Accelerated Reader (AR)

Students at every reading level have numerous books to select from on the AR list.

Reading is on the rise in the Port Jervis School District.  Motivated by the fun and easy-to-use Accelerated Reading (AR) program, students at Hamilton Bicentennial Elementary School, Anna S. Kuhl Elementary School, and Port Jervis Middle School are reading more often and at a higher level.

The Accelerated Reader (AR) program is a computerized program that tests reading comprehension. The web-based program is one of the assessment tools offered by Renaissance Learning. Currently, more than 75,000 schools across the country use the Renaissance Learning reading, math, and writing programs.
The programs, which are geared toward students in grades 2 to 8, were added to the Port Jervis School District curriculum in 2007 as part of the district's ongoing initiative to improve student learning through technology.

The AR web-based software allows students to access the reading program from their classroom, library, or home on any computer with Internet access. Direct links to Accelerated Reader are located on this web site - on the elementary and middle school web pages.

AR is motivating students to read more often and at a higher level.
Here's how it works:
 

A Hamilton Bicentennial Elementary School student takes the AR test on one of the school's new lap-top computers.

• Students select a book from the more than 100,000 titles on the AR list. Each book is assigned a point value based on the number of words it contains and its reading difficulty.

• After reading the book at his or her own pace, the student goes to the computer and takes a multiple-choice 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.

• The AR program software provides classroom teachers 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.