AR tests
Has anyone else out there had any experience with Accelerated Reading tests with your your kids in the public school system. It is not used in all states, but I would love to hear from anyone else who have been a victim or have children that were victims of the tests.
Here are a few of my concerns about the tests.
First of all, both my second and third grade children are required to take a certain amount of tests each quarter and are rep-remanded or rewarded according to how many tests they take and how well they do on the tests. All of the children are pressured into to taking and passing as many AR tests as possible starting from day, and they actually post every-ones points and scores. So the pressure and competition is fierce. However, NONE of their actual grade in reading is based on the AR test scores. So basically, they are taking these tests, pretty much for the amusement of the teachers and school administration. My middle school daughter does have her AR test scores reflect 10% of her actual reading grade, but if she doesn't complete the required reading, she can be put into detention, have her report card withheld, and even possibly become suspended. So I am under the impression that the importance of tests are blown completely out of proportion.
Secondly, I have issues with the actual tests and how they are compiled and written. The majority of tests have only five questions revolving around the book the child has just read. I have read many of the same books my children have read for AR tests and the majority of the questions are relevant to the main storyline. Having only five questions over such a vast expanse of material I believe is already setting the child up to fail. I spoke to one woman who used to be a language teacher for the middle school and did not like the AR tests. There was one particular book that she had used as required reading curriculum for her classroom and she had read the book over twenty times and taught extensively on the book. She knew it very well. She was able to get a copy of an AR test on that particular book, and she took it, and failed. She said that she was surprised at the type of questions the test asked and she felt it did not accurately determine whether or not she had read and understood the book. I will give you a specific example. My daughter took an AR test on an Animal Shelter series book. Although my daughter read and understood the book well, and even did a book report on the book, she failed the test because one of the test questions asked her to name five of the puppies a dog had given birth to in the book and she could only remember four of the five names. So according to the AR test, my daughter didn't accurately read the book because she forgot one name of one puppy in the book.
A third problem I have with the AR tests is how they are administered. Before the child is even allowed to take an AR test, the child is pressured into reading the book TWICE. The reasoning behind this is that if the child reads the book inaccurately the first time, they would somehow, without any assistance from teachers or staff, read the book "correctly" the second time around. Now I am not a hard core Scientologist or anything, but I do believe in the importance of not skipping over a misunderstood or misinterpreted word. I make all of my children read with an dictionary nearby and skim over the material to quiz them on tough words to make sure they understand them. This practice, however is basically frowned upon in the school system. Although, there is an dictionary in the classroom available for use, none of my children's teachers have properly shown the class how to use them and does not allow enough class time for any of the students to be able to look up all of the misunderstood words. In my daughter's third grade class, she said that the dictionary hasn't been cracked open all year. So basically, we can gather that the school demands that each child read their AR book twice before testing in a effort to have them read the book "correctly" to pass the test, but don't teach the children how to "correctly" read the book to begin with. Quite frankly, I don't see how reading a book TWICE is beneficial in the first place. Unless you are reading the book to retain information you have forgotten since you first read the book. But our kids are being forced to read the same book twice in row, usually on the very same day. If a child is taught how to read a book correctly the first time they read it, and consistently reads a book correctly, reading the book a second time could actually be detrimental to their learning process. I mean, how would you feel if you were in school, and you just finished reading a book and you fully understood the book and you were ready to take a test on it, but your teacher told you that you couldn't take the test until you read the book again? So, you comply. You read the book a second time. You become bored with the book. You take the test and you may or may not pass the test. Then the next day you come to class. You read another book, and your teacher again tells you that you cannot take the test until you have read the book again, and she does so every single day for the rest of the school year. You begin to question your ability to read. You begin to question your ability to comprehend what you read. You begin to question your ability to be prepared for tests. If you get stumped by a particularly irrelevant test question, and you answer incorrectly, you even begin to question everything you've been taught about how to read. You begin to doubt yourself and your confidence in your ability to perform well in school has all but diminished. So let's say that your parents become very concerned about you because you were a very bright, very confident student with exceptional grades before you started taking the AR tests. Your parents make an appointment to visit with the teacher. The teacher explains that this is the way things are done and she has been teaching for over forty years and it has always been this way. She further explains that we(the parents) should just be consistent with encouraging the child to read and reread each book and the problem should just go away. The parents ask the teacher if they could possibly sit with the student while they are reading the book and taking the test to make sure that the child is correctly reading the book and raising their hand to ask for help if they have any questions or concerns about the test. The teacher informs the parents that parental visits are not encouraged because it disrupts the education process and visits are never allowed without a 48 hour notice. Parents are not even allowed to drop things off at the classroom. But parents are especially NOT allowed to be in the room with the children at any time the test is being administered. The parent then questions the teacher,"If we cannot verify that the books are being correctly read in school and the tests are being properly administered, how can we then find out why the child may have failed a test by process of elimination. How do we detect where the problem lies?" The teacher assures the parent that the child is not motivated enough and the problem lies with the child. The parent goes home and asks the child if she is correctly reading the books she is choosing. The child answers that she tries to, but she often raises her hand to ask permission to look up a word, and her hand gets tired because the teacher is usually busy helping other students and her hand is usually still up by the end of the reading period. Then the parent asks the child if they have ever had difficulty of confusion with the actual tests while they were taking them. The child answers that many of the questions are worded "funny" and can have many different meanings or interpretations and some of the words on the tests are even misspelled. The parent then asks the child if she asks for help when she gets confused on a test question. She replies that she used to, but she doesn't anymore because it would take so long for the teacher to come to help her when her hand was up that the test "times out" on her and she fails the test because it wasn't completed in the time given. She goes on to explain that the teacher can't answer any specific questions about the test anyway because the teacher has never seen the tests before and did not have anything to do with writing them. The parent becomes even more frustrated with the situation and feels that the problem is no closer to being resolved, so the parents goes to see the principal. The parent tries to explain the problem to the principal. The principal listens to the parent's concerns, then assures the parents that the child has a very good teacher who has been teaching for over forty years, so, of course, must know what she is doing. The parent then asks why the parent is not encouraged to visit the classroom in an effort to help remedy the situation. The principle assures the parents that the teacher is very experienced and the parent's presence is completely unnecessary. The parent then asks the principal is they could see a copy of the AR tests that the child in question has failed so far this school year. The principal "doesn't think" that they can provide a copy of tests because they are not available for viewing. The tests are taken on the computer.(Apparently the computers at their school are special and can't print out information.) The principal said that they would see if they could possibly get a copy of one of the tests from the "place" that sends them the tests. Seven months later, the parent is still waiting to see a test. The parent then proceeds to request to have the student take the failed tests over. A child should not continue to a higher reading level if they continue to fail at the level they are at. The principal explained that no student was ever allowed to take the test again because they are only sent "one" test, and if they take the test again, they will memorize the answers and cheat. The parent now suspects that the principal is a little bit presumptuous about the child, expecting the child to cheat if given the chance. So the parent thinks about thinks about this and suggests that maybe the child could do a book report or oral report about the book they had read to show their understanding of the book. The principal explain that this was not an option because they were not "set up" this way. The principal then continues to explain that she "felt like she was being put in the defensive mode" because this line of questioning felt like a personal attack on her and her school. She explains to the parents that she wants to encourage the child to read but it is the parent's responsibility to make sure the child is completely their AR reading. The parent then questions the principal how the parent can assume such a responsibility if the parent is not encouraged and rarely ever allowed in the classroom. The principal proceeds to explain that the child is supposed to read for twenty minutes each night at home this is how the parents are supposed to assume the responsibility of the child's reading goals both at school and at home. The parent goes on to explain that the child is rarely ever given the opportunity to go pick out another AR book after they have taken an AR test or have waited all during the reading period to take a test because of time constraints, so the child is rarely ever able to bring home an AR book to read. Of course the school can only test the child on the limited selection of AR books from the limited selection of AR tests the school receives, which are often years outdated. Furthermore, the teacher consistently, strongly discourages the child to read ANY books outside the AR list until they have completed all of the necessary AR tests for that particular quarter, even though the child is required to read for twenty minutes each night and is rarely ever allowed the opportunity to bring home an AR book. The principal continues to answer the parents questions by assuring the parent that it is a good school and the teacher is very experienced. Then the principal suggests that the parent is probably just over reacting should just "give it time". The principal continues to assure the parents that in all the many, many years she has been principal, that NO OTHER parents have ever questioned or come to her with problems about the AR tests. They understand that this is how things are done here and she assumes that because no one else has ever had a problem before that they are all happy with the way things are because in all those years, no one has ever complained. She further suggests that the problem may be with the parent because the parent is trying to be too involved and isn't giving the teacher the opportunity to do her job without interruptions. The parent again asks the principal how she could accuse the parent of interfering with the teacher's job if the parent isn't allowed into the classroom. The principal answers the parent by assuring them that the teacher is very experienced and qualified to handle the problem.
The result leaves the child and parent with unresolved issues. The parent begins to notice that the child has steadily been losing interest in reading at all. It has become nothing more than a tedious chore with unrealistic expectations and restraints. The parent explains to the child that all of the AR tests that they take don't really mean anything because they don't count on the final grade and they are really just "for fun". The parents gives the child permission to ignore her AR requirements and tells the child that she can read any kind of book she wants on any subject that she enjoys whenever she should feel so motivated to read. The child almost instantly rediscovers her love of reading and begins to go to the public library almost every day and begins to read with almost every spare minutes she had, just as she had done before the school year started. A few weeks later, the child begins to mope around the house again and become more and more lethargic like and seems to no longer be interested in reading or school like she was a few weeks ago. The parent confronts the child. The child confesses that she has been sneaking home AR books that the teacher told her she MUST read and that she actually got a detention because she was "caught" reading another book when she was "behind" on her reading goals. The parent investigates and finds out that although the child is not supposed to be able to receive a detention for being behind in AR reading goals, that there is a loophole. The teacher can at any time give the child detention if the child has "unfinished" homework for two or more days. The teacher has the ability to interpret the AR reading as homework, even though it does not count toward their grade. To further complicate things, if a child has the same exact assignment unfinished for more than one day, the same assignment will be counted as two violations on the second day, and three violations on the third day and so on. So the unfinished assignment multiplies itself in violations each day it in unfinished, and a child needs only four violations to serve a detention. So by the third day, a child has received SIX violations for an unfinished assignment when it is actually only ONE assignment.
The parent is now left trying to make sense of it all. There really aren't many options left at this point. There are only four schools in the city with only five third grade classes, which are all full to capacity. Furthermore, the only two schools that the child in question can attend, are both run by the same principal. The parent plans to move in August and get the child into a better school system in another state by next fall.
Here are a few of my concerns about the tests.
First of all, both my second and third grade children are required to take a certain amount of tests each quarter and are rep-remanded or rewarded according to how many tests they take and how well they do on the tests. All of the children are pressured into to taking and passing as many AR tests as possible starting from day, and they actually post every-ones points and scores. So the pressure and competition is fierce. However, NONE of their actual grade in reading is based on the AR test scores. So basically, they are taking these tests, pretty much for the amusement of the teachers and school administration. My middle school daughter does have her AR test scores reflect 10% of her actual reading grade, but if she doesn't complete the required reading, she can be put into detention, have her report card withheld, and even possibly become suspended. So I am under the impression that the importance of tests are blown completely out of proportion.
Secondly, I have issues with the actual tests and how they are compiled and written. The majority of tests have only five questions revolving around the book the child has just read. I have read many of the same books my children have read for AR tests and the majority of the questions are relevant to the main storyline. Having only five questions over such a vast expanse of material I believe is already setting the child up to fail. I spoke to one woman who used to be a language teacher for the middle school and did not like the AR tests. There was one particular book that she had used as required reading curriculum for her classroom and she had read the book over twenty times and taught extensively on the book. She knew it very well. She was able to get a copy of an AR test on that particular book, and she took it, and failed. She said that she was surprised at the type of questions the test asked and she felt it did not accurately determine whether or not she had read and understood the book. I will give you a specific example. My daughter took an AR test on an Animal Shelter series book. Although my daughter read and understood the book well, and even did a book report on the book, she failed the test because one of the test questions asked her to name five of the puppies a dog had given birth to in the book and she could only remember four of the five names. So according to the AR test, my daughter didn't accurately read the book because she forgot one name of one puppy in the book.
A third problem I have with the AR tests is how they are administered. Before the child is even allowed to take an AR test, the child is pressured into reading the book TWICE. The reasoning behind this is that if the child reads the book inaccurately the first time, they would somehow, without any assistance from teachers or staff, read the book "correctly" the second time around. Now I am not a hard core Scientologist or anything, but I do believe in the importance of not skipping over a misunderstood or misinterpreted word. I make all of my children read with an dictionary nearby and skim over the material to quiz them on tough words to make sure they understand them. This practice, however is basically frowned upon in the school system. Although, there is an dictionary in the classroom available for use, none of my children's teachers have properly shown the class how to use them and does not allow enough class time for any of the students to be able to look up all of the misunderstood words. In my daughter's third grade class, she said that the dictionary hasn't been cracked open all year. So basically, we can gather that the school demands that each child read their AR book twice before testing in a effort to have them read the book "correctly" to pass the test, but don't teach the children how to "correctly" read the book to begin with. Quite frankly, I don't see how reading a book TWICE is beneficial in the first place. Unless you are reading the book to retain information you have forgotten since you first read the book. But our kids are being forced to read the same book twice in row, usually on the very same day. If a child is taught how to read a book correctly the first time they read it, and consistently reads a book correctly, reading the book a second time could actually be detrimental to their learning process. I mean, how would you feel if you were in school, and you just finished reading a book and you fully understood the book and you were ready to take a test on it, but your teacher told you that you couldn't take the test until you read the book again? So, you comply. You read the book a second time. You become bored with the book. You take the test and you may or may not pass the test. Then the next day you come to class. You read another book, and your teacher again tells you that you cannot take the test until you have read the book again, and she does so every single day for the rest of the school year. You begin to question your ability to read. You begin to question your ability to comprehend what you read. You begin to question your ability to be prepared for tests. If you get stumped by a particularly irrelevant test question, and you answer incorrectly, you even begin to question everything you've been taught about how to read. You begin to doubt yourself and your confidence in your ability to perform well in school has all but diminished. So let's say that your parents become very concerned about you because you were a very bright, very confident student with exceptional grades before you started taking the AR tests. Your parents make an appointment to visit with the teacher. The teacher explains that this is the way things are done and she has been teaching for over forty years and it has always been this way. She further explains that we(the parents) should just be consistent with encouraging the child to read and reread each book and the problem should just go away. The parents ask the teacher if they could possibly sit with the student while they are reading the book and taking the test to make sure that the child is correctly reading the book and raising their hand to ask for help if they have any questions or concerns about the test. The teacher informs the parents that parental visits are not encouraged because it disrupts the education process and visits are never allowed without a 48 hour notice. Parents are not even allowed to drop things off at the classroom. But parents are especially NOT allowed to be in the room with the children at any time the test is being administered. The parent then questions the teacher,"If we cannot verify that the books are being correctly read in school and the tests are being properly administered, how can we then find out why the child may have failed a test by process of elimination. How do we detect where the problem lies?" The teacher assures the parent that the child is not motivated enough and the problem lies with the child. The parent goes home and asks the child if she is correctly reading the books she is choosing. The child answers that she tries to, but she often raises her hand to ask permission to look up a word, and her hand gets tired because the teacher is usually busy helping other students and her hand is usually still up by the end of the reading period. Then the parent asks the child if they have ever had difficulty of confusion with the actual tests while they were taking them. The child answers that many of the questions are worded "funny" and can have many different meanings or interpretations and some of the words on the tests are even misspelled. The parent then asks the child if she asks for help when she gets confused on a test question. She replies that she used to, but she doesn't anymore because it would take so long for the teacher to come to help her when her hand was up that the test "times out" on her and she fails the test because it wasn't completed in the time given. She goes on to explain that the teacher can't answer any specific questions about the test anyway because the teacher has never seen the tests before and did not have anything to do with writing them. The parent becomes even more frustrated with the situation and feels that the problem is no closer to being resolved, so the parents goes to see the principal. The parent tries to explain the problem to the principal. The principal listens to the parent's concerns, then assures the parents that the child has a very good teacher who has been teaching for over forty years, so, of course, must know what she is doing. The parent then asks why the parent is not encouraged to visit the classroom in an effort to help remedy the situation. The principle assures the parents that the teacher is very experienced and the parent's presence is completely unnecessary. The parent then asks the principal is they could see a copy of the AR tests that the child in question has failed so far this school year. The principal "doesn't think" that they can provide a copy of tests because they are not available for viewing. The tests are taken on the computer.(Apparently the computers at their school are special and can't print out information.) The principal said that they would see if they could possibly get a copy of one of the tests from the "place" that sends them the tests. Seven months later, the parent is still waiting to see a test. The parent then proceeds to request to have the student take the failed tests over. A child should not continue to a higher reading level if they continue to fail at the level they are at. The principal explained that no student was ever allowed to take the test again because they are only sent "one" test, and if they take the test again, they will memorize the answers and cheat. The parent now suspects that the principal is a little bit presumptuous about the child, expecting the child to cheat if given the chance. So the parent thinks about thinks about this and suggests that maybe the child could do a book report or oral report about the book they had read to show their understanding of the book. The principal explain that this was not an option because they were not "set up" this way. The principal then continues to explain that she "felt like she was being put in the defensive mode" because this line of questioning felt like a personal attack on her and her school. She explains to the parents that she wants to encourage the child to read but it is the parent's responsibility to make sure the child is completely their AR reading. The parent then questions the principal how the parent can assume such a responsibility if the parent is not encouraged and rarely ever allowed in the classroom. The principal proceeds to explain that the child is supposed to read for twenty minutes each night at home this is how the parents are supposed to assume the responsibility of the child's reading goals both at school and at home. The parent goes on to explain that the child is rarely ever given the opportunity to go pick out another AR book after they have taken an AR test or have waited all during the reading period to take a test because of time constraints, so the child is rarely ever able to bring home an AR book to read. Of course the school can only test the child on the limited selection of AR books from the limited selection of AR tests the school receives, which are often years outdated. Furthermore, the teacher consistently, strongly discourages the child to read ANY books outside the AR list until they have completed all of the necessary AR tests for that particular quarter, even though the child is required to read for twenty minutes each night and is rarely ever allowed the opportunity to bring home an AR book. The principal continues to answer the parents questions by assuring the parent that it is a good school and the teacher is very experienced. Then the principal suggests that the parent is probably just over reacting should just "give it time". The principal continues to assure the parents that in all the many, many years she has been principal, that NO OTHER parents have ever questioned or come to her with problems about the AR tests. They understand that this is how things are done here and she assumes that because no one else has ever had a problem before that they are all happy with the way things are because in all those years, no one has ever complained. She further suggests that the problem may be with the parent because the parent is trying to be too involved and isn't giving the teacher the opportunity to do her job without interruptions. The parent again asks the principal how she could accuse the parent of interfering with the teacher's job if the parent isn't allowed into the classroom. The principal answers the parent by assuring them that the teacher is very experienced and qualified to handle the problem.
The result leaves the child and parent with unresolved issues. The parent begins to notice that the child has steadily been losing interest in reading at all. It has become nothing more than a tedious chore with unrealistic expectations and restraints. The parent explains to the child that all of the AR tests that they take don't really mean anything because they don't count on the final grade and they are really just "for fun". The parents gives the child permission to ignore her AR requirements and tells the child that she can read any kind of book she wants on any subject that she enjoys whenever she should feel so motivated to read. The child almost instantly rediscovers her love of reading and begins to go to the public library almost every day and begins to read with almost every spare minutes she had, just as she had done before the school year started. A few weeks later, the child begins to mope around the house again and become more and more lethargic like and seems to no longer be interested in reading or school like she was a few weeks ago. The parent confronts the child. The child confesses that she has been sneaking home AR books that the teacher told her she MUST read and that she actually got a detention because she was "caught" reading another book when she was "behind" on her reading goals. The parent investigates and finds out that although the child is not supposed to be able to receive a detention for being behind in AR reading goals, that there is a loophole. The teacher can at any time give the child detention if the child has "unfinished" homework for two or more days. The teacher has the ability to interpret the AR reading as homework, even though it does not count toward their grade. To further complicate things, if a child has the same exact assignment unfinished for more than one day, the same assignment will be counted as two violations on the second day, and three violations on the third day and so on. So the unfinished assignment multiplies itself in violations each day it in unfinished, and a child needs only four violations to serve a detention. So by the third day, a child has received SIX violations for an unfinished assignment when it is actually only ONE assignment.
The parent is now left trying to make sense of it all. There really aren't many options left at this point. There are only four schools in the city with only five third grade classes, which are all full to capacity. Furthermore, the only two schools that the child in question can attend, are both run by the same principal. The parent plans to move in August and get the child into a better school system in another state by next fall.