May 2013 Newsletter

Small Steps Towards a New AR Experience

We released our latest newsletter today.  You can view on the online version by clicking the image below

May 2013 Newsletter

 

Meet the All New Accelerated Reader

Accelerated Reader is about to receive a major facelift. The student and teacher user interface has been completely redesigned to help students find books, see the different quizzes available on that book and ultimately a much clearer way of communicating results to students.

The key points for you

  • All sites are scheduled for update in late April or Early May 2013
  • Whilst the look and feel will be new and exciting, the functionality will not change
  • Students will have no difficulty in actually doing quizzes on the day that it updates
  • The student and teacher interfaces will change at the same time
  • Students will see a fantastic new set of screens showing their quiz results

[Read more...]

Accelerated Reader Desktop Discontinued

AR Desktop ImageIn April 2012, Renaissance Learning in the USA made some decisions about the future of the Desktop Version of Accelerated Reader, STAR Reading and Accelerated Maths that will impact us here in Australia and New Zealand.

Renaissance Learning announced the end of life on the desktop versions of Accelerated Reader, STAR Reading and Accelerated Maths.  This is a common thing that all software companies do from time to time, so that is not out of the ordinary.  This decision though means that EdAlliance too must announce alterations to the support and products we can supply to Australian and New Zealand schools across our region.

In simple practical terms this means:

  • The Australian and New Zealand Quiz stores closed 31 December 2012
  • There will no new Desktop Versions of any products developed
  • There will be limited support available for the Desktop Versions

The following versions of the desktop products were sold in Australia and New Zealand between 1999 and 2009 and are now discontinued:

  • Accelerated Reader – v 5.1 – v 6.30 – v 6.32 – v 6.35x
  • STAR Reading – v 2.2.1
  • Accelerated Maths – v 2.11 – v 2.4x
From 1 January 2013, you will not be able From 1 January 2013, you will not be able

to purchase quizzes or redeem quiz vouchers for the desktop version
to purchase student expansions for any of the desktop version
Renew your support plan

It is now time to move to the Accelerated Reader Advantage version of the product.

Or simply request a quote

2012 YABBA Award Winners

Through out 2012 I’ve been a very proud member of the volunteer committee of the Young Australian’s Best Book Awards (YABBA) that runs the children’s choice book awards in Victoria.  This fantastic committee enthusiastically works hard to bring student voice to the Australian Children’s Books Industry. Through EdAlliance I agreed to print and distribute the 2012 Shortlist Poster which 1,000 schools around Australian received for free.

If you requested a poster I hope that it helped bring these Australian books to the attention of your students. As an Accelerated Reader customer you will notice I have some work to do with the Quiz Writers to get a bunch of them quizzed ASAP.  I’m addressing that right now.

On 7 November 2012, the YABBA Awards in Victoria announced the 2012 winners at a star-studded gathering attended by 250 students and 60 Authors, Illustrators and industry professionals. This was the very first YABBA Awards Ceremony that I’ve personally attended and I was just blown away by the energy, excitement and most importantly the high quality interactions between students and the people that write and illustrate books just for them.

I’ve produced an A3 poster showing the winners and encouraging students to think about the books they’ve read this year.

Download the A3 Poster Here Download the A3 Poster Here

 

 

 

 

Using Non Fiction with Accelerated Reader

Win $385 of Books

When I advised the fantastic people at Forward Learning, the Australian distributor of World Book products, that I was about to release 300+ books from their catalogue they wanted to help us launch these quizzes with a bang.

So they’ve very generously decided to donate a set of the Inventions and Discoveries series to a worthy school. 

But how do I pick a worthy school?  I came up with a little challenge.

All you need to do is tell me in 250 words or less how you use non-fiction titles with Accelerated Reader at your school.  The entry judged as the most interesting use of Non-Fiction with Accelerated Reader will win the books.

Deadline Extended Until 17 August 2012

Using Non-Fiction with Accelerated Reader

Complete this form by 31 July 2012 to win a set of books from the World Book collection valued at $385

  • Enter the name of your school
  • Give your idea a fun and interesting title
  • Describe in 250 words or less how you use Accelerated Reader and non-fiction books to motivate students to read.

AR App Released

Get our Free Accelerated Reader Student App

Imagine the excitement you’ll generate when your eager students can take AR Quizzes and receive their quiz results on their iPhone®, iPad®, or iPod touch® at school (students can not quiz from home).  The newly released Accelerated Reader Student App can now be downloaded free from the App Store® or iTunes®.


The AR App works on any of these devices


 You will just love the way the App shows students their progress to date


 The new book shelf shows students all their quiz results…


You can download and use the AR App completely free of charge and will require an active Accelerated Reader Advantage subscription.
You can get the AR App direct from the App store via this link – CLICK HERE

Expression of Interest – Term 3 AR Reading Challenge

In late 2010, Alex Rayner from Lord Lawson of Beamish school in the UK contacted me with the general idea of setting up a collaboration between his school and one in Australia.  By absolute chance that very day the Australian cricket team was announced for the upcoming Ashes series between England and Australia.

So I got to thinking, here we have an English school wanting to collaborate with an Australian school, the Ashes are about to be played in the upcoming Australian summer…  So the AR Ashes were born!

The next step was to find an Australian school that wanted to play in the AR Ashes.  Seeing this was the very first time we had constructed such a competition I needed to keep the competition pretty small and decided to invite only a few schools to play so that it didn’t become too big!

I sent off a few invites hoping that I might find one school to play.  Well, every school that I contacted decided that it was a great idea and we ended up with 6 schools playing in the AR Ashes.

The competition was very simple:

  • Each school created as many teams of students they liked – some used classes some used smaller groupings
  • Each student completed a STAR Reading test to determine their current Reading Age
  • Each student was assigned an AR Points Target based on 20 minutes of daily reading over 6 weeks from the standard AR Points Target Chart
  • All the individual AR Points Targets were added together to form a team s
  • The AR Points each team accumulated were then used to calculate a percentage of target
  • The team with the highest percentage of target was the winner

We awarded prizes for the following categories:

  • All members of the winning team received a $15 iTunes voucher
  • The individual student with the highest personal percentage of target received a $100 iTunes voucher

You can view all the details here – www.ARReadingChallenge.com.au

Here is some feedback from the schools that played:

“Gave our normal program a different focus and added interest and motivation”

“The classes involved were highly motivated and excited about reading which was great to see”

“Our students were very disappointed when the competition ended.”

I have a plan to run an Australia and New Zealand competition in Term 3 this year.  If you want to play or more details complete the form below:

[Read more...]

Meet Cosmo, an AR Champion

This little guy is meant to help you explain Accelerated Reader to your students.

You see Cosmo was a little worried about selecting a book in the library, but realised that he had just completed his STAR Reading test.  So he selected a book within his reading range and ended up getting fantastic results on his latest AR Quiz.

The bookmark and the poster are basically the same, just different size of course.

The bookmark is 250mm x 55mm, whilst the post is A2 size.  Both are full colour and a nice glossy finish.

This is the bookmark

Click through to complete the order form

[Read more...]

AR Advantage Upgrade Website

Many of you will know that EdAlliance bought the online version of Accelerated Reader to Australia in 2009.  AR Advantage is the name of this online, fully hosted and integrated package of software.

We have developed a new website that will explain the new version if you are interested in upgrading.

You can visit the site at www.ARUpgrade.com.au

 

 

 

 

Buy Quizzes

There are three quiz stores for Accelerated Reader in the world.  You need to make sure you are using the Australian and New Zealand store.  If you follow the link below you will need to specify the country that you want.

Click through here to access the AR Quiz Store

Request Presentation

We can present Accelerated Reader to your teaching staff.  The presentation can be after school, during school hours or via web-meeting if you are remote.

Our presentation of the product typically involves a complete look at how you might use the tool and the student outcomes you might see.  Ultimately we try to make our sessions hands on and not lectures, teachers will be expected to work during the session.

Request Presentation

If you would like someone to present an overview of Accelerated Reader, please complete this form and we will get back to you.

  • Enter the name of your school
  • Please let us know what specifically you would like to know about Accelerated Reader

Request Information

To receive additional information or a quote please complete this form

Request More Information

If you would like more information on Accelerated Reader please complete this form

    Please select everything that you would like us to email to you.
  • Request Quotation

    If you would like a detailed quote for your school to implement AR, please complete these details
  • Please let us know if you currently have a license for the desktop version of either Accelerated Reader and/or STAR Reading
  • If you have specific questions enter them here

Suggest Titles

The constant challenge with Accelerated Reader is finding the right books to complete quizzes on.

You are in the best position to know what students are reading and therefore the most appropriate books for quizzes.

Suggest Books for Quizzing

Recommend the books you’d like quizzes for

  • Individual Books

    If you have a single book, then complete these details
  • Author’s first and last name
  • Message

    If you just generally need levels or have a general quiz request or just want to tell us something about the quizzes please detail it here: