Accelerated Reader Program
The Accelerated Reader is a curriculum-based assessment tool that provides a summary and analysis of results to enable teachers to monitor both the quantity and quality of reading practice engaged in by their students. Students administer comprehension tests voluntarily themselves, and the system is intended specifically to have strong formative effects on subsequent learning.
Students in the program select a book from the more than 25,000 titles on the AR list. Each book is assigned a point value based on its word count and reading difficulty, as derived from a formula based on the well-known Flesch-Kincaid readability index. The formula considers the number of syllables in words and sentence complexity. Point values are calculated thus:
AR points = (10 + reading level) x (words in book ÷ 100,000)
After reading the book, the student and takes a multiple-choice computerized comprehension test on the book’s content. Tests may have 5, 10, or 20 items, depending on the length and difficulty of the book. The computer scores the test, awards the student points based on the results, and keeps a complete record. For a book valued at 10 AR points, such as Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, a student would receive 10 points for a score of 100 percent, 9 points for 90 percent, and so on. However, the student must score at least 60 percent on the test to earn any points at all.
Students select their own books and read at their own pace. In most classrooms, the majority of AR points will be earned through independent reading.
As students test on more books, the AR system enables close monitoring of general levels of reading performance. The AR software provides the teacher with an automatically updated analysis of scores for individuals or whole classes; details include average percentage of correctly answered questions, difficulty of books read, points earned, and other diagnostic information. Computer-generated “at-risk reports” enable the teacher to guide each student’s reading practice for maximum effectiveness.