From staff and press reports
April Wallace and her 14 students were awarded Accelerated Reader
Model School Certification by Renaissance Learning, a certification
that acknowledges that Wallace’s efforts to promote personalized
reading practice, assess comprehension, and monitor progress have
resulted in measurable improvements in reading proficiency.
Accelerated Reader Model School Certification demonstrates that a
majority of the school’s students have met or exceeded goals for
reading practice and comprehension. After reading fiction and non-
fiction books at the appropriate level, students take quizzes to
assess their comprehension. Accelerated Reader provides immediate
feedback to help teachers facilitate reading level growth.
“The students have done a very good job,” said Wallace.
This is the school’s first year reaching Accelerated Reader Model
School Certification and it is Wallace’s first year as a teacher.
To qualify for the honor of Model Classroom, teachers assist students
in goal setting and monitor the progress of each student, 90 percent
of students must maintain at least an 85 percent accuracy rate on
tests, and students must read daily at least 20 minutes.
The students in Wallace’s class have read over 235 books and averaged
about 17 books each.
“You can learn about so many new things,” said Grace Yarbrough about
why reading was important to her.
Diamond Burton added that she learned new words each time she read.
Wallace noted that the students did learn a great deal from reading
even if they did not realize it.
Wallace aims to continue to get the students focused, scoring well
and reading well so that the class may earn the next level of success
in the program with Master Classroom.
To qualify for Master Classroom, students must average at least 25
minutes of independent reading, 90 percent of students must average
90 percent on AR Quizzes, and students must maintain 80 percent of AR
points earned from independent reading.
Teachers guide their students in goal setting and monitor their
Wallace noted that while the Master Class designation is much work to
achieve that she is excited about building toward it.
Accelerated Reading is a computer aided readingprogram that helps
teachers manage and monitor children’s independent reading practice.
Students pick books at their own level and read at their own pace.
When finished, students take a short quiz on the computer. (Passing
the quiz is an indication that the child understood what was read.)
AR gives both children and teachers feedback based on the quiz
results, which the teacher then uses to help students set goals and
direct ongoing reading practice.