By Lynn Kessler
I’ve been reading to my daughter, who is now 12, since she was born. She always loved it. At 6 months old, she would sit for long stretches on my lap while we read Go, Dog. Go! and Bear Snores On. Her first full sentence, at 18 months, was “Read Dog Go.” I knew then she was destined to be a great reader.
Through preschool and kindergarten, her reading skills and scores were always above expectations for her age. We snuggled up and read together every night before bed.
When she started first grade and began using the Accelerated Reader (AR) program, she did well on the tests, scored a lot of points, and looked forward to taking tests and receiving rewards and recognition for her achievements.
I recall a conversation around this time with a friend in education who was not a fan of AR. The program, she said, was detrimental to the intrinsic motivation that is critical to develop lifelong, avid readers.
“I don’t know,” I responded. “She seems very motivated.”
Cut to the beginning of summer vacation. My 7-year-old is bored.
“Why don’t you read a book?” I suggest.
Then, the reply I never expected: “No way! School is out. I don’t have to read!”
After I collected my jaw and my heart from the floor, I called my AR-averse friend to say, “You were right.”
Accelerated Reader, commonly known as AR, is a computer-based program that seeks to encourage kids to read more independently, improve student comprehension and reading skills, and provide a tool for teachers to evaluate student progress and adjust instruction and interventions accordingly.
Renaissance, the for-profit company that owns and sells AR to schools, says on its website:
“Every student can become their most amazing self and discover a lifelong love of reading with the guidance of an expert teacher. Designed based on years of careful research to help teachers introduce students to the magic of books and reading, Accelerated Reader products are the most widely used K–12 reading practice programs.”
I was not able to find pricing information on the Renaissance website, but my general research found that it can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 a year to implement and maintain the AR program, depending on the size of the school and the package selected.
Renaissance offers plenty of research to support their product, and it seems that the company has attempted to improve upon areas that have received critical feedback. However, there are many literacy experts who feel the program undermines intrinsic motivation and the development of a genuine love of reading.
A report from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) found only two studies that met the agency’s research design standards and evaluated those results. The Institute concluded: “Accelerated Reader was found to have mixed effects on comprehension and no discernible effects on reading fluency for beginning readers.”
The research above focused on measurable academic outcomes — changes for which students can be tested. But what about motivation?
Studies examining intrinsic and extrinsic motivation have shown that rewarding children for a certain behavior can produce immediate results, but then backfire. After an initial period of improvement, students begin to perceive the activity they are completing for a reward as a chore. It is something to be done so they can move on to something they enjoy.
That research is parallel with my personal experience with Accelerated Reader. I believe that this program — now a part of students’ grade calculations in our elementary and middle school — inflicted significant damage upon the years of success I had in encouraging a love of reading in my daughter.
That does not mean, of course, that this will be the case for every child. My younger daughter, a voracious reader, excelled in the AR program until third grade when she struggled to get enough points. That challenge has continued in fourth grade. It concerns me that the goals set for students by the program, and the requirements for grading, become more difficult just as children reach the critical age in third to fourth grade that is widely acknowledged in education as a make-or-break point for reading skills.
I was a Read Aloud volunteer in my 9-yearold daughter’s class. We finished reading The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it. They were engaged in the story and always excited to recap each week, discuss the book, and read more. They were gratified by the ending. After considerable sorrow and hard times for Ivan and his friends, the kids were delighted that the characters found peace and happiness.
Then they reached for their tablets and asked if they could take the AR test.
Lynn Kessler, former Read Aloud staffer, is a reader, writer, mother of two and a Read Aloud volunteer in Kanawha County.