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Richard Davidian

Dr. Jan Rieman

English 1103

November 10, 2010

[Self-assessment?] [SHOOT! I’m so sorry, I always forget. I’ll write one in]
All Books, All Quizzes; All Worth It?

Moving from school to school can be a trying experience. Changes like that often lead to

new standards and procedures. [Abrupt beginning. Can you give more context for this?] [What I

meant by “new standards and procedures” was getting used to different school curriculums.

Schools in different regions generally have varying methods]When I started to attend a different

school system, I was introduced to the Accelerated Reader program. The Accelerated

Reader program, used in grades Kindergarten through twelve, is a supplementary reading

program in which students select a book to read and then take a computerized quiz on the book.

The purpose is to monitor how well students are advancing in their reading skills (What Works

Clearinghouse 1). Looking back at all of the books, quizzes, and time put into meet requirements

of the program, I began to question its effectiveness. Is implementing the Accelerated

Reader program a wise course of action for schools to take? This can be deduced by taking a

look at the pros and cons of the structured literary curriculum. Hopefully my findings in this

paper will make it appeal to fellow students, [make what appeal? The AR program itself? It

sounds like you are advocating it here] [I was talking about making the actual essay appeal to

students because its topic could be relevant to them] not to mention teachers who want feedback

on the program.

There are many valuable aspects of using Accelerated Reader. The whole program

itself costs anywhere between $2,000 to $10,000 for a whole school, depending on school size
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and implemented components (WWC 3). [Shorten the title, but son’t abbreviate/. What Works

would be fine] [Thanks for the tip!] It is safe to conclude that for a moderately populated school

with an average amount of included program features, the AR program would not be so

expensive as a whole. Roger Johnson, a distinguished author who holds a Ph.D in psychology,

wrote that approximately one out of every three school in the United States has adopted the

program (88). Considering that statistic, it is hard to ignore the possibility of the program being

hugely beneficial. [Just because something is widely used doesn’t mean it’s effective] [I tried to

imply that by saying that the program has a possibility of being beneficial] In fact, based on a

study of students in an urban, inner-city setting, students had gains in reading skill from .73 to

2.24 years on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (91). Gail Thompson et al., professors

who teach at a university in California, also have tales of success. “In a study at a private K-8

Catholic school in Brooklyn, the librarian noticed increased library circulation when the school

began using AR” (551). Tenth-grade students in Florida were also documented to have positive

results from AR. Their grades on reading portions of standardized tests increased by 4% to 7%

(552). Obviously, with clear evidence of participants in the program gaining skills in reading, a

crucially positive aspect of the program is clear; it works. It does what it is designed to do, which

is to track and improve the reading levels of students, and in some cases motivate students to

read more recreationally. I vividly remember feeling accomplished after completing a book and

its corresponding quiz. I’m sure that I would lack some reading skills that I have today had I not

taken part in the program. [It may be a great way to start your paper with your own experiences

of the AR program] [I thought of organizing my paper that way, but I felt like it would make the

essay too personal VS. factual] least I think I am sure.

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According to the logic I have developed in my eighteen years of worldly experience,

having success in ‘some cases’ is not adequate. That is why this section of negative outcomes of

the AR program may have a little more gravity. Not all studies have shown that the AR program

really works. According to the What Works Clearinghouse, a trusted source of scientific evidence

for what works in education, there were two eligible studies that met evidential standards.

“Based on the two studies, the WWC found no discernible effects in reading fluency and

comprehension for adolescent learners” (5). [What punctuation can you use here to lead into this

quote and connect these two sentences?] [I think a semi-colon would work just fine here] One

may think that just a couple cases of sub-par results cannot prove anything against the

bulletproof outcomes of the AR program. After digging a little deeper, I found that there are

many less-than-satisfactory features on the program. Participants in focus groups had four major

complaints. The amount of reading required is unrealistic, students do not like being forced to

read, the book selections are displeasing, [Did you find out how books are chosen for the

program?] [It is more about what books are included in the system at any given time. If a book

doesn’t have a quiz made for it, it cannot be included just yet] and course grades are tied to

performance on AR quizzes (Thompson 554). Being a student who was forced to take part in the

AR program, I can agree. [Since your list of unfortunate effects of the AR program are varied,

see if you can intro them in a way that allows for this variety. As you have them now, they seem

disjointed or as if they are trying to speak to something you’ve just said but don’t] [If I include

this in my portfolio, I will work on the transitions between the findings so they have some kind

of bridge]. Reading to meet a deadline can be unnerving, especially when students have other

academic and extracurricular activities. I distinctly remember numerous times when the librarian

in middle school would not allow me to check out a certain book because its reading level was
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not in my “reading zone.” My class grades were sometimes diminished by poor performance on

reading quizzes. This type of forced academic literary assignments discouraged me from doing

other reading. [Tie these ideas together here] [Good idea] Sara Luck, an elementary school

teacher, evaluated ten different studies of middle schools across three districts regarding the AR

program. The studies assessed the effect that Accelerated Reader has on the amount of

recreational reading that students do. It was observed that the program did not hold any positive

effects on motivation to read, and in two districts, the effects were actually negative (6). That’s

right, some students had much less willingness to read recreationally as they were using the AR

program. From experience, I can vouch for this result. After all of the readings that were required

to be completed in school, I had little motivation left to read books on my own. I was under the

impression that my work had already been cut out for me. [Work on coherence in this paragraph]

[I will divide this paragraph into two parts. I feel like the separation will help with keeping track

of what is being said, but I will go back over and revise it more carefully for a final version.]

I will bring into focus one example from my personal life. Throughout the time I was a

part of the AR program, I was friends with a boy named Nicholas Salvador. English was his

second language, although he spoke it fluently. Nicholas always accumulated some massive

amount of Accelerated Reader points from completing numerous book quizzes. He also read

a plethora of books unrelated to the program. His love for reading showed the most positive

effect of the AR program. He met the goals that were set, and went beyond. He acquired reading

skills far beyond any other students. So how was he so positively impacted by Accelerated

Reader? I believe that the answer is that he simply found a love for reading, beyond that which

was embedded in him by the school.

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I am slightly displeased to not be able to conclude this essay with a solid answer to my

question based on my compiled research. Does the Accelerated Reader program have a

constructive effect on students? I personally do not support the use of it based on my own

experiences and the negative sides that come along with it, but that is all biased on my typically

lackadaisical teenage personality. It all depends on the students’ attitudes. Those who disagree

with the requirements of the program and those who severely lack motivation to read will have

no beneficial outcomes of participating in the program. Students who read joyfully and are

enthusiastic about the program will likely have flourishing reading skills. Some kids who only

run as far as the finish line, such as myself, have few positive outcomes form the program. The

Accelerated Reader program works much like a garden; if more seeds are planted, then

more crops will grow. If more effort is made to participate in the program, then more literary

prowess will be acquired. Perhaps what students need in a materialistic world is a more tangible

reward than just a grade on a computer screen.

A free book, maybe.

Richard,

Ah, inconclusive answers. This is often what scholars find when we do research, but we have

added to the conversation and eventually the question morphs and new questions arise, we do

more research, conduct more studies, and this is how we discover things. I’m really glad that you

thought about this question and did this research. The biggest suggestion I have for this paper is

for you to pay more attention to development and cohesiveness. Beginning with your intro, work
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on tying the ides in each paragraph together more solidly. Your writing here seems less carefully

crafted than usual and you have a number of sentences that could be phrased more clearly /

concisely. So, read aloud and see what you hear. I’m happy to go over this with you if you chose

to include it in your portfolio.

Dr. Rieman

I agree with the lack of clarity in my paper. I suppose when I wrote this paper, I had

trouble turning my thoughts into words. I plan on including this in my portfolio, so I’ll be sure to

contact you if I have trouble making my sentences less awkward.

Works Cited

Johnson, Roger A. "The Effects of the Accelerated Reader Program on the Reading

Comprehension of Pupils in Grades Three, Four, and Five." Reading Matrix 3.3

(2003): 87-96. www.readingmatrix.com. Web. 4 Nov. 2010.

Luck, Sara A. "Accelerated Reader: The Controversy Continues--A Literature Review of the

Effectiveness of Accelerated Reader in Increasing Reading Achievement and Student

Motivation." Illinois Reading Council Journal 38.2 (2010): 3-9. Web. 5 Oct. 2010.
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Thompson, Gail, Marga Madhuri, and Deborah Taylor. “How the Accelerated Read Program Can

Become Counterproductive for High School Students.” Journal of Adolescent &

Adult Literacy 51.7 (2008): 550-560. Web. 6 Oct. 2010

What Works Clearinghouse, (ED). "Accelerated Reader[TM]. What Works Clearinghouse

Intervention Report." What Works Clearinghouse (2010): Web. 4 Nov. 2010.