pro AR

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Home : 2003 : September : 24

pro AR
By sandyH

As the AR administrator for my school and a 4th grade teacher who uses the program with my students daily, I definitely know the pros and cons.

1) As another post mentioned, AR is expensive. You should not only purchase
AR but also STAR (to determine approximate reading levels (ZPDs)). This is very important for using the program well. It takes awhile to develop a stock of quizzes and books for your school so that the students have a variety of books to choose from. My school has almost 500 students and we now have almost 6,000 quizzes. We finally feel comfortable that the kids can definitely find

lots of reading material in their range. It's taken us 3 years to get here.
2) We rely on AR as one way to hold our students accountable for their independent reading which is not always easy to do. It gets kids to read who wouldn't normally pick up a book. In my opinion, this makes the program definitely worthwhile.
3) AR does not teach reading. That's my job. It is just a way to demonstrate basic comprehension of reading material.
4) STAR allows us to pinpoint a range of books that are appropriate reading choices for students. In the past, they'd look at all of the shelves in the library and be overwhelmed. Now they have a good idea of books that are "just right" for them. No more kids who read on a second grade level walking out of the library with Little Women or Harry Potter.
5) Some critics say that AR stifles enjoyment in reading. Again, if you have enough titles to choose from, kids are reading the same books they would have normally read. This just requires them to really focus on the text.
At my grade level we set quarterly reading goals with the students. Once they've met that goal, they may read everything they choose, AR or not.
6) If you have the capability or the $, I would suggest running AR from a server. It saves a lot of footwork in administrating the program. Otherwise, whenever there are updates or you purchase new quizzes, someone must go to each workstation and run those updates.
Our teachers (and most students) really like AR. Most parents are for it as well. We have found AR to be a valuable tool in our teaching toolbox.