One of the many challenges parents and teachers face, is instilling a love of books in a child. The student must first learn to read independently and fluently. For more than 30 years the Accelerated Reading program has been encouraging young people to find joy in the written word, as well as providing adults a way to understand the best way to assist them on their journey.
The program was developed in 1984, by a mom who was looking for a way to get her children excited to read with improved proficiency. Her method involved giving them short quizzes after each book, to test their comprehension. By doing so, she also found out the areas in which each child needed additional assistance, allowing her to focus on that skill set, which greatly benefited the young reader.
The main concept in this program revolves around children choosing books that are on their particular competency level, to read independently. Once they have completed the book, they take a short quiz on the computer, of around 10 questions, that will assess their comprehension. The results are compiled into a simple report to show the areas in which each student is having problems.
The program currently has an excess of 180,000 quizzes in their cache, with additional ones being uploaded regularly. The titles that are included in the list range from those suitable for kindergartners, all the way to high school, containing fiction, as well as nonfiction, and a variety of subject matter and genres. There are also tests to go along with various publications like text books or select magazines.
A child's comprehension level is determined through an interactive computerized test lasting approximately 10 minutes. Their responses will cause the system to adjust the difficulty level to find the point of comprehension, called the ZPD, or zone of proximal development. Students can be reassessed periodically.
The program tries to offer quizzes for books that are most likely to be found in school libraries, that receive favorable reviews, are by popular authors, are part of trending series, award winners, and recommendations from parents and teachers. Each one is given a ranking based upon its difficulty level and the number of words it contains. While not every title is included on the recommendation list, there is a conversion scale to help find a ranking.
Incentives are not part of the AR program, though parents, teachers, and libraries, often develop a reward system of their own, based on points. It is a proven fact that most children, when given a particular goal, or challenge, will work more diligently to reach it. In their endeavor, they become more proficient readers because they have practiced their skills frequently, and they discover the genres or subject matter that they like to read independently.
This is a fun and exciting way to get kids engaged in learning to read with enthusiasm. The short quizzes provided help both the student, and the adults, understand whether comprehension is fluid, or if a certain area requires additional attention. Earning points encourages the children to work towards a particular goal for incentive, or simply because they want to satisfy their own ambition, with the side effect of becoming better readers.
The program was developed in 1984, by a mom who was looking for a way to get her children excited to read with improved proficiency. Her method involved giving them short quizzes after each book, to test their comprehension. By doing so, she also found out the areas in which each child needed additional assistance, allowing her to focus on that skill set, which greatly benefited the young reader.
The main concept in this program revolves around children choosing books that are on their particular competency level, to read independently. Once they have completed the book, they take a short quiz on the computer, of around 10 questions, that will assess their comprehension. The results are compiled into a simple report to show the areas in which each student is having problems.
The program currently has an excess of 180,000 quizzes in their cache, with additional ones being uploaded regularly. The titles that are included in the list range from those suitable for kindergartners, all the way to high school, containing fiction, as well as nonfiction, and a variety of subject matter and genres. There are also tests to go along with various publications like text books or select magazines.
A child's comprehension level is determined through an interactive computerized test lasting approximately 10 minutes. Their responses will cause the system to adjust the difficulty level to find the point of comprehension, called the ZPD, or zone of proximal development. Students can be reassessed periodically.
The program tries to offer quizzes for books that are most likely to be found in school libraries, that receive favorable reviews, are by popular authors, are part of trending series, award winners, and recommendations from parents and teachers. Each one is given a ranking based upon its difficulty level and the number of words it contains. While not every title is included on the recommendation list, there is a conversion scale to help find a ranking.
Incentives are not part of the AR program, though parents, teachers, and libraries, often develop a reward system of their own, based on points. It is a proven fact that most children, when given a particular goal, or challenge, will work more diligently to reach it. In their endeavor, they become more proficient readers because they have practiced their skills frequently, and they discover the genres or subject matter that they like to read independently.
This is a fun and exciting way to get kids engaged in learning to read with enthusiasm. The short quizzes provided help both the student, and the adults, understand whether comprehension is fluid, or if a certain area requires additional attention. Earning points encourages the children to work towards a particular goal for incentive, or simply because they want to satisfy their own ambition, with the side effect of becoming better readers.
About the Author:
If you are interested in accelerated reading, the best thing to do is visit the Web and enter the keywords in a search engine. Alternatively, you may go directly to this website at http://www.speedreadingworld.com.
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