Renaissance Accelerated Reader vs. Tebra EHR vs. Think Exam

I have found Renaissance Accelerated Reader to be well-suited for elementary readers. I don't have experience using it with high school students; however, I know that for our elementary readers, there are no shortages of tests available. Our students can read trade books, articles within the program, or even stories from our textbooks and take tests on them

Kareo is not an appropriate application for any real-world clinical need. It is highly unreliable, crashing frequently, and often becomes frozen. It also cannot ingest data from Therapy Notes, which was a promised feature of the platform according to the sales team. Additionally, when we ran into reliability issues (every day, with every clinician at the practice, across a dozen different office locations with different internet service providers) we were not offered the ability to cancel our contract. Until the reliability issues are fixed Kareo is not well-suited to any use case because it does not work.

• Automatically calculating ZPD ranges. Student level ranges are automatically calculated within the system to ensure that students are correctly choosing the most appropriate books for them.
• Easy goal setting. Whether you want to set a blanket goal based on 20 minutes per day of reading time for the class, or you want to individually set goals up to an hour a day, AR makes it very easy to manage and set goals for your entire classroom. Goals can be adjusted as needed easily as well.
• Comprehension monitoring through testing. I can easily see which students are struggling on comprehension through AR book quizzes. From student scores, I can either motivate students who are rushing through books to slow down and take time to thoroughly read, or I can help students who are possibly struggling to read harder books with specific strategies that will benefit them the most. Without the testing feature of AR, I would have a lot more work to check how students are doing on their independent reading.
• Data that is easy to understand and share with students. From either running a report on the entire class or school to just a specific student, AR makes data tracking easy. I can share reports with students and have detailed discussions about their progress towards meeting their goals or steps to take to overcome reading challenges they are currently having.

Incentivized

• Catching missing patient info
• Catching missing insurance info
• Providing mailing addresses

• Lately, Accelerated Reader has been adding "New Reports" which would help single class users such as a teacher with one class. But for a person with administrative rights, it creates a bit of a hassle to get the information needed at times.
• Cost - Accelerated Reader is expensive. For the price paid, I feel Renaissance should include some features instead of having additional fees paid.

Incentivized

• Everything created can always use adjusting depending on the situation
• Adapting to client needs quicker
• Problems are not reported in a timely manner

Incentivized

[Renaissance] Accelerated Reader is a great way to track student progress, motivate students to read, and measure their comprehension. Accelerated reader gives both teachers and students immediate feedback. There are countless options of books for students and can help increase student interest in books and improve students' reading ability.

Incentivized

Kareo was a massive waste of money. It's an unreliable product without promised features and sold by a disingenuous sales team. We will stick to reliable services like Doxy, Therapy Notes, etc.

I give Renaissance Accelerated Reader a great 10 in usability rating. I give this rating because overall the program is very easy to use and for the most part easy to understand. I am currently in my first year working in the library and with the teachers using the Renaissance Accelerated Reader program so there is still much to learn, but it has been an overall great experience so far. All of the data is easy to read and there is so much information to look over in case anything is missed or not understood. I have so far been very happy with the Renaissance Accelerated Reader program and what it has done for the students.

The user interface is fine but it the app constantly freezes or crashes.

I have not encountered any problems with availability

Quick loading, no issues.

Incentivized

Renaissance Reader has a great support team, and generally, they are quick to respond when needed. The live chat tool is a life-saver when trying to get your problems solved in real-time. They also have a lot of online support articles that ensure that you can get your questions answered without necessarily having to use the live chat during the school day.

Extensive training on Ren Place is necessary. There are a myriad of reports that we need help understanding. I have joined Ren Royals and have learned a lot from that support piece.

Incentivized

I have not used any of the products listed. However, AR has been my choice of product. My school system choice this product because it interfaces well with all other reading and testing programs that have been purchased. It is an excellent product, but that is a given since it was developed by a teacher to address a problem that all educators deal with (How do you help a struggling reader best?). AR is the answer for me.

I selected Kareo EHR because it was a lot simpler to use and the customer service was definitely better. Every representative I have spoken to has been super friendly and helpful.

Incentivized

Because students can take tests on varying book levels.

• The goal of AR is for kids to enjoy books, spread their wings, and experience a variety of literature & genres. Children need copious amounts of reading to become good readers. Incorporating Renaissance Accelerated Reader 360 into our day sets a purpose for reading and holds children accountable.
• Renaissance Accelerated Reader 360 is research based. The single biggest predictor of academic success is time spent reading. This program allows for that.
• Renaissance Accelerated Reader 360 allows for scaffolding of reading material to get the kids into more challenging material. This program allows children to be successful and build on their strengths.
• Renaissance Accelerated Reader 360 empowers students to take ownership in the learning process. It gives them a voice.
• Renaissance Accelerated Reader 360 is a program that lets students practice and apply skills and strategies learned during mini lessons and strategy-group instruction.

Incentivized

• We have negative reviews as we were sold a product that left out some key variables. Things we really needed to make the transition.
• I don't think KAREO is good for small business (0-10 employees) because their prices for additional or standard features is steep. They charge by the therapist to boot and it is steep!
• Again ASK questions; do a test run; ask about the migration of your data and its charges.
• You sign with them you will be locked into a 12 month contract with no out clause. If they are costing you the money you have to stay with them.

Incentivized