Reading is a crucial element of everyone's life. Whether or not a person reads well can affect his or her future tremendously.

The Accelerated Reader program is based on the fundamental principal that practice improves reading. The Accelerated Reader (AR) program allows students to engage in large amounts of reading practice with books that students select themselves that are written at a level that is appropriate for them. Using computer technology, the AR program makes it possible for teachers to motivate, monitor, and guide a student's reading progress so that the student's reading ability continually improves.

The AR system involves three simple steps: (1) a student selects and reads a book (they CANNOT listen to taped books); (2) the student takes an AR Reading Practice quiz: and (3) the computer adds the quiz results to its database and allows generation of a report for the student and teacher. The student earns points based on the number of questions correctly answered.

The AR program has been used at Sacred Heart for several years for grades 2-6. We currently have over 2,100 AR quizzes, ranging from a book level of 1.0 to a book level of 8.9, available to our students. We continually add to our AR inventory, both books and tests, as monies become available.

When a student achieves their AR point goal in a grading period they will earn a dress pass with a maximum of two dress passes awarded each grading period.

No AR points will be carried over to the next grading period.

By each mid-term, students should have at least one half of their required points for the grading period. Teachers will be monitoring points throughout the grading period and guiding students in their selections of books. Students will not be allowed to wait until the last week of the grading period to earn their AR points.

If you have specific questions regarding your child's AR point requirements or progress, please contact his/her teacher for an appointment.