October 7, 2021
In celebration of thirty-five years since the launch of Accelerated Reader(AR), we look at how our most acclaimed reading programme has encouraged over 6,000 schools to access a diverse range of books confidently whilst simultaneously supporting reading growth and monitoring student progression.
After trialling AR, Headteacherchat co-host, Jonathan Coy tells us exactly why he is an advocate for our widely celebrated reading program and here’s what he had to say…
Back to basics: Three things you should know about AR
Guide: Students are given personalised targets as a result of completing engaging quizzes to help them stay focused and on track.
Engage: Individual reading recommendations use your children’s interests and reading levels to suggest suitably challenging titles or they can self-select from over 38,000 choices.
Practice: Children take part in reading quizzes which helps to monitor their comprehension skills, whilst literacy skills quizzes build and extend learning and vocabulary.
Putting it into Practice: How can AR work for you?
Choose: Accelerated Reader provides access to over 38,000 reading practice quizzes and nearly 2,000 non-fiction articles that deliver abundant reading choices for all students.
Read: As Jonathan tells us – this is the best part! Students read a book or article of their choice, this can be read in class, at home, or anywhere.
Quiz: Once students have completed a book, they can take a short quiz on what they’ve read. Each quiz is written to ensure students have read the entire book or article.
Analyse: You gain instant insights into students’ quiz results, which combines with data from Star Reading to help set targets, monitor students’ continued progress, and personalise lesson plans.
Reading and Assessment
Did you know…
Accelerated Reader is combined with Star Reading, our computer-adaptive skills-based assessment linked to the requirements of the English National Curriculum. It is used to not only determine your students’ reading levels for Accelerated Reader and measure progress over time, but also provides insights into individual and group reading attainment and achievement. Finally, and most efficiently it provides instant data, which means…no need for marking!
So, what do school leaders say about Accelerated Reader?
Accelerated Reader is the most motivational reading programme I have seen in almost 30 years of teaching. Children are more enthused, the standard of reading is increasing substantially in terms of difficulty level and we’re seeing children read deeper and longer texts – all of which we see as evidence of children improving their reading habits.
Paul Loughran, Principal, St Joseph’s Primary School
I think Accelerated Reader is the single most effective literacy strategy we have put in place. You’re empowering students, and enabling them to access the curriculum, which is the crux of what our teaching is about. It really feels like you are changing student lives every time they pick up a book.
Rachel Revell, Assistant Principal, Oasis Academy Wintringham
Accelerated Reader has HeadteacherChat’s stamp of approval because:
Accelerated Reader is an invaluable tool to help children improve their reading skills and to foster a love of reading. It is a highly motivational and intuitive program, which is really easy for staff to access, and fun for the children to use.
Teachers are able to access information that tells them how well the children are performing and where they may need further support.
Finally,
“Accelerated Reader is fantastic at developing children’s reading skills and confidence. It has the power to transform reading in your school and is simple to implement and use for both staff and children. If you are looking for an effective way to develop reading in your school, then we’d highly recommend this product.”
Jonathan Coy, CEO, HeadteacherChat. September 202