Accelerated Reader and Data Visualizations

Come On In...and welcome to my post about Accelerated Reader and Data Visualizations.

I've blogged about Accelerated Reader before, and how it motivates children to read, but today I want to use the data provided by the Accelerated Reader program to create some revealing informative data visualizations. One of the the most important aspects of the Accelerated Reader program is that it provides numerous amounts of data. In fact, it provides data on students, classes, grade levels, and school-wide information.  As a teacher, I benefit from this data when conferencing with parents, and it also allows me to keep track of student AR progress. For this post, I have created three examples of AR data visualizations which are based upon the research that I discovered within the AR software. These visualizations are helpful not only to teachers, but to the elementary school media specialist, and school administrator as well.
  

Let's take a look...

They say that a picture is worth a 1000 words!

The pie chart below proves that!

I created a pie chart to compare the percentages of 

AR points per class/to date in first grade. 

Here lies the body of evidence!

Mrs. Reeder's Class is in the lead with 23%

Mrs. Keller 20%

Mrs. Leger 18%

Mrs. Miner 14%

Mrs. Lopez 13%

Mrs. Berardo 12% (Yikes,that's my class!) 

Hmmm...I must admit that these results embarrass and disappoint me, because I know that my students have been diligently taking AR reading practice quizzes this year. Seeing the percentages on a pie chart reveals the ugly truth! The five other first grade classes have achieved higher AR percentages than my class. However, I will not concede, I will use this visualization to motivate my students to read twice as much during the 4th quarter.

Now, let's take a look at a bar graph!

I created a bar graph to represent the total number of AR points per grade level. As you can see, Kindergarten has accumulated a total of 43.5 points to date. You are probably wondering why they have such a low number of points, right? Well, it's because the Kindergarten teachers only use the AR program to challenge their higher-level readers, therefore AR is not a requirement during Kindergarten. Next, you will notice that the first graders have accumulated 2452.9 points. In first grade, teachers use the AR program to motivate students to read. However, in grades 2-5, there is a significant increase in the total number of points. The reason for the dramatic rise in AR points, stems from the fact that AR becomes a requirement during these school years, and grades are taken to reflect student participation. Then, in grades 6-8, the total number of AR points decline. AR is not a requirement during middle school, nor are grades taken. Middle school teachers offer AR to students who would like to continue the program beyond their elementary years. As you can see, this type of data visualization can be very beneficial to Elementary School Media Specialists and School Administrators who often inquire about student practice and usage of the AR program.

At last...Some good news!

Are you ready?

    

The above bar graph compares STAR Reading gains 

in my class since the beginning of the school year.

First of all, let me explain that the STAR Reading test is a computerized reading assessment used to establish a student's reading level. The STAR test is given approximately 3-4 times per year in order to determine reading growth in students.  The above graph was created using a Scaled Score from the STAR Reading assessment. A Scaled Score is based upon the difficulty of questions and the correct number of responses. It is useful for comparing student performance overtime, and Scaled Scores  range from 0-1400. In August of 2013, my new first grade students took the STAR Reading test for the very first time. According to the Pretest bar, my student's Scaled Score was 110. Since then, my students have taken the STAR Reading test 2 more times, and showed reading gains of +92 (see Posttest bar of 202). I am very happy with the results thus far, and look forward to even greater gains as I administer the STAR Reading Test one more time before the school year ends.

This concludes my post on data visualizations, and by the way, I'm a visual learner, therefore I honestly appreciate and understand the importance of good data visuals.
What about you?  What type of learner are you.... visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or do you require all three? Maybe I'll blog about different learner styles and how it effects children in reading! Sounds like a good topic to me!

Well, between now and next time...ya'll come back you hear!