Accelerated Reader™: mixed effects on comprehension, no discernible effects on reading fluency for beginning readers

This week, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) released a summary of the effectiveness research conducted on the Accelerated Readers™ program. Accelerated Reader™ is a computerized supplementary reading program that provides guided reading instruction to students in grades K–12.

This WWC report is an update to a WWC report published in 2008. The new report incorporates updated reviews of all studies in the previous report using current (version 3.0) WWC standards, as well as reviews of 25 new studies published since 2008. Based on the review of current research, the WWC found Accelerated Reader™ to have mixed effects on comprehension and no discernible effects on reading fluency for beginning readers (students in grades K–3).

 Read the full report for more details.