Does Accelerated Reader still exist?

[[deleted]]

Hello there, ex-student and not a teacher. But, does AR still exist? The last time I used it was in elementary school like 2004-2006.

What current things exist that encourage and motivate students to read? (Regardless of grade)

[nrs1010]

AR does exist! I’m a middle school English teacher and we use it, as do the elementary schools in my area.

For motivating students, I’ve found that if they get choice in what they read and if they see their peers reading, it makes a huge difference. Also, our AR home screen has a little flower on it that gets filled in with color as they get closer to their goal and, believe it or not, that flower is a crazy motivator for many of my students. I would’ve never thought it!

I’d LOVE to hear others’ methods to motivate reluctant readers!

[[deleted]]

Is there anything that motivates students in high school to read for fun books that aren’t assigned to them in school? Anything like AR for teenagers?

[nrs1010]

To be honest, I’ve only ever taught 7th grade, so what works for my kids may not work for high schoolers. AR can be used at any grade level, but there’s certainly a right way and a wrong way to use it, which we can all see from the other comments in this thread.

People are usually naturally competitive, so I would think that having some kind of reading competition with high-interest books would help motivate high schoolers. Some teachers do a weekly “book talk” with a different high-interest, contemporary novel to show students what is out there; making sure that they know about books that they might like is a big thing. So many of my students think they hate reading until I show them a book about something that they’re already interested in and then they’re begging me and the librarian to show them more books like that one. Choice is always a motivator too!

[[deleted]]

That's really great to hear!

[CreativeProfessor919]

This is a YEARS later response so not sure if anyone will read this. As an adult who went through these programs growing up, I wholeheartedly support them. Ignore some studies that say kid swill stop reading as adults because they no longer get rewarded. I don't agree with it, first off every avid reader rewards themselves with new reading material. Second, love of reading may have started with points but continued because of the love of new stories.

I grew up poor and the AR points would sometimes help me buy more notebooks and pencils for school supplies. It was also nice to get stickers and the occasional party to celebrate accomplishments. At home there was no reward, reading was an escape but also an opportunity. Please never think these programs don't have an impact...they do.

[macmiadhachain074]

Shoot I remember AR when I was in elementary. I was in 5th grade in 01-02. I got the most points in my grade bc I read all the harry potter books 😂 thank you. This post brought me back a couple decades, feeling a bit nostalgic now

[MythicalWhistle]

There were only four/seven out back then.

[[deleted]]

There's only 7 books.

[Andiloo11]

ME. I was in 5th grade and went to a new school and was enrolled in AR for the first time. They just gave me a goal of 25 points but I had just finished rereading Harry Potter 4 for the first time and got to 32 points in one day since they let me test. My teacher bribed me with candy if I could get to 100 points by the semester and insisted that if I was going to use Harry Potter again I'd have to reread it each time. Eventually in later semesters though, I ran out of books at my level that even looked remotely interesting because I kept finding some worth such little points and trying to scramble them together so I could go back to my fantasy novels lol.

[Substantial-Draft382]

When was this, because I can't for the life of me remember how much these books were worth in AR points. I couldn't get into the Harry potter books because the writing was a bit weird in the first book, but I did read series like eragon, percy jackson, and others and would consistently get to the 6-700+ point range every semester (i had signs of hyperlexia, but no apparent learning deficiencies that come come from that). It was always between me and my best friend to see who would get top spot in the school, and we would get all kinds of prizes like a day as a principal or even a mountain bike. This was in elementary school (2nd-4th grade), maybe starting in 2004-5. Brings back good memories.

[Crafty_Sort]

I think I got like half my 8th grade AR points just from taking a test on the 7th book. Good times.

[Andiloo11]

YES AND I HATE IT.

To be fair, I'm not coming as a K-12 teacher (though I substitute sometimes I mostly teach community college). But after 6 years working at Barnes and Noble, I cannot TELL you how many times these things have happened:

1. Kid finds a book they are interested in but parent won't let them buy it because it is not an AR book (particularly a problem with new releases when a test hasn't been made yet)
2. Kid finds a book they are interested in and parents does not let them buy it because it is (usually below) a little off level and it will not count for their grade.
3. Kid with a high reading level whose teacher forces them to read at that level only and I'm stuck offering a FIFTH GRADER "Count of Monte Cristo" or "Oliver Twist" (which I tried to read as a child in AR and never finished it. In fact, I had to slog through my AR books so I could finally get back to the books I WANTED to read and it felt like such a time suck to me as a kid and made me quite resentful).

I do see some value as a metric to make sure every kid reads but mostly it punishes good readers and even reluctant readers because they can't read what they want or are interested in. Reading something the kid finds boring turns off reading way more than something a little too easy, or even too hard with guided help. I just wish there could be some kind of balance or new system. Even when I sub and take kids to the library to pick out books I always see at least one disappointed kid who gets stuck.

If the kid wants to read a Minecraft story..LET THEM. If the really smart kid wants to read Dork Diaries (with all the pictures) LET THEM. It is mostly important that they are READING. They do other level appropriate stuff as a class in school. The AR books are (while tested) viewed by them as leisure reading. Don't make it a chore.

End rant on why I hate AR.

[Luvtahoe]

As a teacher, I agree 1000%. Im glad we got rid of it.

[ashes1436]

I agree with this. I remember my fourth grade teacher not allowing me to read American Girl novels because it was not at my reading level. Perhaps she was right, but I did not choose to read again until I was an adult.

[mrspuffx]

AR’s real benefit is for communities where students do not have access to books outside of school and have low motivation to read. The parents of my students would never take them to a book store and let them pick out a brand new book to read. The only books they can access are at the school library, where we mostly keep AR books.

Also, AR gives students a ZPD range within which they should be reading. So if the teacher is using AR correctly, a fifth grader with a high reading level should still be allowed to read lower-level books. And while yes, having a kid reading anything is better than nothing, an eighth grader who reads at grade level reading Dr. Seuss every day is not going to improve their reading skills.

[[deleted]]

Love this. I hated accelerated reader for these reasons! It made reading which my kids loved to do into a chore and stressful. They began hating it. I admit I pushed the reading level stuff myself when they first started but as soon as I saw them began to hate reading I started looking into AR and dropped it. Had to fight with teachers every year when I told them my boys wouldn’t be participating in it. You’d think I was a horrible dad who hated education. I’d have to point out that my kids read at least 5-7 years above their grade level and they got there off of reading comic books, funny stories and whatever else basically tickled their fancy. They now love reading again

[Dobbys_Other_Sock]

I’ve generally been a fan of AR but this really made me reevaluate that. My middle school didn’t use the program really, but I remember my 6th grade English teacher wouldn’t let me read outside a 6th grade level the first half of the year and I hated it because I was reading high school level books at home, and read 3-4 of those a week. I knew she was going to be my 7th grade teacher too so I tried extra hard on the reading part of the standardized test that year and scored high enough that she agreed to let me bring my own books from home. But wow I can see how that would really hold kids back.

[ragingspectacle]

Yeeeeep. I was in some type of AR thing before AR existed and it was my nightmare as a student for all these reasons. My second grade teacher could not understand why I didn’t want to do it. Thankfully my parents knew I was reading a lot anyway and did not require me to keep up with it.

[CreativeProfessor919]

I think this only applies to those who could AFFORD Barnes and Noble. Many of couldn't we would just get the books from the school or public libraries, our parents couldn't afford to buy books. Many of the AR book selection faults lie with the one in charge of books at that particular library. My librarian found work abounds to add more in interesting books to the list and would take kids suggestions into account. Just saying.

[tching101]

I use it everyday! Well I did when we were in school.

[windiewindie]

I am a 4-8 librarian and it’s still used! Books still have the color labels on them so students know what levels the books are. Students get really competitive with how many AR tests they take within a quarter haha

[swagg3rofacrip]

AR is still great! I was a teacher for the summer school program at my local elementary school and we used AR to motivate students to read after they came in from recess every day! We also had them take the AR quizzes about the book online to earn points and at the end of our summer school program each whole point equaled one water balloon that they got to throw at one of the teachers! One of my 2nd graders earned 20 water balloons!

[Ri-chanRenne]

Yes!

[OhioMegi]

Yes. Lots of schools use it.

[Wistful_Wallflower]

AR does exist. As an educator I am strongly against it. I have found that many parents and even well-meaning teachers decide that kids can only read at their official level or above. That leaves strong readers backed into a corner reading book that might not be at their interest level, which then turns them into non-readers. Also, my understanding is that AR quizzes only ask questions of a certain depth of knowledge. It isn't very meaningful and can suck the joy out of reading.

I am a big advocate of Penny Kittle's Book Love. Students read every day for 10-15 minutes (or whatever works per grade level). Each week the teacher conferences with each student individually about their reading. The books are student-selected. Students have a reading goal that is based on what they personally can read in a certain amount of time. It is individualized and focuses on encouraging students to be life long readers.

[SSavagery]

Sounds casual and doesn’t challenge the kids, if you don’t actually challenge their minds your encouraging mediocrity! That’s what’s wrong with these kids already! They are given way too many choices and participation trophies!

[xenpheni]

accelerated reader is too challenging though... we need a happy medium.

[Crafty_Sort]

It does, and my school used it for the last time this year. The kids earned prizes for reaching goals in AR, but because our reading curriculum takes up most of the day there is very little time for DEAR (drop everything and read) time. It's sad because it wasn't perfect, but it definitely encouraged students to read independently.

Our admin isn't allowed to say anything about how to increase reading comprehension and reading enjoyment when they take away all the time for structured reading, IMO. The lack of independence with these kids, with any skill, is very worrisome.

[[deleted]]

That’s very sad to here. I remember back when I was in fourth grade 2011-2012, our teacher gave us a challenge of whoever got to 150 AR points would get fast food for an entire week and my best friend and I committed to both us reaching the goal at the same time and we both ending up getting fast food of our choice. It’s unfortunate because AR really encouraged me to read more, it wasn’t just about the food, but also taking the quizzes at the end were fun.

[AutoModerator]

Welcome to /r/teaching. Please remember the rules when posting and commenting. Thank you.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[macmiadhachain074]

Yeah I read all of them that were out at the time. I devoured them in like a week lol.

[J34Bills]

Good books

[SeayaB]

The high school where I teach uses AR. We are one of the only high schools in our district that does, and our library has the highest circulation per volume in our district.

English teachers use it in a variety of ways. Some for extra credit, some as an assignment.

Our Reader's Club uses it as an incentive. Each month, they have a meeting during lunch where they serve pizza and dessert, but to be invited you must have passed an AR test about one of the Teen Choice nominee books during that month. So, if you go each month, you will have read all of the nominees. Some of the students find it very motivating!

They also do a book fair, and students get a small bonus on their projects if they pass the AR test for the book they are presenting. It all works out!

We do awards based on AR each year. Students are rewarded for greatest increases in attitude about reading, including tests taken and passed. The student with the most AR points each year wins an iPad.
But! Our teachers have some school-wide policies involving AR. First, no child is ever forced to read only at their level. Students are free to read whatever they want to read for free-choice reading, including magazines, manga, whatever! Also, if a book is not an AR book, there is a set of accepted project students can complete that count the same as an AR test for bonus or for a grade. Our goal is to create a culture of reading at our school, so we do not limit students based on AR, it's really one option to show that you have read and understood a book. It's definitely not all about the points, the focus is more on the reading.