What are they doing for language arts INSTRUCTION in the classroom? AR is not an instruction program. Are they doing reading groups working on making increasingly complex predictions, inferences, and connections? Are they comparing texts and exploring purpose? Is there weekly vocabulary instruction? Do they work on looking up unfamiliar words and selecting the correct definition?
I'm always shocked by schools who use AR as seemingly the sole means of instruction. Tests don't teach, they assess. For that matter, computers don't do a great job of teaching either. Teaching and true assessment happens best during interactions with a living, breathing, responsive teacher.
