OHMS in national reading challenge

OXFORD HILLS —  Local middle schoolers and teachers are gearing up for a second year of the "Read the Most from Coast to Coast," national reading challenge sponsored by Renaissance Learning, to take place on March 1. 

But this year, the bar is set much higher, says Cheryl Lang, Oxford Hills Middle School literacy coach.

According to Lang, students and staff at OHMS are joining other schools across the nation to top last year's record for Accelerated Reader quizzes – 3,581,992 – taken in one day. 

Accelerated Reader, according to Renaissance Learning, is the most widely used K-12 reading management software program in the country. The program helps educators encourage reading practice and improve reading comprehension levels.

In 2011, schools nationwide succeeded in taking 2,177,586 quizzes, Lang said, suggesting the number of successfully completed quizzes will continue to grow every year.

The goal of the event is to promote independent reading among students and for students to challenge themselves, Lang said.

She said students are encouraged to choose books at the appropriate reading level. For each book read, students take one AR quiz. 

"We [OHMS] use Accelerated Reader strictly as our independent reading monitor," Lang said. 

"We want [students] to be reading on a regular basis and understanding what [they] are reading, engaging in their reading and building reading stamina," Lang explained. 

"It's about developing a love of reading," Lang said. 

Last year, OHMS took a total of 877 AR quizzes –  students completed 786 quizzes and staff completed 91.

Students and staff combined passed 723 out of the 877 quizzes taken. Students passed 641 quizzes, while staff passed 82 quizzes.

Overall, participation among students was 72 percent, Lang reported. 

Lang said this year's challenge will be more organized than last year. The OHMS library will again be set up as a quiet testing atmosphere, where students will take their AR quizzes on-line, she said.

Each student will be given a certificate of participation and a small prize for completing one book quiz. Those who complete more than one quiz will put their names in a drawing for a larger prize to be announced at an assembly at the end of the school day.

Last year students were asked to report the number of quizzes they took and successfully passed to Mrs. Lang, who entered the number of quizzes completed by each student into a program on her laptop. 

According to Lang, quizzes will now be automatically calculated on the AR testing database, the largest single database of student book-reading behavior, according to a release from Renaissance Learning.

The new database will enable her to track students' progress more easily and frequently, Lang said. 

It will also free up some congestion of students in the library after quizzes are complete. "It will be remarkably better," Lang said.  

Lang said she is solely envisioning a testing culture, where students will ring a bell and say, "Yes to the test!" after they have finished their quizzes. 

According to Lang, students have been gearing up for the challenge and counting down the days. "We are building up the anticipation," she said.

Teachers and staff at OHMS are also being encouraged to read and take an AR quiz, Lang said.

"It gets the kids excited," Lang said, "to see their teachers testing as well."