[CALIBK12] AR corrections

Wed Dec 10 12:44:22 PST 2008

 At the risk of boring everyone, I want to reiterate (in light of Joe's letter) that, like all programs, AR can be badly misused.  When used well (and for 15 years I believe our school has used it well), it is a wonderful tool for giving kids who are at a very concrete state of development very concrete feedback on a skill that, for them, is very abstract indeed.  Long ago I wrote a philosophical statement about AR (attached here) for those who are interested.  If anyone would like to know how we use (and don't abuse) AR, please feel free to contact me.  

Mary Hofmann, LMT
Rivera Middle School 
945 Buena Vista Drive
Merced CA 95348
209 385 6325

-----Original Message-----
From: Darla Brown <dbrown at garces.org>
To: Joe Trampenau <pbjoet at hotmail.com>; CALIBK12 at lists.sjsu.edu <CALIBK12 at lists.sjsu.edu>
Sent: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:30 pm
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] AR corrections

Thank you,
Joe, for pointing out what the Accelerated Reader program is all about. It’s
a program—not a panacea. And I’m going to go against the tide here
and say that I loved it! When I was in a junior high library, my English
teachers and I utilized AR to instill in our school a culture of reading—and
reading for everyone, not just the GATE students or the ones who spoke English
as their first language. I WISH my high school fostered such a love for books!
(…but at 3.76 books per student L, my $ must go=2
0elsewhere right now…)

Keep up the
good work, Joe…

Mrs. Darla Brown, TL, M.Ed.

Teacher Librarian

Garces Memorial High School

"60 Years of Excellence in Catholic Education"

661-327-2578 x133

dbrown at garces.org

From:
calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu [mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On
Behalf Of Joe Trampenau

Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 10:33 PM

To: calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu

Subject: [CALIBK12] AR corrections

Hi All,

After reading the recent posts I feel compelled to share some accurate
information on Accelerated Reader.  In no particular order...

AR points are just a mathematical formula based on book length and
difficulty.  They make it easy to set goals and track progress. 
We do not encourage prizes for points. 

Anyone who says there's only negative research on AR has only looked for
negative research(and hasn't looked very hard).  There are well over 100
"independent" research studies that show positive results (including
many federal and university).  Try to find another program with so
many!  I encourage everyone to visit renlearn.com to sample some.

Regarding reading level; like with any activity, there is an optimum range to
practice in.  It's that "just right" range where something is
challenging, yet you are successful at it.  You'll grow your ability the
faste
st within it.  One of the main points of AR is to put this range to
best use.  We know kids have limited time to practice reading, why not
encourage them to read within their optimal range and grow their reading
ability faster?  Of course when they want to read outside the range,
that's okay too.  

Another main point of AR is quizzing.  When students know they are going
to be held accountable for something (like a quiz) they pay more attention and
try harder.  This improves learning.

I'm sure no one at Renaissance Learning (parent Co. of AR) ever said "this
is the solution that will fix all the reading problems".  We are just
one tool to help educators monitor and guide students independent
reading.  We tell people AR works with all reading curriculums, not that
it is one.

J.A. Hattie (a researcher) wrote, after reviewing almost 8,000 studies on
measuring the effects of schooling, "the most powerful single modification
that enhances achievement is feedback".  That's what AR does,
provides feedback to teachers/librarians/parents and students.  If you
want kids to read for the fun of reading, that's great.  If you want kids
to read and improve their reading, you'll want to put in place a system
for monitoring, guiding, and providing feedback.  Because that's what
research shows works!  And by the way, kids in a good AR program are
having just as much fun, if not more, than the kids simply reading for
pleasure.  I 
see it and hear about it all the time when I'm visiting
schools.

AR is more than just straightforward comprehension quizzes.  Among other
things, we offer Vocabulary Practice Quizzes for building vocabulary and
Literacy Skills Quizzes that provide valuable feedback to language arts
teachers that impact their instruction. 

Lastly, so you know, Renaissance Learning is a company made up of
educators.  Our sales manager is Marian the Librarian (yes, an
ex-librarian).  At my initial training, besides myself we had 2
principals, an english teacher, and a librarian.  Most of our entire sales
staff are ex-educators who had such good experiences with our programs they
wanted to help the cause and share it with others.  I can promise you that
Renaissance Learning has students best interests at heart.  We exist to
help provide better practice for students in areas like reading, math, learning
english, and writing.  

Thanks,

Joe Trampenau

Parent of 2 AR using students

Account Manager

Renaissance Learning

Northern CA/Bay Area

You
live life online. So we put Windows on the web. Learn
more about Windows Live 

_______________________________________________
CALIBK12 site list
CALIBK12 at lists.sjsu.edu
http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/calibk12

For information about the Calibk12 listserve, please
visit  http://www.calibk12.net.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.sjsu.edu/pipermail/calibk12/attachments/20081210/b1b6170f/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: AR philosophyMy.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 27136 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.sjsu.edu/pipermail/calibk12/attachments/20081210/b1b6170f/attachment-0001.doc 