City View Junior/Senior High School in Wichita Falls, TX has been using Scholastic Reading Counts! (SRC!) since it first opened nine years ago. According to Library Media Specialist Kim Lemons, over the years it has become more and more widely used among the school’s educators, with 3 out of 4 English teachers using SRC! as a part of their curriculum.

In the Junior High School, all students use SRC! and receive a SRC! grade that is incorporated into their overall reading grade. To help keep students motivated, teachers and Mrs. Lemons work together to promote the theme of “Reading Counts in our School” with an incentives program. First, teachers set the grade-wide goals of the students, which increases by five points every six weeks. Students who reach their point goal each six weeks are eligible for a $100 gift card drawing held for each grade level each semester. Plus, students who have at least 5 points over their goal are eligible for prizes awarded at the end of each semester.

Though High School students are not given grade-wide SRC! goals to meet, Mrs. Lemons explained that each individual literature teacher sets up their own SRC! program. Most have the students read a book and test every six weeks, with that grade counting as a test grade. High School students are further motivated to read by being entered into a drawing for a $100 gift card if they reach their reading goal provided by their teacher.

While Mrs. Lemons notes that incentives have been students’ biggest motivator, never they been more excited to use SRC! than now. Since moving to the new subscription-based model in October 2008, “Students love having access to over 40,000 quizzes…and being able to get books from the public library already knowing that we have a quiz for it!”

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