Historical and Political Contexts Surrounding Accelerated Reader According to Thompson, Madhuri, & Taylor (2008), educators across the nation have longed for the magic bullet that transforms struggling and reluctant students into high performing and motivated readers. This preoccupation has been debated throughout time (approximately how long?), and still continues today (Chall, 1967; Goodman, 1996; Honig, 2000; McQuillan, 1998). The first wave of AR users began in the late 1990s, just prior to the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). In 2001, the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act promised to bring hope to the nation by ensuring that updated mandates would enable all students to be ready for the academic demands of the future. Along with the NCLB came tremendous pressure for schools to increase the standardized achievement scores of students across diverse groups. In order to satisfy the law’s demands, …show more content…
With her husband Terry by her side, they merged their technological talents and desire to motivate children to read, and a business was born. By 1986, the Paul’s began selling AR to schools from the basement of their home in Wisconsin (Stefl-Mabry, 2005). Today, Renaissance Learning has emerged globally, catering to educational consumers catering to the areas of both literacy and math. In addition to Accelerated Reader, Renaissance Learning offers additional literacy programs including: STAR Reading, STAR Early Literacy, and Accelerated Reader 360, all of which claim to be research-proven tools to accelerated learning. The difference between the traditional Accelerated Reader used currently in many schools and Accelerated Reader 360 is the latter contains leveled web-based articles, free from ads and visual distractions, that teachers can assign electronically, thus eliminating the need for photocopying (Renaissance Report,
The book Readicide by Kelly Gallagher is the ugly truth of the policies adopted in the school system to prioritized test taking strategies for the most part of the day and killing the enjoyment of students reading. The author points out that students’ reading has shifted negatively and the reading percentage has decreased. Students hate to read and classic novels are slowly vanishing from classrooms. The findings to Gallagher’s discoveries are research based and heartbreaking as the movement of standardized testing has been reinforced in most states. There are too many standards to teach and teachers are held accountable for students testing performance. Therefore, educators are forced to do test preps where students are provided with facts to be memorized and lack of comprehension. The author emphasized that students are no longer able to choose a book for the enjoyment of reading. Students’ interests are no longer taken into consideration. Students are reading less and less at school to make time for test prep. Gallagher says that as an educator and parent young
The implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act applied a market approach to school reform as a way of improving the school system. This new law promised an era of high standards, testing, and accountability in
Though standardized testing has played a part in America's education system it took several tries before it played such a large role in education like it does today. The No child left Behind Act of 2002 was the foot hold standardized testing needed in order to be implemented into schools at a national level with such force. During the 1990’s the U.S felt as though it was falling behind on the Programme for International Assessment. “After No Child Left Behind (NCLB) passed in 2002, the US slipped from 18th in the world in math on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 31st place in 2009, with a similar drop in science and no change in reading”(walker 1).
Stewart, Stacy D. "United Way's Focus on Early Grade Reading." National Civic Review 100 (2011): 37. Print.
Honestly, A.R. really is pointless. Instead of forcing reading onto kids, teachers should make it fun. And teachers might even make it so it doesn’t make or break your grade.
Education is the foundation of American society. It empowers the youth of America to become the successful leaders this country needs for the future. Education has been one of America’s top priorities since 1965, when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed. Now, education is controlled by the No Child Left Behind Act, which was launched in January 8, 2002. This act was passed with intentions from the government to provide Americans with a more superior education system. However, The No Child Left Behind Act carried many flaws which were left unseen to a vast majority of the public. This act limited American students by not allowing them to demonstrate their full academic potentials while proceeding in school. While the act was still fairly fresh, there was already evidence to prove that it had already gotten off to a bad beginning. For the crucial math and science courses, statistics showed minimal improvements which had begun around the time period in which the No Child Left Behind Act was passed. The act was also supported by a number of educators who voiced themselves by testifying against having the right to teach at their own free will. Teachers across America claimed that because of this new act, they felt a constant heaviness upon their shoulders from the state government to “Teach the test.”
For as long as any American can remember, education has been a top priority of the majority of the population. The more schooling a child receives, the brighter their future becomes. Everyone wants their child to be successful in and out of the classroom, and the government has been working to make sure of this in schools nationwide. Over the years, a series of programs have been implemented to better the education of elementary and secondary students, including the No Child Left Behind Act, establishing guidelines and requirements that public schools are expected to follow and accomplish in order to provide a quality education to all of their students. But are these plans, policies, and promises working? Are the goals and objections being reached by each school as expected? Although some may argue that the No Child Left Behind Act has some positive aspects, overall, it is not working because some teachers have studied the outline of standardized tests, reworking their curriculums to teach students what they need to know in order to reach the required standards and students’ learning abilities, socioeconomic status’, and native languages are generalized into a single curriculum.
Since the No Child Left Behind Act has come into effect, it has caused some concerns with teachers and parents alike on how well it is working for the students. There have been issues to be addressed and instead been overlooked. Because in “Is No Child Left Behind Effective For All Students?” Parents Don’t Think So, a school who fails to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for four or more years is considered under corrective action and the state board must make serious changes to the school. Randolph and Wilson-Younger, (Oct. 22, 2012). Our government has offered states the chance to waive requirements but the states have to make specific reforms in exchange for flexibility. During the first round of waivers offered, 11 states applied. The states had to fill out applications. Each state must put in an application for a waiver and if a state receives a wavier it will last for two years and then they can reapply. These waivers are needed because the No Child Left Behind is broken. The laws can identify which schools that are in need of improvement based on their achievement targets. The law prescribes interventions but the interventions are not working as well as they could be. Lawmakers have proposed to move a bill to the Senate or House floor. However, the Republicans had p...
The need for basic literacy skills is vital in order for our nation to continue to operate successfully. With approximately 5 million students, graduating below the National Standard for Literacy and unable to read, we must take a look at the curriculum and teaching techniques to assess whether the current systems need to be revised to better assure ALL students are successful. (Adolescent Literacy: A Policy Research Belief p. 1) The issue begins first with the definition of “Literacy”, and the fact that there are several aspects of literacy which are not currently included in the curriculum. Another issue is the “old” standards which are in place do not support the level of diversity which is now seen in many school systems. Then comes the issue of funding for schools and many schools in better neighborhoods obtain the highest level of private, and public funding and therefore are able to provide the higher level of education. However, in “The Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act”, Senator Patty Murray states, “Research also shows that low income children are less likely to have access to high quality, literacy rich environments. These same children perform 40% lower on assessments of literacy achievement even before they start kindergarten.” (Murray) So, whose responsibility is it to ensure the success of the upcoming generations? Will the Federal Government step in to create a better system for the generations to come? There are quite a few solutions which have been used by Teachers, but with such an “old” system in place the issues of diversity, financial demand, inflexibility of the curriculum to assist individual students, classroom sizes increasing on a yearly basis, pressure to achieve sp...
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is bringing down the American education system for the sake of academic competition with other countries that use better methods. This country hasn’t changed its methods in decades. By addressing different aspects of the problem, it can be solved more efficiently and quickly. Three different aspects will be addressed here: what the American education system already does, what other countries are doing (as well as cultural differences), and what we should be doing. What we should be doing is a general combination of what other successful countries are doing, taking advice from experienced educators, and abolishing stressful, unnecessary practices.
As argued in “Making the Grade,” the No Child Left Behind Act seeks to reduce gaps in testing areas that have allowed kids to advance without having high-quality skills in subjects such as math and reading. By discovering what kids are slipping through the gaps in testing, it will be easier for schools to aid these students and make sure they are not left behind. Other main goals of this act include to find teachers who are not well educated in the subjects they are currently teaching, and to locate those schools who fail t...
The new generation of the twenty first century has been given many well deserved titles, but being lazy is not one of them. High school exit exams have been a part of school curriculums since the 1800’s, and the first was administered in New York in 1878 under heavy controversy (Finkel 1). Opponents of the exit exam cite the lower graduation percentages, and how a grown adult without a diploma will suffer heavily in their adult lives. What many will not admit to is that the benefits of these exit exams are equally as far reaching as the so called “cons” of the tests. The high school exit exam encourages teachers to push their students, and set a national standard for high school achievement to ensure American students are prepared for the international and collegiate levels.
Moreover, in elementary school, there was a program “Book It,” which was a reading program to encourage children to read more often. We received special buttons that...
In a multitude of high schools across the nation, an increasing number of students are deciding to enroll in AP classes, of which a large percentage are quite unsuited for the upper level class they are about to take. These advanced placement classes are meant to stimulate the brightest children of the school population, as well as for students to prove themselves as deserving of sought-after college credit. However, perhaps due to parental and peer pressure, those who clearly do not have the intelligence or motivation necessary to take these classes end up enrolling in these courses. The original intent of making these advanced classes open access was to enable minorities, who are bogged down even today by racial stigmas
Year after year students put themselves through large amounts of stress, attempts to prepare themselves mentally, and spend majority of their waking hours studying for standardized testing required through the No child left behind act (NCLB). An act put in place by the Bush Administration in hopes and efforts for student around the country to excel in education. However, the No Child Left behind Act is hindering a student’s ability to perform in the classroom rather than the student to excel as planned. Amongst other countries around the world, the United States performs significantly lower in education. Overall, the act had good intentions, but does it really raise achievement and close the achievement gap? Improving education has always been a top priority in the white house. Many laws have been passed but how many have succeed? NCLB is one of the biggest social engineering projects of our time, but shows very little progress in our children’s education. The No Child Left behind Act causes more of a negative outcome by being ineffective at achieving academic improvement, closing the education gap, limiting the teaching material for instructors, and causes a harmful repercussion on children and adolescents mentally and emotionally.