Computer-Assisted Assessment of Practice at Reading: A Large Scale Survey Using Accelerated Reader Data

Multiple schools, Multiple cities, Alabama (AL), California (CA), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Indiana (IN), Iowa (IA), Kentucky (KY), Louisiana (LA), Minnesota (MN), Mississippi (MS), Missouri (MO), New York (NY), North Carolina (NC), Pennsylvania (PA), South Carolina (SC), Tennessee (TN),

Abstract:

DETAILS: Location: Throughout the US; Design: Independent, peer-reviewed; Sample: 659,214 students in grades K-12 at 2,193 schools; Measure: Accelerated Reader data.

RESULTS: This study provided further evidence of the positive relationship between amount of reading practice and reading ability. In addition to gathering Accelerated Reader data for the study sample, 13,000 schools were also surveyed for the project, and the ethnicity and socioeconomic status of these students were found to be generally similar to U.S. students as a whole. Consistent with other research in the field, the study found that students in the highest quartile practiced reading 3.4 to 4.1 times more than students in the lowest quartile. In addition, the top 5% of readers read 144 times more than bottom 5%. The data also suggested that, on average, amount of reading practice increases until 6th grade and then declines. Finally, it was observed that schools using Accelerated Reader for 4 or more years had a 64% higher level of reading practice compared to schools using Accelerated Reader for 1 year.

PLEASE NOTE: The Summary of this peer-reviewed journal article: Topping, K. J., & Paul, T. D. (1999). Computer-assisted assessment of practice at reading: A large scale survey using Accelerated Reader data. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 15(3), 213-231 is available online.

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Publication Date:
06/01/1999