AR . . . to use or not to use . . .

This is really a topic that I am passionate about. At South Elementary, we have always used AR until this year. The

teachers that fought to keep it were told at the beginning of the '18-'19 school year that we would not continue it after the end of that school year. A few in 2nd and 3rd grades are fit to be tied about it. Dr. Cottone, our principal, has asked for me to come up with some alternatives to AR testing. I am working on that and plan to lead some PD in November. 

Because of this, I have done a lot of reading and digging into the topic of AR. Most research states (at least what I have found) that AR has not prompted a large increase in reading achievement. The growth is higher in 3rd and 4th grades, but not much at all as students move higher. I think that one of the large problems with AR is how some teachers use it. I don't agree with reading within a level range. I feel that students should be given voice and choice. If focusing solely on AR, students may not know how to choose a book outside of school. Reading levels were created for teachers in using guided reading. The levels

were not created to label a child. AR only measures basic comprehension, not inferential or critical thinking skills (Luck, 2010). In giving prizes for meeting AR goals, are the students reading for enjoyment of for prizes? They may be reading for reward, but is the reading attitude changed?

I know one argument is that a school may not own the tests for a lot of book selections. I will say that that was not the case for my school. We had a full access license, meaning that we didn't purchase quizzes. It was the most expensive subscription, therefore most books were AR books. Wow, just think of all that we can do to promote a nurturing reading culture with all of the money that we won't be sending to AR!

I have told many parents that if a child reads books that are too easy, he or she will most likely get bored. If the level is too high for comprehension, the student will move to a lower level. This is the experience that I had when in the classroom. My daughter doesn't like to read and it breaks my heart. I couldn't imagine not reading for pleasure. She is a freshman in college. In 2nd grade, her teacher wouldn't let her read below her reading level. The library in her classroom didn't have inviting books. So, if she had to read higher level books, she made the choice not to read them at all. That was such a critical time in her reading life. 

Our job is not to police reading, our job is to support reading. An AR test can not provide the same meaningful interaction that we get from conversation, real assessment, and building a community of readers. 

I have several people that I look up to in the reading field, some of my heroes are Pernille Ripp, Donalynn Miller, Colby Sharp, and Jennifer LaGarde. They are all adamant reading for the joy of reading. I look to them for reading support and ideas. The biggest reward we can give our students is the time for independent reading. Donalynn Miller says, "When we communicate to children that the only reason to read is to earn a reward of a grade, we fail to impart reading's true value. Reading is it's own reward. It bestows immeasurable gifts on readers." This! 


I think my mouth hung open through most of the article "Accelerated Read Cab Be Effective Tool to Encourage and Bolster Student Reading" (Sally, 2011). I haven't ever been trained with AR even though I used it. I was alarmed when she said that she gave students 100% for anything about 80%. What does that tell our students? I also couldn't believe that their levels were moved up EVERY time they scored 80% or above. When are the students every going to be in a comfortable groove of reading for enjoyment? It's kind of like administering a TRC (text reading comprehension). The student moves up or down after each reading. The student starts to want to fail so he or she can stop reading and creating a written response. 

Some of the tools that I'm going to use in place of AR are Padlet book review walls, book conferences with the teacher, book trailers using Animoto, book responses using Google Forms, creating a Book Snap, and making a Fakebook page about a book character. My hopes are that the students will get much more out of reading the book with one of these culminating activities. Also, students will not complete an activity after EVERY book. He or she will simply pick out the next book to enjoy.