Page 2 | Accelerated Reader programme

greyinganddecaying · 2022-10-01T12:35:40+00:00

Anyone else's school use the Accelerated Reader scheme? My son has just started year 7, enjoys reading, got "exceeding" (or whatever it's called) in SATS for reading. He's been put at a reading level for 8-10yo, despite having read a lot of these books in y2. He's also read a lot of the books in the higher age bracket (10-12yo) a couple of years ago. School have given us very little information about the programme and he's now really demotivated as the books he's being told to read are too easy/boring for him. I've told him to speak to his teacher, and if necessary I'll contact them too (but trying to encourage him to manage this himself as much as he can). Does anyone have any information on this reading programme so I can find out a bit more about it?

cansu · 01/10/2022 20:03

They will have done a test called star reader. It gives a reading age and a zpd range. It tests comprehension not just the ability to read the words.

Purpleheadgirl · 01/10/2022 20:28

This scheme completely put my kids off reading! Both scores well above their ages and loved reading all sorts of books. The pressure to get a certain number of books and quizzes ticked off took away the enjoyment. Instead of reading and understanding books for 14+ at 11 onwards, they ended up going back for books like BFG just to get the numbers. Also there wasn't much with quizzes for non-fiction books, and no easy way of showing your knowledge when you'd read other books. They actually don't enjoy reading half as much now despite still scoring very highly in ability and comprehension

SweetsAndChocolates · 01/10/2022 20:39

@3WildOnes ahh thank you for that! I assumed it was an age bracket 🤦🏽‍♀️😂

Winter99Mermaid · 01/10/2022 21:29

I agree @Purpleheadgirl if you have a ASD kid who likes reading diy books or other random stuff it just doesn’t cater for them and can kill that love of reading. My DD just started putting easy books in that she had read few years ago to tick the box and then read what she actually enjoyed at home. I supported this as I had zero concerns about her reading ability.

Winter99Mermaid · 01/10/2022 21:30

Or get creative and find abridged talking books to tick the box 😁

Original poster

greyinganddecaying · 01/10/2022 22:24

Purpleheadgirl · 01/10/2022 20:28

This scheme completely put my kids off reading! Both scores well above their ages and loved reading all sorts of books. The pressure to get a certain number of books and quizzes ticked off took away the enjoyment. Instead of reading and understanding books for 14+ at 11 onwards, they ended up going back for books like BFG just to get the numbers. Also there wasn't much with quizzes for non-fiction books, and no easy way of showing your knowledge when you'd read other books. They actually don't enjoy reading half as much now despite still scoring very highly in ability and comprehension

To be honest I worry about this too.

OP posts:

Original poster

greyinganddecaying · 01/10/2022 22:34

He's been put in a reading band - yellow band (whatever that means) which contains books such as "flat Stanley" stories, that he read in year 2.

In the next band up (can't remember the colour) they have books such as Lemony Snicket, which he read (all of them) a couple of years ago.

He has decent reading skills as he was high level reading for SATS and we usually talk about the books after he's read them to make sure he's understood them. He could have just had a bad day when he did the test.

The point of this post was to try to find out a bit more about this reading scheme as at the moment he's really fed up with (potentially) being expected to read/re-read books that are too young for him & boring (in his eyes). If I can find out a bit more about it all, and reassure him that he will be able to read books he's interested in, then that's the best outcome I think.

OP posts:

Unexpecteddrivinginstructor · 01/10/2022 22:55

Accelerated reader was a nightmare especially for those who enjoy non fiction. Having said that give it a couple of months and he will be just doing quizzes from memory, I think they were reset every year so the Harry Potter books got quite a few reruns. Audio books count as well for the quizzes. Then some children apparently just learn how to cheat the quizzes from recording their answers and swapping with friends to googling online where there were answers to the questions. The questions were all based on the american version of any books, so where there was a difference they might lose marks if they gave the UK version answers. Fortunately covid put paid to most of the stressing over it because the school library shut and now the dc are beyond yr9. I think it taught them skills, just not the intended ones.

CousinLucy · 02/10/2022 08:02

greyinganddecaying · 01/10/2022 22:34

He's been put in a reading band - yellow band (whatever that means) which contains books such as "flat Stanley" stories, that he read in year 2.

In the next band up (can't remember the colour) they have books such as Lemony Snicket, which he read (all of them) a couple of years ago.

He has decent reading skills as he was high level reading for SATS and we usually talk about the books after he's read them to make sure he's understood them. He could have just had a bad day when he did the test.

The point of this post was to try to find out a bit more about this reading scheme as at the moment he's really fed up with (potentially) being expected to read/re-read books that are too young for him & boring (in his eyes). If I can find out a bit more about it all, and reassure him that he will be able to read books he's interested in, then that's the best outcome I think.

My message will tell you a bit more about the reading scheme. Did you read it?

Ask teacher for print out. Read the analysis.
If you disagree with reading age, due to 'high SATS reading age' request he does the test at home. Password will be given to access test.
Instruct son to not rush it. Do not help him - ideally leave the room.
New RA assessed.
If teacher refuses another Star Reader test, only read books at the highest end of his ZPD. If the school run AR successfully, there should be plenty of books he hasn't read at that level. A ZPD doesn't mean babyish, like Flat Stanley. I'm sure he's probably read some Wimpy Kid? Choose another, they like the humour, then progress onto something else.

Hope that helps!

3WildOnes · 02/10/2022 08:05

Im not convinced om the merits of the scheme. However, I also think it is your school who are using the scheme in a strange way unfortunately. I woukd ask the school on Monday what his ZPD score is and what range of books he can choose from. Then you can use this www.arbookfind.co.uk/default.aspx
To find book that he might enjoy.
He should be tested again soon and then hopefully he will be put at the right level. Even if the get a very high score the will likely be reading books from the lower levels anyway as from what I remember there isn't much other than Charkes Dickens and Shakespeare in the upper levels anyway. Most books for their age seem to have a score between 5 .5 and 7.5.