I teach 7th (and possibly 8th this year) language arts in a school that houses grades 6-12. I am the only teacher in my school (possibly my district) who uses Reading Workshop and am being told that I should be using the Accelerated Reading program instead. HELP!

The elementary school (K-5) that feeds into our school uses Accelerated Reading quite extensively. They set goals, give prizes, etc. and I think that is wonderful—I am not knocking it. However, I feel that at the middle school level some changes are in order. I feel this way for two main reasons:

First, I see the way my students have fallen in love with reading workshop and have listen to their praise of it over AR. I have read their weekly letters to both me and their peers where they are having mature conversation about books instead of just answering multiple choice questions.

Second, I have a niece who attends school elsewhere but is now finishing seventh grade and has been involved with AR for more years than I can count at her school. Her school (K-8) is into it like the elementary school mentioned previously. Many years ago, she loved to read. Now, she hates it. She complains about the stress of meeting the goal and reading the books that will get the points instead of books she wants to read. I often recommend books to her and unhappily the first question out of her mouth is "Is that an AR book?" I have often followed up to have her tell me that it wasn't AR so she can't read it right now—she has to meet her goal.

I am discussing this with others at my school who want all LA classes doing AR as a grade. Can anyone offer any info, research, etc. to clear the muddy water here??

Response:  Here are two new publications that can help you defend against AR. I am certain others on the list will chime in with their defenses OF the program as this is a hotly contested issue on the list on a regular basis. 

Linda Pavonetti's article in Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy from December/January 2002-2003 is worth reading and sharing. Stephen Krashen's meta-analysis of the AR research can be found in a forthcoming issue of The Journal of Children's Literature. Finally, Betty Carter's article in School Library Journal is one of the best despite the fact that it is several years old now. 

Bottom line: what works is giving kids time to read and a choice of books. The part that still needs research to back the claims of the company: taking a test of detail over a book makes for better readers.

Response:  I use AR as part of our reading workshop. The difference is that I don't use the star stuff. they set goals for themselves. I simply have AR books on my shelves (and in the library). Kids read silently in class (and at home), make journal entries, do book talks, etc. they also take AR tests. AR is one part of the workshop. We order new AR tests all the time. Many schools do not, so their students are more limited.

Response:  Golly, I don't know that the two are incompatible. We have AR, but I place no emphasis on it. My kids still take tests, I praise them for passing, encourage them to take their results home. If they don't pass, I ask them what about their reading may have limited their understanding—even if they read the book, kids will think about how they can improve their process.

I also discuss AR with them—pros and cons. I also discuss why we do lit. workshop.

Now, I don't require much AR work (one test per quarter on a book within their ZPD). If kids want to read something that we don't have the test for, they do. I think that by removing pressure, many of the kids are able to avoid the nasty 'read-for-a-goody' mentality.

Perhaps in your situation, you simply do lit. workshop with AR as another facset of what you do.

Response:  Every time I hear something like this I get royally hacked off. Here goes another administrator who has not done their homework. You can, and should, do AR within the context of a Reader's Workshop! The AR program is a component of the Renaissance Learning Program! Renaissance stresses having status of the class conferencing with your students, keeping logs, and everything else that it good reading teaching. How can you accurately adjust ZPD if you don't conference with the students. We have novel studies, paired reading, guided reading, everything that Caulkins talks about in the art of teaching reading. At the end the kids take their AR test. It is ludicrous to think that students can learn to read well (and by well I mean thoughtfully) without some reading INSTRUCTION! SO the people who are telling you to use the AR are not informed on what makes AR successful—kids learning to love reading. Go to www.renlearn.com and they should have more information. You can contact them and I am sure they will send you some things too. They also have Freebies that you can get that will help you with your arguments.

May 2003