Accelerated Reading Program

After observing recently in an elementary school a few weeks ago, I was stunned at the prevalence of the Accelerated Reading (AR) program in American classrooms. Because I did not use this program when I was in elementary school, I was interested in the purpose and intent of AR. The AR program is a means of assessing and monitoring the progress of students in their reading skills. Books are assigned a specific reading level, and the students are able to choose books of their choice according to their particular reading skills. This allows students in the same classroom with entirely different reading levels to simultaneously strengthen their reading skills without being either bored or overworked. After one has read a book, they then take a test online which has several basic and comprehensive questions over that particular piece of literature. The teacher is then given an assessment regarding reading comprehension and retention.

In countless studies, schools who utilize Accelerated Reading programs demonstrate a much larger gain in reading skills. While research proves his program to be successful, there are still many critics who argue that the AR program only teaches recall, not comprehension.