I blogged before about what it means to be an advanced reader, and how the reading level test your child takes can mean different things. But how are reading levels for books calculated? My kid’s school uses a program called Accelerated Reader, which assigns a reading level and reading points to the hundreds of thousands of books in their database. Once a child has read the book, they take a computerized test on their comprehension of the vocabulary and content of the book. AR uses the ATOS Readability Formula to assign reading levels, which uses grade-level vocabulary lists and data from actual student reading evaluations. This program is great for giving you an instant snapshot of a book’s reading level.
For any given text block, Word will give you a “reading level” that is based on vocabulary, but it doesn’t have the same data-based evaluation as ATOS (but nevertheless is helpful to writers with works-in-progress, such as myself!). AR also offers an option for teachers and writers to submit a section of text, like from a magazine or website, or an entire book, and have the reading level evaluated.
In addition to reading level, the Accelerated Reader site has a brief summary of book plots, and a measure of Interest Level (Lower Grades (LG), Middle Grade (MG), and Upper Grades(UG)). Interest Level can be used as a general estimate of age appropriateness, but the final decision on whether a book is right for your child should always be in the hands of the parent. Ink Spells will talk more about age appropriateness, ratings and content guides in blogs-to-come!
I’ve put a link to Accelerated Reader on the blog because it is a handy reference tool. Check it out!
Following are short summaries of the most common arguments made by researchers, teachers, parents, and students as to why using AR is counterproductive. Hence, The 18 Reasons Not to Use Accelerated Reader:
http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/reading/the-18-reasons-not-to-use-accelerated-reader/
Mark – thanks for the interesting post. Accelerated Reader is useful for the parents of this blog to get a snapshot of a book's reading level and content. The 18 reasons you give relate to their use in schools.
Across the 20 schools in our district, I've seen AR used many different ways. Like any tool, I think the tool itself is not instrinsically bad, but it can be used or mis-used to better and worse effect. The best way that I've seen AR used is in the school where my kids attend. AR goals are set, but they are set low – strong readers easily attain them, and they provide some motivation for reluctant readers. There are no incentives, or penalties, for reaching the goals. Our PTA donates an online access account, so all 100,000 titles are available to students, and they can get books from any source (home, teachers, public library, etc.). Kids are encouraged to read non-AR material of all kinds.
Any time books are "selected" for children – either by parents, teachers, libraries, or a system like AR – there will seem to be some bias to that selection. And probably is! That's not always a bad thing. As I'm fond of saying on this blog, the parents are the ultimate gatekeepers for their children, because this is the best way – and the alternatives are not pretty.
Also, I've notice that more "mature" books, ones inappropriate for younger readers, are often lower in reading level. Just because its a teen book, doesn't mean its a more challenging read. In fact, it is difficult to find modern books (not the classics) that have a challenging reading level. Period.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you will continue to read Ink Spells, because it sounds like we have a lot of the same concerns – getting good, appropriate, challenging books into the hands of kids! 🙂