AR (Accelerated Reader)

Yes, my youngest son's school uses AR. He's in the 2nd grade. The goal is set by the teacher. It's set every 6 weeks, and it is part of his six weeks grade. He meets his goal every 6 weeks, but I'm still not a fan of AR. We went through it with my oldest, too. I was glad when he got old enough to not mess with AR.

We moved to a school that used it when he was in the 3rd grade.
It's meant to encourage reading by making it a competition (how many points can you earn?).
My son never participated in the system before (other kids had started in kindergarten) and his first year he earned an actual trophy and 4 tickets to the Air and Space Museum by earning the most points ever earned in a single year.
He wins awards for this every year.
But, towards the end of elementary school the problem we had was - he was reading middle school level books and the elementary school didn't have the AR tests for them.
His first year in middle school he cleaned up by reviewing some books he'd already read and now he could take the tests - another trophy year.
This year the points are slowing down - not because he's not reading (he's ALWAYS reading) but because his schedule is so busy his classes don't give him time to get to the school library to take an AR test.
AR isn't a requirement anymore at this school system but it's still meant as an encouragement to get kids to read.

AR was one of our dinner discussion topics today!

At my kids' school, they start AR in the second 1/2 of 2nd grade for practice, and for real in 3rd grade. The teacher and student meet together and decide what the goal will be for the quarter. My 4th grade son's goal for this quarter is 35, and he has 17 points as of today, he is nervous he won't meet his goal, but last quarter his goal was 33 and he earned something like 49 points. It is not part of their grade, but they do get recognition for reaching their goal.

My daughter does AR in school. Her goal is 20 but I'm not certain how it's computed be it 9 weeks or the entire year. She is in the 2nd grade and has 46.7 points currently. It is not part of her grade in the classroom however she is rewarded for doing well and in her case for having the highest amount of points out of her entire class.

Yes, my kid's school uses this. I haaaate it! My kids are in 3rd and 1st grade. The teachers had them choose their goal during Parent Teacher Conference, for a 9 week period, but at that time my kid just threw out a number and I have no idea what it was or where he is at on it. The teacher does not have time to update them on their goal more than once every few weeks. My first grader's teacher has a marker on the wall that shows where they are on the goal, but I have no idea where she is at. We were never given login info to see progress online. I will have to check into getting that.
I just make sure my kids read or are read to at least 20-30 min per day and I try to get the AR # for them on the books and pester them to take the tests. It is a big pain in the butt though because the teachers want them to take 5 tests a week, but they also want them to read each book twice before they take a test (to make sure they comprehend the book) and they also want the parents to verbally quiz the kids on the book for reading comprehension. I think it is all a bit much.

Yes, and we have a literacy teacher who helps set the goals along with a librarian. (The literacy teacher used to be a 5th grade teacher and now does this instead) I believe the goal is set in the beginning of the year, not sure if it changes? And it does count towards their grade, I believe.

My daughter is only in 1st grade and they do it just for practice so I'm not too sure on the process but this is what I've gathered from the information I've read and the meeting I attended in the beginning of the year. Right now in 1st grade the AR goal is the same for all 1st graders and it does not count towards their grade. Its just practice for next year. They also start Kindergartens on it when they are ready.

Thanks for posing this question, it reminded me that I need to go look at my son's record on the website!

Anyway, our district uses AR for grades 2-5, I don't think the midde school uses it. The goals are set every 9 weeks, and they are set by the teacher, based on past performance. At the start of the year, the goal was set based on the results of a pre-test....not sure exactly how that worked, sorry. For this 3rd 9 week perid, my son's goal is a 4.0, and he is in 2nd grade.

Our district does NOT use it as a part of their reading grade, I guess you could say they count it as enrichment.

We also use the First in Math program, which is another great program out there that focuses on math skills and thinking. That's also not part of the grade.

My son is in 1st grade , the point goal is set by the teacher.
His current 9 week point goal is set at 15.
You can check your childs progress on the AR website.
Your teacher should have given you a log in and password for the site

Our school district also uses AR. The goal is set by the teacher. Some have tailored the goal to the student, some give the entire class the same goal. Each teacher seems to handle it differently. The goals are for the trimester. As for it being part of the grade, I'm not sure if its given a letter grade or if its looked at like completing an assignment versus an incomplete.

It is never supposed to be part of the grade, but many schools do.
I would ask your child's school so you know.
In K, it was 3 picture books per week. In 3rd it was 2 chapter books per week. It varies from school to school.

both of my sons went thru the AR program.

I hate it. I love it. It's a double-edged sword. I love that it makes reading a requirement, & has touched/helped many children who would not be reading otherwise. I hate that it is so limiting in it's scope & that many of my sons' favorite books were not on the accepted list. :(

In our school district, the AR program was supposed to be supplemental. Within 2 years, the reading grade was based on the AR test scores. Soooo with my older son, what he thought was extra credit abruptly became his entire grade! Totally sucked! & parents were not informed until the end of 1st quarter which meant all bad habits were fully-ingrained by then! Sooooo wrong on the school district's part. :(

With my younger son, eventually the AR scores diminished their effect on the grades as the teachers realized the program (in its singularity) was not effectively teaching the kids. As I had complained in the very beginning, they realized that kids needed the social interaction within the classroom to aid in comprehension.

I will never, ever forget the day my son read a book & scored 80%. When I was reviewing the book with him, I asked him a question about the main character. He didn't understand my question, so I said, "you know, the boy who was the ghost. The main character?" I was astounded to realize that my son had completely missed the fact that the main character was a ghost....not a real boy! & as time evolved, the teachers began to understand that this was intrinsically wrong within the AR program......full independence in reading fostered a lack of comprehension.

My younger son is in H.S. I do not miss AR. But I will say....since it was a requirement, it did keep both of my sons reading. Just last night, I had to say "lights out".....because he was trying to finish a chapter!

At our school, our son has been assessed probably once a reporting cycle (every few months). He needs to reach his AR goal to get an acceptable/meets standards mark. He's only in 3rd grade, so no letter grades just yet.

Yes we use it. It's set by Teacher. Depending on how they are doing. She wll move up goals. I hear if your child is say 2.4-.3.4 If your child reads the last of your goal. 3.4 then the grade will move up or increase. I just found that out. we were reading on the lower end of it. Never moved all year.