What is AR?


Overview
Accelerated Reader (AR) is a daily progress-monitoring tool that enables educators to guide students to appropriate books and hold them accountable for their independent reading practice. Through data generated by reliable and valid quizzes, AR helps teachers closely monitor several types of reading practice recommended by the National Reading Panel (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000) including reading
aloud, paired reading, and independent reading. Accelerated Reader has four main functions: it administers short general
comprehension quizzes, instantly grades the quizzes, provides immediate feedback for students, and stores the information for reporting purposes. The information generated by the progress-monitoring technology empowers educators to make data-driven decisions aimed at improving academic
achievement and teacher effectiveness.  
 

                             Why are we doing it?


Improving Academic Achievement
Scientifically-based research has demonstrated that Accelerated Reader improves academic achievement through the following ways:  
 

Immediate feedback
 The Accelerated Reader software gives feedback on student’s general comprehension of books read aloud, in pairs, or independently. Experimental research has demonstrated that students who received immediate feedback performed better on measures of reading comprehension than students receiving delayed feedback through book reports (Samuels & Wu, 2004).
 
Increased Student Motivation
 Accelerated Reader motivates students by providing information they can use to improve their reading habits. Students that meet their personalized goals on AR quizzes are motivated by the success and the positive feedback they receive. Conversely, students that fail to meet their personalized goals are motivated to read the next book more carefully to improve their score (Paul, 2003; Samuels & Wu, 2004).  
 
Guided Independent Reading
 Teachers use the data generated by Accelerated Reader to carefully monitor and guide student’s reading practice. While the National Reading Panel found no evidence to support the effectiveness of unguided reading programs, there is an ample amount of scientifically- based research demonstrating that guided independent reading practice leads to improved reading achievement (Borman & Dowling, 2004; Paul, 2003; Samuels & Wu, 2004). 

 
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