Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Ericka's annotations 3

Thompson, G., et al. How the Accelerated Reader progam can Become Counterproductive for High School Students. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. April 2008. Vol. 51, Iss. 7; pg. 550-560.
When this study took lace, the high school highlighted in the article had recently purchased the AR program. All English teachers no only were required to use the program but also had to tie it to the student's course grade. Consequently, 15-20% of students' overall English grade was ased on the number of AR points they had earned. Two prevailing issues emerged: 1. The way that the program was being ued had been counterproductive and had acutally made some students who had previously loved reading develop an aversion to recreational reading. 2. The program had led to widespread cheating on the required tests.

1 comment:

Sarah F said...

Dear Ericka-

This article really shows what we are seeing from a Public Library's stand point. We see kids who use AR reader during the school year and by the summer they are tired of reading and taking tests. We want them to be excited about reading throughout the school year and the summer but I am not sure how to accomplish that goal. The AR program assures that they will be reading quality worthwhile materials but if they do not like reading to begin with is this helping them? I think that there needs to be a happy medium so that kids are excited about reading throughout the entire year. This is such a interesting topic.

Sarah Flanagan