United for literacy: How an entire community supports student reading success

The challenge: Increasing student reading motivation

For fifth-grade ELA teacher Chad Peterman, making sure his students are strong readers is always a priority. When he joined the staff in Indian Valley, he noticed the lack of passion for reading in students. He knew something was missing—that something had to change to get students motivated to read.

Using his knowledge of Accelerated Reader (AR) from his prior teaching experience, he brought AR to the students in Indian Valley. Peterman had had great success with AR in the past, having found the program through somewhat unconventional means.

In addition to serving as a teacher, Peterman also coaches football. “As a coach, I find myself in situations where I’m outmatched—where my kids aren’t necessarily as big or as strong as the rival team’s,” he explains. “I have to ask, ‘What can I do to make the kids buy in? How can I get them to believe, to work toward a goal, and to see the progress they’re making?’”

When it comes to motivating student reading, Accelerated Reader gave Peterman the components he needed for success. Here’s how the program works:

1. Students choose which books to read, following their own interests. AR supports more than 220,000 titles from a wide range of genres—fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, biographies, and more.
2. Once they finish a book, students take a short comprehension quiz to demonstrate understanding. Quizzes are scored automatically, and students receive immediate feedback.
3. With each quiz, students earn points toward their reading goal. Points are determined based on the book’s length (word count) and text complexity, as measured on the ATOS scale. For example:
   • Goodnight, Moon—a picture book for beginning readers—is written at a first-grade level (ATOS 1.8) and earns a student 0.5 points.
   • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix—a chapter book for older students—is written at a seventh-grade level (ATOS 7.2) and earns 44 points.
4. To maintain motivation, students, teachers, and families can easily track and celebrate reading progress throughout the year.

The solution: Recognizing students’ reading accomplishments

Peterman knew that if students in upper elementary (grades 3–5) could achieve 25 AR points per quarter through their independent reading, they would hit 100 points by the end of the school year. That additional reading would have a clear impact on their performance on the year-end state test, while also helping them to build background knowledge and vocabulary.

How would he inspire students to achieve this?

His soon-to-be passion project of an “Accelerated Reader Auction” started small, with an extra recess or movie every nine weeks for students who achieved the reading goal for the quarter. He then created the idea of a year-end auction—complete with an auctioneer—where students would bid on prizes using their accumulated AR points. (Each point represents $1.)

Now in its ninth year, the AR Auction is beloved by the entire Indian Valley community, with staff, parents, and community members donating and even shopping together on Black Friday to get the best value to support the students and the auction. In recent years, the community has gathered an astonishing $25,000 in prizes for the auction, and community members and local businesses are excited to participate.

It’s not just an auction, however. It’s so much more.

It’s a constant motivator for students: motivation to keep reading, exploring new books, and taking the AR quizzes to demonstrate their comprehension. Whether it’s the latest Percy Jackson title or books about outer space, the students are clearly responding.

Peterman takes the opportunity of the auction to have students prepare personal statements, which they then present to him and their peers on the rationale behind their choice of auction prizes. These range from games and sports equipment to bikes, tablets, and even televisions.

Accelerated Reader has really helped us with vocabulary development and reading comprehension. Students who meet or exceed their AR goal are far more likely to grow their vocabulary and their ability to comprehend what they read, and our state test results reflect this.

—Chad Peterman, grade 5 teacher

Measuring the impact: Proficiency and beyond

While the year-end auction gets kids excited, Peterman points to the data as clear evidence that the AR program is not only working but is having a significant impact on learning outcomes.

During the 2023–2024 school year, for example, 781 students at two Indian Valley elementary schools participated. This included 317 students in grades K–2, who collectively:

• Passed 41,890 quizzes, with 88% accuracy
• Earned 20,600 AR points
• Read books with an average ATOS level of 3.1

In grades 3–5, 410 students collectively:

• Passed 50,865 quizzes, with 89% accuracy
• Earned 39,860 AR points
• Read books with an average ATOS level of 4.4

“In just one school year, students passed nearly 93,000 AR quizzes. This number still amazes me,” Peterman remarks, reflecting on the total number of books read. He adds that some students were initially skeptical of their ability to earn 100 AR points over the course of the year. “I said to them, ‘We’re going to read. When we have free time in class, we’re going to read. The only homework I’ll give you is 30 minutes of uninterrupted reading per night.’

“We also really preach the love of reading,” he continues. “We tell students, ‘If you like baseball, we’ll get you books. If you like horses, we’ll get you books.’ Our area is very rural, and kids spend a lot of time outdoors, so one of the first books I recommend each year is Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. It’s all about connecting books to the things kids like.”

This reading really adds up. Only six students in Peterman’s class didn’t achieve expected reading growth during the school year, as measured by the district’s universal screener. Five of those students also didn’t achieve 100 AR points; their average was only 55 points. “This is a clear red flag that students aren’t getting the practice, so they’re not going to make the expected reading growth.

“This data is especially helpful when I meet with families in the fall,” he continues. “I tell them that when students read daily and meet their AR goal each quarter, there’s a very high chance they will make expected growth for the year and will also score proficient—or better—on the state test. They just have to practice.”

In fact, 81% of students scored proficient or above in reading on the Ohio State Test the year that Peterman launched the AR Auction. A more recent analysis shows that 90% of the students who earn 100 AR points score proficient, with the majority achieving the Advanced or Accelerated rating.

“The Science of Reading focuses on five components: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension,” Peterson notes. “Accelerated Reader has really helped us with vocabulary development and reading comprehension. Students who meet or exceed their AR goal are far more likely to grow their vocabulary and their ability to comprehend what they read, and our state test results reflect this.”

Looking ahead: Maintaining the momentum

Peterman and his colleagues are proud of everything the Indian Valley students have accomplished, and they’re committed to continuing the annual AR Auction as the centerpiece of their successful reading initiative.

“We tell the students, ‘This is one of the events where you’re rewarded for your work.’ I’m a firm believer that you have to work hard for what you want in life. Nothing is going to be free,” Peterman explains. “The auction is an example of this. At the beginning of the year, students will say to me, ‘This is what I want at the auction—how many books should I read? How many points will I need?’

“They’ll then give me weekly updates on their progress. It’s great to see, this back-and-forth with the kids as they discover new books and work to achieve a goal that really excites them—and to know they’ll be recognized for their accomplishments.”

Looking for similar success in your schools?

If you’re looking for new ways to motivate student reading, we can help. Connect with a literacy expert to see everything that Accelerated Reader has to offer—and how to use the program in your schools to help inspire a lifelong love of reading.