Amy

Posted on 6/04/09

Wonderful! You're the first person who has gotten my point.

Those of you who thought I was complaining that there weren't enough
available tests sure missed the boat!!!!! I am not making a point
about TESTING at all. I am making a point about the ability of a
child to SELECT based on personal need, reading ability and interest.

An information literate person is capable of selecting a source based
on need or interest, and evaluating that source based on a variety of
criteria which I hope all of you know well.

My point: THE AR PROGRAM DOES NOT PRODUCE INFORMATION LITERATE
CHILDREN.

Proof: At the end of this school year (a little over two weeks ago) I
gave a sixth grade class that visited our public library a "scavenger
hunt" (eg test). 32 kids were in the class.

Kids worked in pairs. Each pair was given a question testing their
ability to find and evaluate sources. They were given 15 minutes to
accomplish this task. All of the answers to the questions could be
found in multiple sources in our library. Both electronic and print
sources were acceptable.

2 Sample questions:

Find an information source about spiders. In the space below write
down WHY you selected this source and HOW you found it in the library.

Find a fiction book by a favorite author. In the space below write
down WHY this is your favorite author and HOW you found the book in
the library.

Results:

Observation:
Kids fought over the 12 computers available to them for this task. I
did not observe any of them using the catalog to find sources, instead
they used general search engine searches to find information. Other
kids wandered the stacks pulling books aimlessly off the shelves. Many
got frustrated and angry.

Quantification of responses:
60% of the students were able to find an information source, whether
on-line or in print. ONLY 60 PERCENT, TEACHERS!!!

7% had an answer for WHY they chose that source (an acceptable answer
being other than "I liked it.") ONLY SEVEN PERCENT, TEACHERS!!!!!

73% of those who found an information source had an answer for HOW
THEY FOUND the source(this is a less reliable measure, as the
answer "on the computer" was accepted even though it is probable this
did not mean a catalog or database search.)

So, what does this show me?

At the very least, that students in our local schools are not learning
useful information search and evaluation techniques. At the most?
That THE AR PROGRAM IS AN INEFFECTIVE TOOL FOR PRODUCING LITERATE
HUMAN BEINGS.

The only thing I'll grant you is that it forces children who wouldn't
normally choose to read anything to read something. Is that really
enough for you???

As long as I'm here, I'll continue to try to supplement the apalling
illiteracy produced by the AR program in our community. But I'm
beginning to look for other jobs - and you can be sure that the first
question I'll ask the interview committee is: Is this an AR community?

One more thing. A few months ago I attended a regional conference
which brings in children's authors to speak. The conference was
attended by public librarians, school media specialists and teachers.
AR was not discussed at all. However, in a general discussion, one
teacher stood up and actually said the following: (this is a
paraphrase) "I make all of my students read at the 4 point level even
though some might want to read at higher levels, because they can
learn more in-depth if they are forced to read at grade level."

I literally almost threw up. So sad.

On 6/03/09, reading teacher wrote:
> On 5/05/09, D wrote:
>
> If you give a mouse a
>> cookie...
>
>
> If you give a child a book (without a test attached), see the child
> ask for another book!
>
> The librarian has stated the effects of AR and it's point-driven
> agenda. I've experienced numerous students searching for a book in
> the library and the only selection criteria they are interested in
> is the AR level and point value. Their own reading interests or
> preferences aren't even condsiderations. That is sad. And we wonder
> why many students aren't passionate, critical readers. AR has
> transformed them into robotic, surface level readers.

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