The Accelerated Reader, developed by Renaissance Learning, is a learning information system that enables freestanding computer-assisted assessment of student comprehension of "real" books. It facilitates more frequent and more detailed assessment in less time and with greater consistency formative feedback for the student student development of metacognitive awareness increased student motivation to read more, longer, and harder books formative feedback for the teacher class-wide diagnostic information, including alerts regarding students who are at risk teacher promotion and management of effective reading practice

The Accelerated Reader is a curriculum-based assessment tool that provides a summary and analysis of results to enable teachers to monitor both the quantity and quality of reading practice engaged in by their students. Students administer comprehension tests voluntarily themselves, and the system is intended specifically to have strong formative effects on subsequent learning.

A student who uses the program selects a book from the titles on the AR list. Each book is assigned a point value based on the number of words it contains and its reading difficulty, as derived from a formula based on the well-known Flesch-Kincaid readability index (Chall & Dale, 1995; Flesch, 1968, 1974) that considers the number of syllables in words and sentence complexity. Point values are calculated thus:

AR points = (10 + reading level) x (words in book ? 100,000)

After reading, the student goes to the computer and takes a multiple-choice comprehension test on the book's content. Tests may have 5, 10, or 20 items, depending on the length and difficulty of the book. The computer scores the test, awards the student points based on the results, and keeps a complete record. For a book valued at 10 AR points, such as Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, a student would receive 10 points for a score of 100 percent, 9 points for 90 percent, and so on. However, the student must score at least 60 percent on the test to earn any points at all. Further, the software designers recommend that teachers target 85 percent as being optimal for students.

Students select their own books and read at their own pace. Then take a computerized "Reading Practice". "Literacy Skills" tests are available for the most popular titles in the database, assess and report on 24 generic higher order literacy skills, including inferential reasoning, main idea, cause and effect, characterization, and recognizing plot.

As students test on more books, the AR system enables close monitoring of general levels of reading performance. The software provides the teacher with an automatically updated analysis of scores for individuals or whole classes; details include average percentage of correctly answered questions, difficulty of books read, points earned, and other diagnostic information. Computer-generated "at-risk reports" enable the teacher to guide each student's reading practice for maximum effectiveness.

St. Gabriel School library has a large number (over 700) of carefully selected Accelerated Reader books for which tests can be taken. Test taking is now available in all classrooms (Grades 1-5) and in the library. We look forward to AR providing our families with a fun and exciting way to encourage reading at home and in the classroom.

Accelerated Reader Web Site

Excerpted from

Reading Online, http://www.readingonline.org/
Posted November 1999
? 1999-2000 International Reading Association, Inc. ISSN 1096-1232

Author, Keith Topping