If you are not familiar with Renaissance Learning and their flagship product, Accelerated Reader, count yourself lucky.

Accelerated Reading bills itself as a reading program, but it would be more accurate a huge library of reading quizzes, with a reading level assessment component thrown in. That’s it. It doesn’t teach children how to read; it just puts them in a computerized Skinner box that feeds them points instead of pellets for performing some simple tasks repeatedly.

Pick a book (but only one on the approved AR list). Read it. As soon as you’ve read it, you can take the computer quiz and earn points. AR is a great demonstration of the Law of Unintended Consequences as well as Campbell’s Law, because it ends up teaching students all sorts of unproductive attitudes about reading while twisting the very reading process itself. Only read books on the approved list. Don’t read long books– it will take you too long to get to your next quiz to earn points. If you’re lagging in points, pick short books that are easy for you. Because the AR quizzes are largely recalling questions, learn what superficial features of the book to read for and skip everything else. And while AR doesn’t explicitly encourage it, this is a program that lends itself easily to other layers of abuse, like classroom prizes for hitting certain point goals. Remember kids– there is no intrinsic reward or joy in reading. You read only so that somebody will give you a prize.

Source: CURMUDGUCATION: Accelerated Reader’s Ridiculous Research