Accelerated Reading.....a Wonderful Program!

I teach in a school district that uses Accelerated Reading. It is wonderful! I will explain a little about how we use it within our school, and other ways it can be used.

Accelerated Reading is an excellent program that helps students raise reading levels throughout the course of one year. In this program, students should be reading for an assigned amount of time each day. Before the students begin the program, they should be tested to determine their reading levels. This program is called STAR. Each student will then be assigned a point level goal each nine weeks (or at whatever grading interval set by the school district) that he or she should be able to achieve. A book level goal should also be set according to the average of the student's reading range.

During AR, the students will select and read books that fall within their reading level. After a student has finished reading a book, he/she will take an AR test on the computer, which will ask comprehension questions about the book. Each book has a point value. After taking a test, the students will be given points which correlate with the percentage of correct answers given on the test. For example, if a student correctly answers 80% of the comprehension questions on a book that is worth four points, the student will receive 3.2 points. Then at the end of the grading period, all points are compiled.

There are three components that can be used to determine the final AR grade for each nine weeks. This grade can be counted many different ways. The breakdown is shown below:

· Percentage of Point Goal Achieved

· Average Percentage Received on Comprehension Tests

· Percentage of Book Level Goal Achieved

This program can also simply be used as an incentive for prizes or other rewards. Within the program are several different forms and printouts to explain how to effectively use it to meet the needs of the students within a school.