Gordonsville Elementary Library
A Guide to Accelerated Reader Program (AR)
One of the missions at GES is to ensure that all learners acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed. Reading is certainly a critical element in the foundation for this success. Of course, reading performance improves with practice. To make your child's reading practice more effective, GES provides our students with access to the AR Program.
Personalized Reading Goals
In the AR Program each student's reading level is determined at the beginning of each quarter with the STAR Reading test that is a computerized reading assessment that uses adaptive technology. Questions on the test continually adjust to your child's responses. If the child's response is correct, the difficulty level is increased. If the child misses a question, the difficulty level is reduces. The test uses multiple-choice questions and takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.
The STAR Reading Test provides a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for each student. The ZPD provides a range of book levels that will challenge your child without causing frustration or loss of motivation. It is important for children to read with a high degree of comprehension and within the ZPD.
Selecting Books to Read
All AR books are assigned a book level that represents the difficulty of the text. It is important for children to read with a high degree of comprehension. For this reason, students should select books with their ZPD range. Every book also has a Point Value. AR points are computed based on the difficulty of the book and the length of the text. The more difficult the text and the greater the amount of text, the higher the book's Point Value.
Setting AR Point Goals
Based on your child's ZPD and their expected daily practice time of 20 minutes a day and Comprehension Accuracy of 85% a Points Goal is set for each child. This is the minimum that each child is expected to read during the quarter.
Reading and Quizzing for Comprehension
After reading a book, students take reading practice quizzes to test comprehension. Each test is taken online and provides the student with immediate feedback on their results. This feedback allows students and teachers to assess whether students comprehend their reading and adjust reading styles which are necessary to ensure success. Taking quizzes is limited to school hours only.
Children earn points, depending on how well they do on the quiz.
Monitoring Progress
Each child's progress in the AR program is monitored by the librarian and their ELA teacher. We encourage parents to talk to their child about their progress each quarter.
Celebrating Success
Individual student success for reaching their goal each quarter will be rewarded during their library class. There will also be class competitions with rewards and individuals reaching a goal of 100 AR points will have a special reward at the end of the school year.
How Can You Help Your Child Become A Better Reader?
Create a culture of reading in your home:
- Read with your child, no matter what the child's age. Discuss what you read together.
- Let your child see you reading.
- Set-Up Daily reading times. AR requires 20 minutes of reading a day.
A Guide to Accelerated Reader Program (AR)
One of the missions at GES is to ensure that all learners acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed. Reading is certainly a critical element in the foundation for this success. Of course, reading performance improves with practice. To make your child's reading practice more effective, GES provides our students with access to the AR Program.
Personalized Reading Goals
In the AR Program each student's reading level is determined at the beginning of each quarter with the STAR Reading test that is a computerized reading assessment that uses adaptive technology. Questions on the test continually adjust to your child's responses. If the child's response is correct, the difficulty level is increased. If the child misses a question, the difficulty level is reduces. The test uses multiple-choice questions and takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.
The STAR Reading Test provides a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for each student. The ZPD provides a range of book levels that will challenge your child without causing frustration or loss of motivation. It is important for children to read with a high degree of comprehension and within the ZPD.
Selecting Books to Read
All AR books are assigned a book level that represents the difficulty of the text. It is important for children to read with a high degree of comprehension. For this reason, students should select books with their ZPD range. Every book also has a Point Value. AR points are computed based on the difficulty of the book and the length of the text. The more difficult the text and the greater the amount of text, the higher the book's Point Value.
Setting AR Point Goals
Based on your child's ZPD and their expected daily practice time of 20 minutes a day and Comprehension Accuracy of 85% a Points Goal is set for each child. This is the minimum that each child is expected to read during the quarter.
Reading and Quizzing for Comprehension
After reading a book, students take reading practice quizzes to test comprehension. Each test is taken online and provides the student with immediate feedback on their results. This feedback allows students and teachers to assess whether students comprehend their reading and adjust reading styles which are necessary to ensure success. Taking quizzes is limited to school hours only.
Children earn points, depending on how well they do on the quiz.
Monitoring Progress
Each child's progress in the AR program is monitored by the librarian and their ELA teacher. We encourage parents to talk to their child about their progress each quarter.
Celebrating Success
Individual student success for reaching their goal each quarter will be rewarded during their library class. There will also be class competitions with rewards and individuals reaching a goal of 100 AR points will have a special reward at the end of the school year.
How Can You Help Your Child Become A Better Reader?
Create a culture of reading in your home:
- Read with your child, no matter what the child's age. Discuss what you read together.
- Let your child see you reading.
- Set-Up Daily reading times. AR requires 20 minutes of reading a day.