New Amercian Reading Scheme a Hit?

The Independent is reporting on a new reading system that has crossed the Atlantic and is being piloted in a number of schools in London.

It is not about teaching children to read. That is best done by a method such as synthetic phonics, recommended by Jim Rose, the former Ofsted inspector. The American scheme is concerned with persuading children to read more, and to read more fluently, once they have learnt the business of decoding the words and letters on a page.

The system relies on computers to keep tabs on pupils' silent reading. They read a book at their reading level and then take a test to ensure that they have understood what they have read. This test is in multiple-choice form, and is done on the computer. The beauty of it is that it tells the children how well they have done and indicates the level of book they can read next.

In other words, the computer monitors their progress, something that a busy teacher cannot do with all the children in a big class. It may sound mechanical and quintessentially American to rely on multiple-choice tests and computers, but it is important to remember that reading is a skill. Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, is right that poor reading skills have held back successive generations of children. At a time when improvement in literacy at the age of 11 appears to have stalled, schools would be well advised to take a look at an initiative that encourages children to read to themselves.

The London schools are using two linked software products, Accelerated Reader and Star Reading, produced by Renaissance Learning, an educational resources company based in the USA that is now breaking into the UK.

Is there anyone from the London schools reading this?  What do they think about the software?  It's sounds like a great idea and the children in my class would love to have their progress recorded on the computer.  I look forward to reading the results on the NFER site later next year.