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It's kind of like a running joke with me and... myself (possibly also Jim, who I believe was laughing at my attempts not to go totally off on the topic during a discussion with a patron last week, and a couple of you readers who agree with me) how much I despise Accelerated Reader. I have brought it up on several occasions here, but have yet to lay it all out in detail. My place of employment, though, is one of the few public libraries in the country (and was the very first of such in the world) to offer Accelerated Reader tests to kids to take back to school to get credit for there, and many people are grateful to us for that, and since the school district DOES use it then I'm glad WE do that because it DOES get kids in and checking things out, and reading things that aren't in the school's libraries/test collections. So I must learn to temper my hatred, particularly in the open forum that is Teh Internetz. But first, allow me to put it all out there, in detail, exactly what my feelings are on the matter.
Accelerated Reader is a computer program designed to keep track of kids' reading. Kids read a book, then take a 5 to 20 question (depending on the length of the book) quiz on the book in the Accelerated Reader program. The program tallies the results, weighing the results for "difficulty" of the book and so forth, and keeps track of all the points earned, so, when the student earns so many points in a given time period, they get a prize/to participate in a class party/etc. etc. It's a Reading Incentive program in other words, one of those many tools teachers have used through the years in effort to encourage their students to Be Readers, and like all tools, there are ways to use it that are beneficial-- and a million more ways to use it that are All Wrong.
The tests: the very definition of a poorly-constructed assessment tool
My first concern is of the quizzes themselves. These are in place to prove that the student has actually read the book they're saying they read, and this they do: there is no way to pass those quizzes without having read the book (the quiz for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, for example, has a whole bunch of questions about Nearly-Headless Nick's Deathday Party, a scene that was left out of the movie).
On the other hand, it is quite possible to read the book and bomb the quiz, too. Sometimes at work, possibly to feel justified in my hatred of them and possibly also just because I'm a dork and want to see how I do anyway, I go through the program taking quizzes on books I know. I passed the ones on the books I have nearly memorized and the books I just read, like, YESTERDAY; I bombed the ones on books I read years ago... even though I LOVED those books, and could give you enthusiastic personal summaries of all of them. This is because THE QUESTIONS ARE STUPID.
By that, I mean they are all, what we called in Education School, "Knowledge-level questions," the very most basic level of questioning according to Bloom's Taxonomy. Fact-spitting-back questions. Memorization questions. The next HIGHER level of questioning is "Comprehension," which means these so-called Comprehension Tests don't even test for what they say they do! There are still four more levels of deeper-thinking questions above this in Bloom's Taxonomy! Fine enough: if you want to prove that someone read the sentence "John likes strawberries" you can ask "What kind of berries does John like?" and you don't have to bother asking WHY John likes strawberries or How John's affection for strawberries might impact the produce-supply patterns of Giant Eagles across the state. But how does this affect reading for pleasure? What does it teach kids: that the point of reading is to remember what color dress Mama was wearing in chapter one?
You can't pass these quizzes without having read the book, it's true, but reading the book doesn't mean you're going to pass the quiz, not with questions requiring you to remember what one minor character said during some peripheral scene about one of the other characters, particularly if the characters in question are all similarly named and personalitied dwarves (yes, I bombed the quiz on The Hobbit). A few minutes ago I took the quiz on A Ring of Endless Light and got 8 out of 10. IT'S ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS. And I am an adult AND good at taking tests! A few of the questions I was thinking "I don't even know what scene this question is referring to!" At least 2 of those 8 points were lucky guesses. I love this book from the bottom of my soul and will booktalk it with passion that will make you run out and buy it, and I missed two questions on this stupid quiz.
Now, I blame the quiz, because I'm a full-grown book lover. But what about these kids? What do they think when they miss questions? Do they doubt the real reading experience they might have had, if they didn't get out of it the same things the computer says they should have gotten out of it? Maybe that they didn't really understand the book after all? Are they learning that the point of reading is to remember trivia from the text? And does NOT remembering that trivia plant the seeds of thought that, hey, maybe they're not such a good reader?
Having these quizzes streamlines the accountability of keeping track of kids' reading, and certainly saves the teacher the time of having to read a ton of book reports. But what unintended side lessons is it teaching about reading comprehension?
The selection: limited and limiting
Well, not only do you have to pass the test to get credit for your reading, there also has to BE a test to pass in the first place. Contrary to popular belief, the Accelerated Reader program is not a bottomless well of tests on every book ever written. There are thousands of tests, but that doesn't mean EVERY book has a test. And even if it DOES, that doesn't mean your library or school has PURCHASED the test for that book. So you could very easily read a book and, *GASP*, not get credit for it.
And that's important to the kids. With pressure to read so much for Accelerated Reader on TOP of everything else going on in their lives, they're likely only to pick up a book if they KNOW they can get credit for it. If the test isn't in the system, it doesn't matter how good the book's supposed to be, they will pass it by. A high school friend, a book lover herself, just messaged me on Facebook the other day, saying she had to bully her own daughter into reading the Little House books because her school didn't have the AR tests for them! (Of course, why on earth WOULDN'T they have tests for such popular books, to begin with...) Luckily my friend cared enough to convince the girl, who ended up devouring the books. But a kid with a less literary parent, in the same situation, is just going to miss out on some good books that way...
Not to mention, you know, that bit about PURCHASING each test individually? You know, with MONEY? Which is a rare commodity in library programs, school or public? All that money used to buy tests is NOT going toward buying more books. So now, not only are your kids only choosing books that have tests to go with them, but they have LESS BOOKS to choose from BECAUSE tests have to be bought to go with them!
The Level issues: or, THAT'S why your brilliant third grader has nothing appropriate to read!
As if that issue didn't limit book selections enough, there's the Reading Level issue. I have written about this before, yes yes, and you'll find most of my thoughts there. But, in fact, many teachers only allow their students to take quizzes on books at whatever level they tested on. The patrons I had to restrain myself from ranting at (not at THEM, but at their teacher), whom I was talking about in the first paragraph up there, had just explained to me that their teacher only allowed them to take tests on THEIR level OR the level immediately above theirs. Not immediately below. Not two levels above. Just those levels.
A-ha, I thought, THAT'S why those parents are at a loss finding books for their advanced readers! It is not merely pushy-parent insanity after all! It is a terrible rule their school has made instead! They're not ALLOWED to read books below their reading level!
Gee, the last time I took a reading level placement test (in college), I placed at the post-graduate level. Glad I am that I don't have an Accelerated Reader teacher breathing down my neck. I don't want to spend the rest of my life reading nothing but doctoral dissertations! Just the other day I took one of my favorite books out of the library. It was in the "Toddler Books" section, and indeed, Sam made me read it three times to him last night. But I really did take it out for ME, not for him. Harold and the Purple Crayon is so surreal, so perfect, so mindblowing, and so... in the Toddler section. Honestly, when I was a child, the book scared me. Affected me profoundly yes, but I had an entirely different reaction to it then as I do now. I am glad I didn't have someone saying "No! You're too old for that book!" when I picked it up as an adult, because I would have missed out on the amazing experience of reading it WHERE I AM NOW in my life and understanding. A small and simple book, but not without worth to someone who's long since mastered reading a simple text like that. Got more out of it than I would most doctoral dissertations, I'm sure.
Quantity vs. Quality: what's the point?
So, now the kids have got their narrow selection of books they can read and get credit-- next they have to get the credit. Credit comes in point value. Generally, the LONGER the book, the more points you get. Awhile ago I linked to an article where someone else complained about this issue, and I said that, well, now I don't have to write my own AR rant since they did (though obviously I'm wrong, since they only cover this one issue and I've just spent all that up there going on about other issues). It has nothing to do with the quality of the book. It has nothing to do, even, with the reading level. You read something long, you get more points, and the more points you get, the less individual books you have to read to meet the Big Point Goal your teacher has made for you.
And for a lot of kids, it is ALL about RACKING UP POINTS. They don't care WHAT they read as long as it brings in points! I see kids all the time who just come in here, go downstairs and grab any old AR book at their level off the shelf, read it, run upstairs, take the test, throw the book in the return bin, run back downstairs, grab another book, and start again (this would be the ones on the picture book and easy reader level, mind you-- they're not downing chapter books ten per evening or anything). After about eight or so they start failing every test because they're NOT EVEN PAYING ATTENTION ANYMORE TO WHAT THEY'RE DOING, and I or a parent or somebody will advise them that maybe it's time to quit for the night. That's not cultivating a love of reading. That's having a race! An academic race, but still. What are they REALLY GETTING out of it?
Granted, there are kids who might have never picked up a book if they didn't have an outside incentive like this. Maybe some of them HAVE, accidentally in this process, discovered that reading can be, in and of itself, fun. But what are we doing to truly encourage lifelong reading in everyone ELSE in this process?
Well, the program's in place, there's not much to be done about that. All I can do is make sure people understand that it's not the be-all end-all of Being a Reader. We'll encourage non-test books in the summertime. We'll talk about the books out of context of the test questions. We'll make sure that it's the FUN that counts, not the points....
Accelerated Reader is a computer program designed to keep track of kids' reading. Kids read a book, then take a 5 to 20 question (depending on the length of the book) quiz on the book in the Accelerated Reader program. The program tallies the results, weighing the results for "difficulty" of the book and so forth, and keeps track of all the points earned, so, when the student earns so many points in a given time period, they get a prize/to participate in a class party/etc. etc. It's a Reading Incentive program in other words, one of those many tools teachers have used through the years in effort to encourage their students to Be Readers, and like all tools, there are ways to use it that are beneficial-- and a million more ways to use it that are All Wrong.
The tests: the very definition of a poorly-constructed assessment tool
My first concern is of the quizzes themselves. These are in place to prove that the student has actually read the book they're saying they read, and this they do: there is no way to pass those quizzes without having read the book (the quiz for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, for example, has a whole bunch of questions about Nearly-Headless Nick's Deathday Party, a scene that was left out of the movie).
On the other hand, it is quite possible to read the book and bomb the quiz, too. Sometimes at work, possibly to feel justified in my hatred of them and possibly also just because I'm a dork and want to see how I do anyway, I go through the program taking quizzes on books I know. I passed the ones on the books I have nearly memorized and the books I just read, like, YESTERDAY; I bombed the ones on books I read years ago... even though I LOVED those books, and could give you enthusiastic personal summaries of all of them. This is because THE QUESTIONS ARE STUPID.
By that, I mean they are all, what we called in Education School, "Knowledge-level questions," the very most basic level of questioning according to Bloom's Taxonomy. Fact-spitting-back questions. Memorization questions. The next HIGHER level of questioning is "Comprehension," which means these so-called Comprehension Tests don't even test for what they say they do! There are still four more levels of deeper-thinking questions above this in Bloom's Taxonomy! Fine enough: if you want to prove that someone read the sentence "John likes strawberries" you can ask "What kind of berries does John like?" and you don't have to bother asking WHY John likes strawberries or How John's affection for strawberries might impact the produce-supply patterns of Giant Eagles across the state. But how does this affect reading for pleasure? What does it teach kids: that the point of reading is to remember what color dress Mama was wearing in chapter one?
You can't pass these quizzes without having read the book, it's true, but reading the book doesn't mean you're going to pass the quiz, not with questions requiring you to remember what one minor character said during some peripheral scene about one of the other characters, particularly if the characters in question are all similarly named and personalitied dwarves (yes, I bombed the quiz on The Hobbit). A few minutes ago I took the quiz on A Ring of Endless Light and got 8 out of 10. IT'S ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS. And I am an adult AND good at taking tests! A few of the questions I was thinking "I don't even know what scene this question is referring to!" At least 2 of those 8 points were lucky guesses. I love this book from the bottom of my soul and will booktalk it with passion that will make you run out and buy it, and I missed two questions on this stupid quiz.
Now, I blame the quiz, because I'm a full-grown book lover. But what about these kids? What do they think when they miss questions? Do they doubt the real reading experience they might have had, if they didn't get out of it the same things the computer says they should have gotten out of it? Maybe that they didn't really understand the book after all? Are they learning that the point of reading is to remember trivia from the text? And does NOT remembering that trivia plant the seeds of thought that, hey, maybe they're not such a good reader?
Having these quizzes streamlines the accountability of keeping track of kids' reading, and certainly saves the teacher the time of having to read a ton of book reports. But what unintended side lessons is it teaching about reading comprehension?
The selection: limited and limiting
Well, not only do you have to pass the test to get credit for your reading, there also has to BE a test to pass in the first place. Contrary to popular belief, the Accelerated Reader program is not a bottomless well of tests on every book ever written. There are thousands of tests, but that doesn't mean EVERY book has a test. And even if it DOES, that doesn't mean your library or school has PURCHASED the test for that book. So you could very easily read a book and, *GASP*, not get credit for it.
And that's important to the kids. With pressure to read so much for Accelerated Reader on TOP of everything else going on in their lives, they're likely only to pick up a book if they KNOW they can get credit for it. If the test isn't in the system, it doesn't matter how good the book's supposed to be, they will pass it by. A high school friend, a book lover herself, just messaged me on Facebook the other day, saying she had to bully her own daughter into reading the Little House books because her school didn't have the AR tests for them! (Of course, why on earth WOULDN'T they have tests for such popular books, to begin with...) Luckily my friend cared enough to convince the girl, who ended up devouring the books. But a kid with a less literary parent, in the same situation, is just going to miss out on some good books that way...
Not to mention, you know, that bit about PURCHASING each test individually? You know, with MONEY? Which is a rare commodity in library programs, school or public? All that money used to buy tests is NOT going toward buying more books. So now, not only are your kids only choosing books that have tests to go with them, but they have LESS BOOKS to choose from BECAUSE tests have to be bought to go with them!
The Level issues: or, THAT'S why your brilliant third grader has nothing appropriate to read!
As if that issue didn't limit book selections enough, there's the Reading Level issue. I have written about this before, yes yes, and you'll find most of my thoughts there. But, in fact, many teachers only allow their students to take quizzes on books at whatever level they tested on. The patrons I had to restrain myself from ranting at (not at THEM, but at their teacher), whom I was talking about in the first paragraph up there, had just explained to me that their teacher only allowed them to take tests on THEIR level OR the level immediately above theirs. Not immediately below. Not two levels above. Just those levels.
A-ha, I thought, THAT'S why those parents are at a loss finding books for their advanced readers! It is not merely pushy-parent insanity after all! It is a terrible rule their school has made instead! They're not ALLOWED to read books below their reading level!
Gee, the last time I took a reading level placement test (in college), I placed at the post-graduate level. Glad I am that I don't have an Accelerated Reader teacher breathing down my neck. I don't want to spend the rest of my life reading nothing but doctoral dissertations! Just the other day I took one of my favorite books out of the library. It was in the "Toddler Books" section, and indeed, Sam made me read it three times to him last night. But I really did take it out for ME, not for him. Harold and the Purple Crayon is so surreal, so perfect, so mindblowing, and so... in the Toddler section. Honestly, when I was a child, the book scared me. Affected me profoundly yes, but I had an entirely different reaction to it then as I do now. I am glad I didn't have someone saying "No! You're too old for that book!" when I picked it up as an adult, because I would have missed out on the amazing experience of reading it WHERE I AM NOW in my life and understanding. A small and simple book, but not without worth to someone who's long since mastered reading a simple text like that. Got more out of it than I would most doctoral dissertations, I'm sure.
Quantity vs. Quality: what's the point?
So, now the kids have got their narrow selection of books they can read and get credit-- next they have to get the credit. Credit comes in point value. Generally, the LONGER the book, the more points you get. Awhile ago I linked to an article where someone else complained about this issue, and I said that, well, now I don't have to write my own AR rant since they did (though obviously I'm wrong, since they only cover this one issue and I've just spent all that up there going on about other issues). It has nothing to do with the quality of the book. It has nothing to do, even, with the reading level. You read something long, you get more points, and the more points you get, the less individual books you have to read to meet the Big Point Goal your teacher has made for you.
And for a lot of kids, it is ALL about RACKING UP POINTS. They don't care WHAT they read as long as it brings in points! I see kids all the time who just come in here, go downstairs and grab any old AR book at their level off the shelf, read it, run upstairs, take the test, throw the book in the return bin, run back downstairs, grab another book, and start again (this would be the ones on the picture book and easy reader level, mind you-- they're not downing chapter books ten per evening or anything). After about eight or so they start failing every test because they're NOT EVEN PAYING ATTENTION ANYMORE TO WHAT THEY'RE DOING, and I or a parent or somebody will advise them that maybe it's time to quit for the night. That's not cultivating a love of reading. That's having a race! An academic race, but still. What are they REALLY GETTING out of it?
Granted, there are kids who might have never picked up a book if they didn't have an outside incentive like this. Maybe some of them HAVE, accidentally in this process, discovered that reading can be, in and of itself, fun. But what are we doing to truly encourage lifelong reading in everyone ELSE in this process?
Well, the program's in place, there's not much to be done about that. All I can do is make sure people understand that it's not the be-all end-all of Being a Reader. We'll encourage non-test books in the summertime. We'll talk about the books out of context of the test questions. We'll make sure that it's the FUN that counts, not the points....
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 02:15 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 03:32 am (UTC)From:I think also, one thing that counts more than anything at an educational level, is being able to take the book, for example, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and apply it and expand on it and make it a terrific life experience - not only do they have the pleasure of reading a great book, they get to enjoy enrichment activities to make it even more fun! Maybe they could get their own favorite color and draw their own adventure? Where would they go? What would they do? What obstacles would be in their way and how would they get around them? So instead of wasting money and time on stupid tests, how about enrichment packets for the teachers/parents to help the students (and I guess the older kids could do it themselves) LIVE the book?
Gah. This is why I'm not a librarian, and why I just read the things. :) Ok, fine, I teach them too...I have about fifteen lesson plans from "Very Hungry Caterpillar" alone. (You can teach days of the week, good nutrition, butterfly life cycle, habitats, counting, colors...the list goes on and on...)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 02:01 am (UTC)From:On the contrary, you sound like you're thinking just like a librarian, or a proper reading teacher. Book reports are MEANT to help the students think more deeply about their books. These quizzes are just an easy way to keep track of what people read. It's just the district puts so much MONEY into it that they make it a big deal, and it just kind of ruins it all.
There are definitely teachers who don't let it interfere with their PROPER reading teaching. I actually had a parent come into the library once and say something like, "My daughter's teacher isn't making her class do Accelerated Reader, so we've decided we're going to do it ourselves!" all proud like she was helping her kid learn to read properly or something, and I wanted to cry, "No! Your daughter's teacher is awesome! Who is she so I can make sure my kids get her!"
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:31 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 01:10 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 02:58 pm (UTC)From:I liked this program as a kid (we almost never went OUT for pizza) and I know it's still around. HOWEVER, some schools have banned it because it has a corporate sponsor and doesn't promote "healthy" eating - this actually happened at a school Larry worked for because he wanted to do it and they said NO. Phhlllllltt.
On Electronically-Tracked Superficially Educational Reading Programs:
I know Larry has some of these same problems with Reading Counts. I know in my old school the librarian had to GET RID OF great old books to make room for more shelves for the new RC books, and complaining about how it would take ages to level all of the old, good books into the new system. And stupid things like - Harry Potter books are more points because they're LONGER, actual LITERATURE (Alcott, Little House, etc.) is fewer points 'cause it's SHORTER, what do you think the kids pick?
I'm with Amy in that personal theory is that the way to get kids to read is to find a book they LIKE, NO MATTER WHAT READING LEVEL IT IS. Hook 'em on the GOOD stuff, and if they are wired to be a reader, THEY take it from there.
I'm off to read "Holes" for the fifth time . . . :)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-28 12:23 am (UTC)From:(I liked going out for Book It pizza too! Unfortunately I was the kid who READ more than anybody but KEPT FORGETTING TO WRITE THE REPORTS in order to get credit. Hah, but at least I COULD have gotten credit no matter WHAT book I read, instead of it having to be just certain books!)
Since I'm not as familiar with Reading Counts, I can't say for sure, but I'd guess pretty much everything I said here applies there, too.
Re: *Sigh*
Date: 2010-02-01 11:20 pm (UTC)From:Like I said, I think it's nice that we offer it at the public library since it DOES give kids a broader variety of books to choose from and more opportunities for getting the tests done (and brings them into the public library), since the school already does it anyway; and our director is REALLY GUNG-HO about it. So I have to be nice and try to put a positive spin on it, especially since I'm now sort of in charge of Children's Services here and the director outright TOLD me she wanted to see more Accelerated Reader tie-in activities! I think there are interesting things we can do to make it less about Earning Points and more about Reading Something. Last year we did a thing where if kids took and passed the quizzes on "Where The Wild Things Are" and two other Sendak books, they could sign up for a field trip to see that movie-- I thought that was a pretty cool use of the program. I hope to come up with more things like that.
(PS-- I popped over to your blog-- like it! Love your Evil Plan! Feel like I've found another kindred spirit on the web...)