Renaissance Accelerated Reader® is designed to save educators time by empowering them with Learnalytics® to make differentiating independent and close reading practice effortless – all while maintaining the flexibility necessary to fit within existing classroom routines. Students are engaged in reading self-selected authentic books and articles.
Short comprehension quizzes and built-in close reading practice activities, combined with automatic and educator feedback, keep students…
N/A
WileyPLUS
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
WileyPLUS is a learning and assesment platform which can be added to many popular LMS, from Wiley.
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
It's a good platform that has some very good content. We use Canvas as our learning management platform. It is nice to be able to integrate some of the pre-build WileyPLUS course modules into our Canvas course. Other publishers are good too and they sync with Canvas, but I find Wiley's Canvas modules easy to use and customize.
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.
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.
[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.
I would say that Accelerated Reader is a pretty user-friendly tool. The platform is easily used by teachers, administrators, and students of all grade levels and technical abilities. That being said, it would be nice to see some tweaks to the user interface to make it even easier for everyone to navigate.
Renaissance Accelerated Reader is a program I have used with students for 9 years. It is so flexible and easy to use! I have seen the amazing benefits and an increase in the minutes my students read each day. I look forward to using this program next year and learning more about how it can help increase reading in our school.
24-7 support is available by phone, chat, or email. They also hold annual events which I have been blessed to attend twice. The staff is excellent. They are knowledgeable and genuinely care about you and your students. There are online forums for instructors to collaborate, learn, and have fun. Instructors receive gift cards for their participation too!
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.
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.
WileyPLUS is far better than one competing product I have used and noticeably better than a second competing product I have tested. I prefer not to name the other products. It is much easier to operate from an instructor perspective. Given the low level of questions it generates from students, I am certain it is easy for students to pick up and the level of Wiley support given to me and to students is great.
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.
Decreased, significantly, my grading time. No more manual grading of work. It is more of a review that allows me to target specific areas and specific students.
Students now have resources to help them learn the content when they are away from class.
Students get immediate feedback (depending on instructor settings) on problem areas and the ability to learn from their mistakes without having to wait for the instructor.
