What? Why? How?

1. What? Why? How?

2. What? Accelerated Reader (AR) is : • a daily progress monitoring, computer-assisted assessment used by primary and secondary schools for monitoring the practice of reading. It was created by a company called Renaissance Learning, Inc. • a self-paced, individualized reading programme which involves Children reading books and then taking computerized, multiple-choice tests that measure their comprehension of the books they have read.

3. Why? • To raise attainment in reading and to engage children who, for whatever reason, do not enjoy reading • To provide frequent progress monitoring so that challenge and support can be given where appropriate • To determine whether or not a child has read a book and the pace/amount of reading a child is undertaking. • Build a lifelong love of reading and learning

4. How? • Pupils choose and read a book • Second, pupils take a quiz • Third, the teacher receives information to assist, motivate reading, monitor progress, and set targets

5. How...in more detail? • Initially, pupils take a reading test called a STAR TEST to ascertain an approximate reading age and to establish their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) – a range of numbers which suggest the readability-level range from which a pupil should be selecting books for optimum growth in reading without frustration. e.g. a very young reader would usually be reading texts from a range of 0.8-1.8. It is recommended that pupils start at, or near, the beginning of this range. • Once a ZPD range is known, the pupils, with teacher assistance, can choose an appropriate fiction or non fiction book, textbook, or magazine within that level. At each level, the books list an INTEREST LEVEL too, so that a young very able reader is not reading material which is for a more mature student and vice versa. • The pupil then reads the book. Teachers monitor reading. Some children will be reading independently, others will have someone read with them, and others may be read to. This is taken into account when they do their quizzes. • On completion of the book, the pupil immediately takes a multiple choice quiz of 5, 10 or 20 questions. This quiz checks that they have understood what they have read.

6. How contd... • The pupil is shown their score as a fraction and a percentage and any mistakes are indicated and correct answers shown. A TOPS report, to praise progress, is then generated for the pupil so that they can see their score, an encouraging remark and other data regarding progress with targets and average % scores. The pupils need to score an average of 85% over 3 books before they can move on to the next level. This % can be increased to 90% if teachers feel more challenge is required. • The pupil keeps a copy of the TOPs report for their personal ‘Record of Achievement’ file and a copy is taken home. • The teacher uses the data generated form the pupils taking the tests and quizzes to monitor reading progress and shape subsequent reading instruction. The data helps the teacher identify significant improvement or pupils who are struggling and require additional or different guidance (perhaps help with book choice – a different interest level or a more appropriate level; with general encouragement; with an adjustment to the time limits for quizzing or other issues as they arise) • The teacher can set individual targets relating to ZPD levels or ‘points’ towards reading levels (next slide), to both motivate and check progress. Various diagnostic reports regarding reading level and comprehension skills are available through the software.

7. Points and Certification Levels (criteria) Advanced Reader Read independently and pass Reading Practice Quizzes for 3 books at a 3.0 book level or higher worth 2 or more points each. Accumulate 10 points. Points may include books Read To and/or Read With, but only the three books read independently at a 1.2 level or higher count towards the three-book goal. Points earned for Ready Reader are not included. Star Reader Read independently and pass Reading Practice Quizzes for 3 books at a 4.0 book level or higher worth 4 or more points each. Classic Reader Read independently and pass Reading Practice Quizzes for 3 books at a 6.0 level or higher worth 7 or more points each. Honours Reader Read, pass Reading Practice Quizzes, and accumulate 100 points for books on a list of challenging literature that a teacher creates. Teachers must manually keep track of pupil progress towards this level by monitoring TOPS Reports or the Pupil Record Report. Accelerated reader describes you as being one of the following and once you achieve each level you get a certificate ......the idea is you rise through the ranks!! • Ready Reader Accumulate 5 AR points on books Read To, Read With and/or Read Independently. • Independent Reader Read independently and pass Reading Practice quizzes for 3 books at a 1.2 book level or higher. • Rising Reader Read independently and pass Reading Practice quizzes for 3 books at a 1.6 book level or higher. Accumulate 10 points in independent reading. Only the books read independently at a 1.6 level count towards the three-book goal. • Super Reader Read independently and pass Reading Practice Quizzes for 3 books at a 2.0 book level or higher worth 1 or more points each. Quizzes for 3 books at a 4.0 book level or higher worth 4 or more points each.

8. How Good is it? General comments...... • Ross, Nunnery, and Goldfeder (2004) studied 1,665 students and 76 teachers (grades K-6) from 11 schools in Memphis and Tennessee. Teachers were randomly assigned to use Accelerated Reader or to continue regular curriculum without the software. Students in classrooms with Accelerated Reader demonstrated gains. Additionally, many of the teachers responded positively to the software and highly supported the software. Many also indicated that they would continue to use the software • In another study, Nunnery, Ross, and McDonald (2006) assessed the reading achievement of students in grades 3-6. Their model incorporated the effects of individual, classroom, and school variables that impact on reading achievement. Regardless, those in Accelerated Reader classrooms still outperformed students in control classrooms. Furthermore, students with additional needs in high implementation classrooms did not encounter difficulty as much as similar students in low or no implementation classrooms. • Criticism has been the limited choice of books available within the scheme (it is pretty wide and expanding regularly) and that it only teaches reading for recall, not ‘higher order thinking skills’ (critical thinking : evaluating, analysing, using inference and deduction, suggesting outcomes, giving and backing up opinions and problem solving) The scheme does attempt to assess these but possibly does not go far enough.

9. How Good is it? Specific observations...... • Most children are engaging in reading with interest and enthusiasm and are enjoying the scheme • The children like the multi sensory approach • The books in the scheme are a mixture of popular titles, interesting and relevant non-fiction texts and traditional classics – something for everyone and a range of genres • The children enjoy taking the quizzes and seeing their scores on their TOPS reports • The teachers are finding the monitoring and recording mechanism easy to use and highly effective. The scheme is generating data which is very helpful for assessing progress on a regular basis • Attainment in reading has significantly improved. Many children’s reading ages have increased dramatically since June 2010

10. Next steps • Continue to encourage active engagement in the scheme and aim for 20 minutes reading/day • Teachers to continue to regularly review and set targets to ensure best progress and give help where needed • Teachers to discuss point scoring system and certification levels • Teachers to help pupils become more aware of how well they are meeting their targets and what they need to do to improve • Wider celebration of achievement (certificates)

11. Any questions?

13. Note on ATOS • ATOS is a readability formula that results in a readability level for books. The purpose of ATOS is to assist with guiding students to books suited to their reading abilities. Renaissance Learning reports that "ATOS is the first formula to include statistics from actual student book-reading (more than 30,000 students, reading almost 1,000,000 books), not just data based on short test passages." Books with quizzes in Accelerated Reader are analysed during the quiz creation process and assigned an ATOS readability level. • Specifically, ATOS Readability Formula for Books is the readability formula that provides reading levels based on the entire contents of books.

14. Higher order thinking skills • Higher order thinking skills are valued because they are believed to better prepare students for the challenges of adult work and daily life and advanced academic work. Higher order thinking may also help raise standardized test scores. A curriculum emphasizing higher order thinking skills has been found to substantially increase maths and reading comprehension scores of economically disadvantaged students • The idea that thinking can be divided into higher and lower levels was elaborated by Benjamin Bloom’s 1956 Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, usually called Bloom’s taxonomy. Bloom identified six levels of cognition, with knowledge being lowest and analysis, synthesis, and evaluation being highest: • Knowledge (memory of facts) • Comprehension (understanding of facts, demonstrated by organizing or interpreting them) • Application (using understanding to solve problems) • Analysis (recognizing patterns suggested by facts) • Synthesis (producing something new) • Evaluation (judging quality of a solution or theory