Improving literacy skills at Ardlethan Central School - Renaissance Australia
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Challenges

Find a reading program to implement across the school (both primary and secondary levels) to fulfill the NSW government’s focus on improving literacy skills

Solutions

Renaissance Star Reading
Renaissance Accelerated Reader

Benefits

Very positive effect on overall improvement in reading
Improvement in maths
Ability to report on progress

The challenge: a reading program to improve literacy in primary and secondary students

We are a Central School so have children from K-12, and we have been running Star Reading and Accelerated Reader for approximately 13 years.

At the time the NSW government had a big focus on improving literacy and numeracy skills, so our librarian was looking at programs to implement across the school. Luckily, our retired principal was leading on the implementation of Accelerated Reader at a high school in our district and he mentioned the benefits the students at the school were seeing with the Accelerated Reader program. Our librarian went to the school to see how they used the program, and because of Accelerated Reader’s ability to work across students at primary and secondary school ages, decided it would be a good fit for the school to meet our literacy goals.

Accelerated Reader has had a very positive effect on our overall improvement in reading. We have also seen improvement in maths, as the students aren’t struggling as much to read the questions

Patricia Fairman, School Administration Officer

Reading for enjoyment and learning

Implementation and result

The engagement doesn’t stop with the students; parents play an integral role in enhancing the classroom library. Jenny, a dedicated teacher, highlights this collaborative effort: “Flynn’s mum is one of our parent’s rep, and it’s been incredible. I can simply reach out to her, and she connects with the community of parents in the class. When I ask the students what they’d like to read or what I should recommend, they share their preferences, and the parents have stepped up by purchasing and donating those books to our classroom library.” 

This strong partnership between teachers and parents has created a supportive reading environment that empowers students to explore various genres and discover new authors. With such community involvement, Ashfield Public School fosters a culture of literacy that extends beyond the classroom, enriching the reading experiences of all students. 

We use a raffle ticket system of reward which is drawn at the end of each term with a $5 voucher which can be spent at the canteen. We also give a Good Reader ribbon to those students who achieve their targets for the term. We try as much as possible to encourage the children toward any improvement. I know the Primary age students just love watching their flowers grow!

I think all students, whether in Year 2 or Year 9, get a buzz from achieving 100% in their quizzes, they are also pleased to be called out to receive their ribbons for reaching their targets.

Our teachers take the reports from Accelerated Reader into the parent meetings, as it is a great way to explain and show individual student progress. I also encourage the students to take home their TOPS report each term to show the parents/caregivers so that they can see what they have been reading and how many books they have read.

Accelerated Reader has had a very positive effect on our overall improvement, in reading especially, but also with maths, as the students aren’t struggling as much to read the questions.

Patricia Fairman, School Administration Officer
Ardlethan Central School
NSW

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