Click on the link below to access the Accelerated Reader & Freckle School Website
https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/welcomeportal/2206873
Having introduced Accelerated Reader in 2013, each year we have seen the programme develop to become a mainstay in the school. As we have become more familiar with the software, we have introduced new ideas which have resulted in keeping the programme fresh and maintain that drive that has been there from the start. The fact that we can see the impact AR is having on the children makes this an easy and extremely worthwhile task.
Pupil incentives for meeting AR targets include homework passes, cinema evenings and tea parties with the school principal. Our AR millionaires receive book vouchers. Reading certificates are administered each term to all of our pupils to show the progression they are making in the different reading classifications.
For us Accelerated Reader is a key part of assessment in our school, but more important than that is how we use the data provided to inform planning and teaching.
Specific dates for the STAR reading tests are added to our academic planner at the start of the year, and set in such a way that we can see the progression of the children at regular intervals over the course of the year. We currently do five STAR reading tests which we feel works well for us as a school. In September when the children start school we do the baseline reading test with them. Then, every two months we complete the STAR reading test, culminating in a final end of year reading test in June. The results from this final STAR reading test in June are then passed on to the new teacher for next year, to allow for accurate grouping and a more informed insight into the comprehension abilities of the children.
The results of their STAR tests are monitored by the individual teachers and the Accelerated Reader Co-ordinator. The ranked summary report provided by STAR gives the teachers more confidence in the reading groups they place the children in and help ensure that the literacy work set is pitched at the correct level. The STAR screening report allows us to identify those children who need an intervention programme, something we put in place and assess its impact by comparing the growth report between the pre intervention period and the post-intervention period. In this way the STAR reading test have become a key part in the setting of SMART Individual Education Plan targets.
Analysis of our data indicates that the children are reading predominately fiction books. As a result we aim to address this by ordering in more non-fiction books and adding them to our AR library. The children will also be encouraged to read at least one non-fiction book out of every five books read. As a school we also aim to introduce more non-fiction texts into our shared, guided and reciprocal reading sessions so as to provide the children with as much exposure as possible to a range of texts and genres. In this way the feedback from AR has directly impacted our planning and teaching and we as a school are becoming more reflective in our planning and subsequent teaching based on the data provided.
A very definite reading culture has been developed within the school thanks mainly to the integration of the Accelerated Reader programme.
