I have mixed feelings about the program.
Pros:
-Gets kids reading toward a goal. At our school, it's a graded class (grades 2 and up) and the final grade is made up of a mix of meeting their goal and being responsible in filling out the reading log and having their books, etc.
-The goals are set for each individual student. They will have a higher goal to reach if they are a stronger reader. Their level of books they can read is based on an assessment they take 2 times a year.
-It motivates most kids since they earn both a grade and prizes.
-The ongoing time input from the teachers does not appear to be huge; the computer program helps out with the workload since it grades the quizzes. Of course, whoever will have to label all the books with the AR levels at start-up will have a lot of work!
Cons:
-As a PP mentioned, the students can only read books "on their level". That does not take into account encouraging students to read books that interest them or they enjoy. (This is also somewhat of a pro - it keeps kids from reading too many books that are too easy for them and not "growing as a reader".)
-As a PP said, it dictates what the library buys...if AR doesn't have a quiz for it, even if it's a good book...it's probably not going to be in the school library. Also, kids aren't allowed to read books or magazines that are NOT AR books until they have met their goal. At that point, they can also read books that are outside of their range.
-Kids tend to choose fiction books vs nonfiction; the quizzes are often easier for F than NF. In other schools I've worked in that don't use AR, kids read a lot more NF books than I see at this school.
-(My biggest issue with it) The questions the quizzes ask are sometimes bizarre. None of them are deep, probing questions like would be asked in a book club discussion. They are all basic knowledge level questions that prove the student has read the book. And sometimes even if you've read the book, you may not remember who said a random quote or what foot someone was standing on.
I think some of things I see as cons could be dealt with depending on how you structure the reading program. It would require more work from the teacher though. You could mandate that they read books from x number of genres each term. For example, they must read 1 biography, 1 informational nonfiction, 1 graphic novel (story in "comic book form"), 1 fiction, 1 poetry, etc. before they can read a 2nd in that genre. It would get them reading more diverse texts.
Also, instead of just taking the quiz, there could be some kind of additional book response required for each book. Obviously, you'd have to set the AR goals lower since they'd be doing things in addition to just the quizzes, but you'd get deeper comprehension. Things like having a small group of kids read the same book and discuss it and keep notes, creating a map of the book, a family tree from the characters in the book, a graphic organizer of information, a book review (like they do in newspapers), a story map, a response essay, write a different ending, make a movie or skit, etc....so many good book response possibilities other than just "take an AR quiz!"
