ACCELERATED READER AT MIS

What is Accelerated Reader?

Accelerated Reader (AR) is a self paced reading practice program designed to encourage students to read books within their tested reading level and provide measurable feedback on the student's progress. This is a voluntary program which MIS highly encourages.

Accelerated Reader is a product of Renaissance Learning, which produces quizzes for many children and young adult books, as well as the software which tracks the students' quiz taking and performance.

Accelerated Reader (AR) will choose a book, evaluate it, assign points and a reading level to it (depending on the level of difficulty of the sentences and vocabulary and the length of the book), and write a quiz for it. The quizzes are added to the school's collection by purchasing them from Renaissance or from other vendors authorized to sell AR quizzes. Presently, Mary Immaculate has purchased over 2700 quizzes to support our library books.

Renaissance Learning calculates an average Readability Level for a book and gives it an Interest level and point level based essentially on the sophistication and maturity level of the book’s content, ideas, and themes. For example, Of Mice and Men has a readability level of 4.5, meaning the text can be understood by readers with an average mid-fourth-grade reading ability. However, it is considered an upper-grade (UG) book, indicating the content is generally suitable for high-school readers. Of Mice and Men is not suitable for most fourth-graders, but might be the perfect choice for an upper-grade student who is struggling with books written at his grade level.

Mary Immaculate AR Program

At the beginning of each school semester, each student in grades 2 through 6 will take an AR Star Reading Assessment Test. This is used to calculate their particular AR reading range. At the beginning of each AR period (MIS has 4 per year, 1 each quarter), students are given a goal of a number of points to accumulate. Each AR book is worth a certain number of points based on the complexity of the writing, and the length of the book. A student will select an AR book that meets their criteria of points and reading level (and hopefully interest) from the school's collection of quizzes. He/she will read the book at his/her own pace, then take a computerized quiz of 5, 10, or 20 questions (depending on the number of points and reading level) to evaluate the student's understanding of what they read. Points are awarded to the student based on the book's possible points and the quiz score. At the end of each AR period, those students making or surpassing their AR goal are invited to an AR "Reading Celebration". Points are not the goal, they are simply an objective way to measure progress and encourage reading.

There are approximately 100,000 quizzes written to date (2006) and Renaissance Learning adds around 10,000 each year.

The process is simple:

1. Student selects a book within their reading level for which MIS has the AR quiz
2. Student reads the book at their own pace
3. Student takes a quiz on the computer
4. Student and teacher get information

Part of the difficulty is the selection process. Typically, students can either flip through the list of books that MIS owns and which they have an AR test or they can go through the library shelves and find books with the AR labels. These methods can be a deterrent to the student finding a good book.

QuizList AR Search Engine

MIS has invested in an additional tool to aid in the selection of books. Quizlist is an internet based search tool. QuizList has the MIS AR List in an online database on their website and attaches Library of Congress information to each title, including subjects and series and genre. You use a simple search form to find books the student is interested in, as well as in their reading level range. Finding a book on spiders, between a 4.5 and 5.5 reading level, is impossible to do by searching the library for colored dots, or scanning the raw AR List. Quizlist allows this type of search by simply filling in the criteria and selecting GET MY LIST! A list of available books meeting the criteria will be displayed with access to basic information about the book.

Use the Mary Immaculate Quizlist Interactive search tool at:

MARY IMMACULATE QUIZLIST AR SEARCH