear to me that they understand and recall it but not scoring so well on test couple of days later.

Also complaining about being fed up of getting easy books which seems to be a result of not scoring high enough in the test from what you’re describing.

Thank you all so much for sharing your knowledge - I wanted to have a better idea of what to raise with school before speaking to them and this is really helpful

@minisoksmakehardwork in your case do they read at home and test next day at school? Or read at school?

DD started doing AR in Y1, she's now in Y4. At first she was only allowed to do the quizzes at school, which meant they either didn't get done or she didn't do so well because she'd forgotten the story. During lockdown they opened it up to do at home, and now DD does a quiz every time she finishes a book, and normally gets 100% easily, without looking at the book. It's so much better! We're not allowed to help but she doesn't really need it anyway.

In our school they do a STAR reading test at various points in the year, which gives them a number called a ZPD. Say it's 4.6 to 6.2. Then when they go to the school library they have stickers on the spines with numbers, and they pick a book within their ZPD. It usually works quite well, so its appropriate content for their age. At the lower end (so 4.6) the book will be easier, at the higher end it'll be more of a challenge, but still achievable. And there's a tool you can use at home to find out a book's ZPD if it's not from school.

DD loves doing AR, but there's some kids in her class who hate it!

Thanks @CoodleMoodle, my DC is in exactly the same position as yours was when you first started using it and similar age. I can see why quizzes are done at school but it is not facilitated in class time - they are expected to go and find a spare computer at break which DC doesn't readily do. So by the time they are sent by teacher, it has been at least 2 days since reading last book and they've forgotten the details. I have no doubt if they read the book and finished quiz immediately, they would be passing all the tests as the books they are reading on the scheme are far simpler than those they were reading last academic year or those we read at home.

We do not have STAR reading tests at this stage but I wouldn't be surprised if they do introduce it as scheme gets more established.

I looked through a few old threads about the scheme and majority of posters were very complementary as you all are too. I can see it being something they would love if worked with it, generally very competitive and spurred on by good marks but currently disinterested and demotivated with reading school books (readily reads other things at home with ease). Rather than going into school and complain, I wanted to get a picture of how others do it so I can try work with them to motivate DC.

@acceleratedreading We are a secondary so definitely reading in school. But my children experienced it at primary as well. Small school so they could get through a whole class in one day if children needed testing, and the TA's would take students out who appeared to be staying on the same levels for a while.

Thank you. It seems DC’s school have made a really good long term investment by enrolling into the scheme, just teething issues to iron out.

Personally, my biggest concern is ensuring mine don’t get demotivated to read in the process of doing this which I feel is where we have been heading

Does your dc need to tell the teacher that they finished the book/go and do the quiz by themselves? I realised that at our school, the children (year 2) were expected to do it in the morning during registration time all by themselves, without promp. They were supposed to take the ioad, do the test if they finished their book, put book back and choose a new one from their range. Turned out my dc sometimes 'forgot', so took the quiz 3 days late and got a lower score. At least at their school, the teaching aim is not only reading, but self-responsibility.

That they are responsible for taking the test themselves has also to do with the fact that children have access to a wide range of books and some dc read at higher levels than others, so say in year 2, some dc are reading thick chapter books and some read 15 page reading scheme books, so every dc will finish their book at different intervals, and is therefore responsible to hand it back as soon as they are finished and take the quiz straight away, but teacher won't necessarily know when that is, or able to remind them so rely on dc to tell them/take the quiz themselves ASAP.

AR works really well if it is run well and it sounds as if your child's school has made a great start. It seems from what you've said that there isn't a clear system in place for quizzes. They can allow access from home but may have decided against it because it's new or they're worried about too much parental support!

Every child takes a star reading test - this is what assesses their ZPD, or Zone of Proximal Development. I tell new families that the bottom end is like reading my favourite magazine and the top end is something I'd really have to work at and focus hard on, and this is the big difference from book bands which are closely matched to reading ages.

Some children benefit from a little guidance with their choices so that they have a varied reading diet, so it shouldn't necessarily be completely free choice. Giving children ownership of their reading choices is shown to make them more likely to enjoy reading for pleasure beyond school and AR is a great way of doing that.

AR quizzes shouldn't be taken more than 24 hours after finishing the book, that's the training we were given (I facilitated the programme in my school).

I like AR. It’s worked well for my children. It helps develop comprehension.

@acceleratedreading in the primary my children were in I helped to implement the AR scheme as a volunteer stickering books, organising the libraries etc. The benefits were children were reading to the end of a book and most importantly being quizzed on their comprehension skills which are helpful for classwork, SATs stuff and eventually secondary school work and GCSE English language. The school also saw an increase in broadening vocabulary and story ideas as the children could "magpie" ideas from books they had read. Previously there was a deficit of language as more parents are relying on technology to entertain/occupy children so there is less modelling of language. Lots of things feed into it.

The reason AR worked well in school was because 30 minutes per day were scheduled in KS2 in the morning so from year 3 onwards which meant the children read in that time within class time. They also had access to ipads to take tests on any book they had finished and between the teacher and the TA each child was heard reading at least once a week and pupil premium children, twice a week. The "listening" to children read isn't just listening but asking questions, anything from what has happened already, what does this word mean, what does John feel? Can you think of another word for sad? And why does he feel sad?

We allow children to have their book next to them when they take their test, it is not a memory recall test but a comprehension and they can usually find what they want in the book. Books massively vary despite being in the same book band as they vary depending on subject matter, vocabulary, complexity of the story line. There are many books that some people would argue are repetitive or not very deep in story telling however, children are reading. Does it matter what they read? AR sort of forces them to discover which books they love and which books they do not. It also depends on how well stocked the school library is. We have lots of requests for book donations a couple of times a year and we get hundreds that are suitable. We promote reading, there are class books that they all read together as part of English too and if that is on the AR scheme then they sit that test too even though it won't be their level and may well be above their level.

For my school you have to score above 85% on the test and when you have completed 3 tests at this level then you move up a sub-level. Reports are looked at to see if we can identify if a child is struggling to score high on the tests and we try to work out why that is happening. In your shoes I would be asking if your DD can log onto the test at home to complete it. They may not want this if they feel she may get help but if not then they need a better way to facilitate her accessing the test as soon as she finishes the book. Some children have a brief scan of the book again if the test is on the Monday. I hope this has helped. AR isn't the only books your DD can read, often children have two books on the go, the AR one and the one they are gripped by from home.

Thank you all for your replies. Sorry I did not receive any emails there were updates to this thread so have only just seen them.

@NellyBarney As well as DC telling teacher they have completed a book, we also write in their reading diary when read at home. The school has not yet developed the infrastructure to facilitate quizzes as often as needed so they need to be done at playtime (I discovered this from another parent). I think this contributes to reluctance to do a quiz as they just want to play.

Thanks @Missmissmissmiss - when I log into DC account, I can't see ZPD at this point so maybe this has not been started yet or they just have not done one?

@ReginaPhalangee the 24h thing is definitely the sticking point here and something I intend to raise with school to see what is the best way to encourage the quiz as soon as possible

@RudsyFarmer School is hot on comprehension so I can see why they like this programme

@Treeofglitter what you describe is similar to DC school although they have not been listened to in school since they switched (unsure if teachers listening to others/weaker readers). They have 20-30min daily reading time in addition to books coming home and from looking at the quiz results of books that have not come home, they are higher. So they are achieving more when doing quiz immediately. In terms of the repetitive/easier books - I have no issue with them as it consolidates reading but DC absolutely hates them. They are the one that says they are boring and there is no interesting story. It sounds like doing tests at home (for books read at home) is a reasonable suggestion - let's see what school says! And yes, we pretty much always have additional books being read at home which range from banded books to basic novels (Horrible Henry type ones). I insist on maintaining this to continue nurturing the love of books

@acceleratedreading being listened to in school depends on staffing levels. I am a volunteer and tend to fill in for classes where their usual TA has a set day off each week. The school is an outstanding state school and each class has a TA as they know how important it is and they are a 3 form entry, so a lot of TAs.

30 children a week, 6 children a day between me/TA (whoever is in that day) and the teacher so 3 children each in a 30 minute period. Totally doable. We usually have 2 or 3 pupils identified to be listened to twice a week due to ability and they always get the teacher for one of those readings. I am lucky to work in the classes that are incredibly organised with a chart on the wall by the teacher's desk so if you were listened to last week with a TA or me you get the teacher this week. I will always write something positive in the reading record especially if I give them something to work on. Reading aloud is a skill and we should encourage it at home too.

There are ipads available within the classroom to enable test taking in the reading time. Offering tests at break time is simply rubbish. I would definitely be asking to log in at home, see what they say. I would just phrase it that they really want to do well so sitting the test the same day they finish the book, can they do it at home? You seem to have a great attitude to reading at home which does really pay off with children.

Thank you @Treeofglitter. DC's school used to listen to them all read minimum once each week prior to introducing AR but they've not been listened to once since the switch. So it has completely substituted the listening, presumably to free up teacher time for other things. Agree with your comment re: reading aloud and we make sure DC reads to us alternate days as absolute minimum (usually daily in term time). They also read stories to their younger sibling each day (playing teacher is a firm favourite here!)

I am trying really hard to encourage a love of reading over and above any other achievement. They don't need to be top of the class or receiving awards; I just want them to enjoy reading books and get lost in a good story like I used to as a child. Whilst I am far from the best, I don't have difficulty in articulating myself and find it easy to word professional letters and emails - I attribute a lot of this to reading as a child and want the same for my children

My daughter's school uses AR, I think they started in year 3, and she is year 5 now. We (my daughter or myself) just choose any book for her to read both independently and I read to her and we read together, and we do an AR quiz straight after finishing at home, if there is one available for the book. I do try to choose books that are on there, I search the online library to check. We really love it like this, as it frees us to choose what we want and still have accountability and motivation.

No teacher has complained I am bending the rules and should stick to a specific level, so it seems like you just need to get them to hand out their log ins so they can access it at home.

The only grievances I have with it, are that the points and level of each book can be really inconsistent. She has had books with rich vocabulary and complex themes that score much lower than books with poor vocabulary and generic themes. Also the tests are more a memory test than a comprehension test, and often the questions can ask them to recall something so insignificant to the story, that they could easily be forgotten. But we'd rather have it than not.

Thanks @user375242 , I’m finding same with regards to the tests. School keep emphasising that they are focused on understanding the book (but there’s really not much to understand for some of the easier ones!). When I’ve had a look at the test, I couldn’t recall all the facts the next morning despite reading the book together! So I’m not entirely sure how DC are supposed to.

Dont currently have access to test at home (I don’t think school trust us!) but will see going forward. As long as DC is enjoying reading and the stories, I’m happy.

It sounds like your child is doing Accelerated Reader at school and at home but , as our school did, they took home a sharing ( free reader ) book on a Friday.
Could that be the case?

No that isn’t the case for us @GlassBunion. They do get an additional free reading book but that is mid-week and in addition to the reading scheme rather than in place of one the regular changes.