Really Reading: What Does Accelerated Reader Teach Adults and Children?

This qualitative work analyzes what parents, teachers, and children say about reading when Accelerated Reader and Reading Renaissance are used for reading instruction. Critical discourse analysis offered a glimpse at beliefs about reading and how power relations were embedded in what teachers, parents, and children said about AR and reading. Although school officials hoped to build a love of reading and provide more time for reading, disjunctures were found between what teachers thought was important and what really happened when AR was used for reading instruction.