Renaissance Accelerated Reader vs. WileyPLUS

I have found Renaissance Accelerated Reader to be well-suited for elementary readers. I don't have experience using it with high school students; however, I know that for our elementary readers, there are no shortages of tests available. Our students can read trade books, articles within the program, or even stories from our textbooks and take tests on them

It's a good platform that has some very good content. We use Canvas as our learning management platform. It is nice to be able to integrate some of the pre-build WileyPLUS course modules into our Canvas course. Other publishers are good too and they sync with Canvas, but I find Wiley's Canvas modules easy to use and customize.

• If used correctly, Accelerated Reader helps students grow with their reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. I advise teachers to have one on one conversations with students when setting goals (allow students to have input) so that the students are given more responsibility to achieve their own goals.
• Renaissance's online chat/customer service is outstanding. They can usually answer my questions and do so in an understandable manner. They seem to be willing to help and will follow through if necessary.
• There are many reports that Accelerated Reader administrators can use to help decipher the data created from their students taking Accelerated Reader quizzes.

Incentivized

• Great instructor support and training.
• Seek instructor feedback and input and keep implementing new updates.
• Adaptive Practice definitely helps student success and brings consistency across multiple sections, often taught by new part-time instructors.
• Integration into LMS has made the experience seamless for students and added the ease of automatic input in to the LMS gradebook.

Incentivized

• Creating Spanish reports similar to the ones accessed in English.
• Simplifying the way books students can find an AR quiz. It does not find books if students are missing a "question mark" or "exclamation mark".
• Deleting a quiz when a student enters the wrong book title and begins a quiz. It has been difficult to remove a quiz and the quiz appears even after the monitor password has been entered.

• Integration could be a little challenging at times
• More quantitative examples-excel based questions. This is just for the book that I use so it should not be considered a missing functionality.
• More algorithmic questions. This is just for the book that I use so it should not be considered a missing functionality.

Incentivized

[Renaissance] Accelerated Reader is a great way to track student progress, motivate students to read, and measure their comprehension. Accelerated reader gives both teachers and students immediate feedback. There are countless options of books for students and can help increase student interest in books and improve students' reading ability.

Incentivized

Reliable effective tool.

Incentivized

I give Renaissance Accelerated Reader a great 10 in usability rating. I give this rating because overall the program is very easy to use and for the most part easy to understand. I am currently in my first year working in the library and with the teachers using the Renaissance Accelerated Reader program so there is still much to learn, but it has been an overall great experience so far. All of the data is easy to read and there is so much information to look over in case anything is missed or not understood. I have so far been very happy with the Renaissance Accelerated Reader program and what it has done for the students.

Easy to use, directions are clear, [and] able to get help any time.

I have not encountered any problems with availability

Quick loading, no issues.

Incentivized

Renaissance Reader has a great support team, and generally, they are quick to respond when needed. The live chat tool is a life-saver when trying to get your problems solved in real-time. They also have a lot of online support articles that ensure that you can get your questions answered without necessarily having to use the live chat during the school day.

24-7 support is available by phone, chat, or email. They also hold annual events which I have been blessed to attend twice. The staff is excellent. They are knowledgeable and genuinely care about you and your students. There are online forums for instructors to collaborate, learn, and have fun. Instructors receive gift cards for their participation too!

Incentivized

Extensive training on Ren Place is necessary. There are a myriad of reports that we need help understanding. I have joined Ren Royals and have learned a lot from that support piece.

Incentivized

STAR assessments work well with [Renaissance] Accelerated Reader. The STAR assessment can inform students what material they will be able to comprehend and help guide teachers when they are trying to help students find books to read. STAR assessments also help teachers focus on comprehension and vocabulary skills which then lends to help students understand what they are reading and utilize [Renaissance] Accelerated Reader.

Incentivized

I like the mechanistic approach and taught that way for several years. Klein makes a nice meeting point between the traditional, by-the-functional-group way of approaching the material and the mechanistic approach with common patterns pointed out and grouped along the way. It is one of the best, clearly written texts on Organic Chemistry on the market!! It isn't overly dry and intimidating, but more conversational - like a tutor guiding you through the foundational topic or thought process. The graphics are clear and understandable with good use of color. The canvas integration is wonderful! The adaptive practice is growing on me - I started a skeptic, but students really like the by-learning-objective feedback. From term to term, you can easily turn your homework assignments over for the next term if you like to assign specific questions.

Because students can take tests on varying book levels.

• I have seen a positive impact using AR by allowing us to track independent reading time more effectively.
• We can analyze student data in ways that would be either too time-consuming or too difficult to track on our own.
• Student engagement has increased when students can use their ZPDs to help find books that are in a readable range for them.

Incentivized

• Before Wiley Plus, my students didn't do homework, because it was not possible for me to grade all their work. Now they do it to earn points needed to pass the class.
• Before Adaptive Assignment, my students really struggled with the multiple-choice part of the exam. Now my students have the opportunity to practice a plethora of questions provided to them in Adaptive Assignment. Now the exam grades are much better!