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Learning Gives you a Break
Almost everyday, it seems, a new student is admitted into our school. They
transfer from other districts in other cities, states, even countries. They
make new friends; adjust to the new scenery. But these children are also
forced to start over in a curriculum that may prove worlds apart from the
ones in which they were previously immersed. You, as the teacher, have to
deal with all of these changes along with the ones caused by the addition
of a student in the classroom. This can prove difficult, though. How can
you find the time to discover the level on which the child is reading when
you need to teach the rest of class on their levels and incorporate this
child into the everyday dealings of this class? It's an ongoing process
that can sometimes start over once every other week while more and more
students transfer into already overcrowded classrooms. What can you do?
You are not on your own. There are companies that can help. Several Teachnet
readers give high marks for Advantage Learning Systems, which offers two
programs that prove almost essential when placing students, either at the
beginning of the year or when new students enter the classroom. One, called
the Standardized Test for Assessment of Reading (S.T.A.R.), determines the
students appropriate reading level by a computerized program. The other,
Accelerated Reader (AR), is a computer-based program that tests reading
comprehension.
S.T.A.R. gives an accurate assessment of a student's reading level in the
no more than ten minutes it takes them to complete the computer test. The
actual program is loaded in less than ten minutes and then ready to go for
your students to take the tests. Although only one student can take the
test at a time, some teachers have quoted the test time as only three minutes,
allowing many students to test in a short amount of time. When you begin,
the questions are fairly simple. For example, fill in this blank:
The dog _______ through the yard.
barked ran dug fell
The questions become progressively more difficult; towards the end, you
may question the meaning of some of these words yourself! And once the
student has completed the test, he receives a printout showing calculations
gauging his interest level for reading, grade-equivalecy for their reading
level, etc. The students can test more than just twice a year, and the
computer checks and keeps the record. You can easily track growth throughout
the year and assess the reading level of new students without blinking
an eye.
Accelerated Reader is a program that allows children to choose from one
of over 11,000 cataloged books on their software. The titles range from
kindergarten to high school reading levels, including favorites like Betsy
Byars and Katherine Patterson. The students read at their own pace, whichever
book they choose. After completing the book, they take the reading comprehension
test designed to verify that the student has read the book. The questions,
a nice selection including a wide range of difficulty levels, are graded,
and the results are printed out. Students are given a number of points
for each work they complete based on the number of points they received
correct on their comprehension test and the difficulty level for the book.
Many schools set up goals for their students in the form of Accelerated
Reading Stores. The students use their points to buy items at the store
(which are bought at discount or donated) at the end of the nine weeks,
semester, or other specified amount of time. Prizes could include pencils,
erasers, memo books, pretend money, plastic bracelets, puzzles to more
expensive prizes, like a Walkman. Prices on prizes can range from 1 point
(for pencils) to 40 points for a Walkman. At the end of the year, a pizza
or ice cream party can be held for those who have read a minimum number
of books and scored at least 80% on all of the tests, etc.
These two programs give teachers a much greater leniency when trying to
individualize their students' educations. You can acquire a demo or purchase
one of these programs by contacting the company at:
Advantage Learning Systems
(800) 338-4204
Fax (715) 424-4242
http://www.advlearn.com
Email: star@advlearn.com
(thanks to Mary Pitner pitnerm@ten-nash.ten.k12.tn.us,
Avis Breding abreding@btigate.com, Barb Wilkison wilkiso@citizen.infi.net)
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