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
Meet the All New Accelerated Reader
6 March 2013 by Leave a Comment
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
Accelerated Reader Desktop Discontinued
16 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
In 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 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
16 November 2012 by Leave a Comment
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
Using Non Fiction with Accelerated Reader
16 July 2012 by
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
AR App Released
4 March 2012 by 4 Comments
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.
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
4 May 2011 by Leave a Comment
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:
Meet Cosmo, an AR Champion
12 February 2011 by Leave a Comment
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
AR Advantage Upgrade Website
28 August 2010 by Leave a Comment
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
24 June 2009 by
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.
Request Presentation
24 June 2009 by
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 Information
24 June 2009 by
To receive additional information or a quote please complete this form
Suggest Titles
24 June 2009 by
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.
