Maleesa Clark

Maleesa Clark

Snapshot

Readers Are Leaders

In Elementary School, especially kindergarten and first grade, many schools use the Renaissance program. The Accelerated Reader (AR) program through Renaissance has a leveling system for books from kindergarten through the 12th grade. These books typically use a Lexile measure which means the words are counted and measured by how many words are in the book. However, the books that are typically leveled as kindergarten and first grade may sometimes be too difficult for beginning or struggling readers. Many of these books are not phonetically based, so some students will not be able to take an accelerated reader test on a phonics book that they have practiced for homework, or unable to test on the phonics skill they have been learning in class. Sometimes the questions on the AR tests are also too difficult for emergent readers. Many of our students in the past were unable to participate in the Accelerated reader program because they struggled to read the books that were in the Renaissance leveled system. Emergent readers were also delayed in beginning the program as quickly as more advanced readers due to books being too difficult for them to read or tests too difficult to pass. The purpose of our grant is to create AR tests using books that are not currently in the Renaissance program. A variety of resources will be utilized, including books through different website programs, decodable readers in our reading series, and books purchased for beginning readers.

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