What is Accelerated Reader?

Has your child come home from school talking all about Accelerated Reader? Perhaps your fourth grader won't consider reading a book unless she knows for sure that it is an AR book. Thousands and thousands of schools across the nation participate in the Accelerated Reader, or AR, program. But what is AR exactly? And what does AR do for student learning? Here are some facts (and perhaps a few opinions) on the Accelerated Reader program from an elementary school librarian's perspective.

Accelerated Reader is hosted by Renaissance Learning, a company that produces dozens of learning programs from STAR Reading to Accelerated Math. The most popular and well known Renaissance Place program is Accelerated Reader, very often just called "AR".

Accelerated Reader is basically a reading incentive program. Thousands upon thousands of books have had AR tests created for them. These multiple choice tests determine whether or not a student really read a book. Each AR book is assigned a level and a point value. For example, Jeff Kinney's very popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid has an AR level of 5.2 and is worth 3 points. A general rule of thumb for AR levels is that they correspond with grade levels, however many students read above or below their actual grade level. Other examples include Kevin Henkes' Kitten's First Full Moon. This fairly simple picture book has a 2.3 reading level and is worth 0.5 of a point. The fourth installment of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is 6.8 level and is worth a whopping 32 points.

Most schools assign Accelerated Reader goals for students based on their reading level. This individual goal creation is a great component of the AR program. Students that have individual goals do not feel like they are competing so much against their classmates, but rather against themselves. Students do not have to share their goal with their classmates if they do not wish. Many schools have incentives including prizes and special activities for students who reach their AR goal each quarter or trimester. Students are encouraged to read because they know there is a reward at the end.

Accelerated Reader exists as a desktop and online version. The desktop version requires that schools purchase tests for specific books. The online version of AR, called Renaissance Place, allows access to any AR test for any book that has a test created for it.

So if you are wondering what on earth the buzz about AR is, now you know. Accelerated Reader is a reading incentive program, created by Renaissance Learning, which motivates kids to read. Students read books, take tests on the books to prove they really read them, and then reap the rewards when a goal is met.