The most precious gift that we can give our youth is the gift of reading. The student who loves to read will not only do well in English and Language Arts courses, but also will excel in every area of schoolwork and of life.

This is why the Mountain Home School District has placed a strong emphasis on improving reading throughout our district. To accomplish this goal, we have been using Reading Renaissance (also called Accelerated Reader or AR) for the last three years. Based on a computer-based reading motivation program currently in use by more that 50,000 schools nationwide, Reading Renaissance (AR) has four main objectives in our district:

1. To insure that students are reading in their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) – the reading level that is challenging, enjoyable, and leads to optimal growth. This ZPD is adjusted throughout the school year as students improve reading comprehension and fluency.
2. To improve students’ critical-thinking skills.
3. To improve student reading performance, as measured by standardized tests.
4. To instill a lifelong love of reading in students.

You may notice that your student has been reading more books for pleasure—a requirement for reading "practice" within their ZPD range. We ask that you encourage and allow your high school student to read every night. High School students are often so involved with activities, have jobs and a busy social life so that reading is not emphasized outside the classroom. Please give your teenager time to read. Many parents, in fact, find their student’s enthusiasm for reading so contagious that they start reading more themselves, and we certainly encourage that!

Mountain Home School District is committed to reading excellence and Reading Renaissance (AR) is just one way that we meet the reading needs of individual students in our school district.