CTry Monitoring Accelerated Reader

Monitoring - AR Extensive Reading in AR

After the implementation of AR early in term 2, my learners got engaged in their extensive reading.They were independent and responsible for selecting the books they interested to  read and of course according to the best practices of AR. My role in their experience was to ensure they did their reading according to the best practices of AR. The following were important:

• Quantity - That they had the time and more time (mileage) to read daily. They were given one whole period once a week, 20 minutes in the other days. They were also given some times in their English Language Intensive Programme (more time for ELLs to learn English) alongside my English Language (EL) periods. It was also important to ensure that they made good use of that time to read and not being distracted.

• Difficulty - That they borrow the right levels of books (ZPDs) to read. Not only that but they were encouraged to get books of their own interests. It was very important that I checked their APCs every time they read a book and completed the quiz. I made it a practice when they were with me that they showed me their APCs and we agreed on what ZPD to move on to.

• Quality - That they read and had comprehension of what they read. They were consistently reminded of the ideal APC they should have at each quiz. At the same time, they were encouraged to get the right level of book even if they felt unhappy with their APC. 

By the end of term 2, I checked the number of books each learner read as well as the average percent correct they achieved for that number of books. Given below are brief records of number of books each learner read, quizzes passed and failed, and the average % correct each had.

After one week form beginning of term 3, all year 9 and 10, including my learners, sat another STAR test. The purpose of that STAR test was to identify any growth in their extensive reading as in correlation to the reading they have done in AR. The growth was  calculated from the differences in their performances in STAR tests between terms 2 and beginning of term 3. Also given below are information about that growth in reading of each learner.    

Learner 1 (AM):

• Read 15 books altogether 
• Passed only 13 quizzes (the range was 60 - 100%) and failed 2 quizzes (20% & 40%)
• Average percent correct for all those books was 82.7% which was slightly below the ideal % correct of 85 - 95%

Growth:

• 44 points increase in her scaled scores and 4 months increase in her reading age

Learner 2 (DF)

• Read only 12 books altogether 
• Passed 11 quizzes (ranging from 60 - 100%) and the one quiz failed was 40%
• The learner's average percent correct for those was 80.8%, again below the ideal percent 

Growth:

• 15 points dropped in his scaled scores and 2 months drop in his reading age

Learner 3 (KA)

• Read altogether 40 books 
• Passed 35 quizzes (ranging from 60 - 100%) and failed 5 quizzes with % correct ranging from 20 - 40%
• The learner's average percent correct was 81.2% for all those quizzes

Growth: 

• 32 points increase in scale scores and 4 months increase in reading age

Learner 4 (KM) 

• Read altogether 14 books 
• Passed 13 quizzes (ranging from 60 - 100%) and failed 1 quiz at 20%
• The learner's average percent correct was 87.9% for all those quizzes

Growth:

• 89 points increase in scale scores and 9 months increase in reading age

Learner 5 (ST)

• Read altogether 20 books 
• Passed 18 quizzes (ranging from 60 - 100%) and failed 2 quizzes with % correct at 20% and 40%

The learner's average percent correct was 86% for all those quizzes

Growth:

57 points increase in scale scores and 6 months increase in reading age

Reflect:

When I reflected on these results, I came up with the following:

• There is definitely a correlation already between engagement in extensive reading and the shifts or no shifts in the learners' reading
• All these learners were equally given the best practices of quantity and ZPDs to engage in AR, but I feel the differences in the impacts in their reading relate more to the quality or their levels of comprehension.
• The two learners with their APCs within the ideal average % correct in their quizzes indicated their quality of comprehension. This correlated to more increase in their scale scores and reading age. 

The other three APCs were below the ideal % correct, so as their points of increase or drop in their reading

This really tells me that quality of reading or comprehension of what's being read in extensive reading is key to making shifts or increase in reading at all.

I need to incorporate a plan of action to make improvements in how these learners engage morein extensive reading. That will be coming up in my future blogs.