This morning, Jennifer Lagarde tweeted a link to a blog post by Rachel Peck that was so fabulous that I had to share and comment! When I went to make a comment, my post wasn’t saving correctly, so I just decided to dust off the old blog and post it here!

This is a FABULOUS post! Agreed! You crushed it!
This is a post that should be shared! I will have it at the ready for my teachers, most coming from other schools and districts, who lament the day that I let AR die a quiet death at my elementary school. The collateral damage that AR does far outweighs any small, anecdotal advantages it presents. Additionally, if our goal is to make informed, research-based decisions that are best for the healthy development of children, AR, with its lack of independent supporting research is a very expensive folly. I wonder what innovative, engaging library programs & improvements $3500+ per year/per campus might make!

If you’re at all interested in literacy, go read her blog post now! Rachel Peck has provided such a strong, thoughtful argument for authentic reading programs (see Donalyn Miller’s work) as opposed to reading accountability programs such as AR!

Accountability makes adults’ jobs easier. Authentic reading benefits children.