First, thanks for the correction on The Library Card...it is Jerry Spinelli.
I have strong feelings about AR and they are not favorable. As a sixth grade teacher I receive students who came from heavy AR schools and I would say 99% of them hated AR. They found themselves limiting their book choices to "make" their AR points, and they tired of the continual testing. They never just read for the enjoyment, and they found teachers and librarians limiting their choices according to AR data. And for anyone who has worked with reading and book levels you know there is no concrete system you can count on. I often disagree with the way AR has leveled a book, or lexile, or the grade level number. But that is OK because those systems aren't a standard in my room, rather a guideline, if that makes sense. For AR schools and classrooms, their leveling system does become the standard. You better really trust the system, and obviously I don't. I have taken some of those AR tests and I don't believe they can give me any helpful data in assessing a student's comprehension proficiency. They are "fact recall" heavy. If you go to this website Stephen Krashen has an article on research on AR. http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/does_accelerated_reader_work/ Jim Trelease also notes research at http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/whatsnu_ar.html#krashen Trelease and Krashen are names I would trust. I have used the STAR test to give me a jumping off point for further reading assessment (such as QRI) but I would never never never use AR in my classroom. One woman's opinion, Gina _________________________________________________________________ Get a preview of Live Earth, the hottest event this summer - only on MSN http://liveearth.msn.com?source=msntaglineliveearthhm _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
