At Beechwood Elementary School the Accelerated Reader Program is more than just reading books and taking tests. “But I do want to say it’s not just about the points because we want to create readers and the love of reading. We want to create life-long readers,” said Rhonda Hendrix, the Librarian at Beechwood. Teachers at Beechwood are more concerned about creating successful students than they are about AR points.
Last year Beechwood had the highest reading scores in the state and looks to replicate those results again.
This year the students of Beechwood are looking to exceed last year’s AR point total though they are not motivated by their teachers to do so, as the school does not set an overall point goal for the students to reach.
The teachers of Beechwood started using the program to help create bridges between the students in upper grades and lower grades.
Students in upper grades are asked to spend time helping students in lower grades meet their goals. This activity has proven to increase friendships between the students, which results in a decrease in bullying, creating a more unified student body.
Teachers at Beechwood are proud of this response and say the students in the upper grades seem genuinely happy to spend time with the students in the lower grades.
“We believe in our kids,” said Hendrix who explained that Beechwood believe that success and growth for the students is inevitable.
At the end of the year successful students in lower grades who have met their computer-generated AR goal are given a big water slide and party. Students in fifth and sixth-grade who meet their computer-generated goals are taken out to lunch in a limo. Each year the number of students who attend these parties is more than the previous year.
In recent years AR has implemented Common Core by adding the high standard reading selections of to the AR reading list. Students can take AR tests on their in-class reading assignments. Beechwood began offering their students the program in 1990 and since then have found that a successful AR program benefits both teachers and students.