The effectiveness of AR might be influenced by variability in hardware and software constellations, nature and intensity of program use, level of teacher ability and interest in the program, degree of teacher training and support, and other human factors. The computerized feedback is only likely to enhance the effectiveness of learning if it is intelligently, consistently, and formatively acted upon by both student and teacher, who share the responsibility for the management of learning. Like any other educational tool, how it is used might be more important than if it is used.

The characteristics of good implementation suggested by the Sanders and Topping (1999) report described under Research on The Accelerated Reader imply that teachers should do the following:

• Have students read as much as possible -- but guide those above fifth grade away from reading a large number of very easy books
• Monitor student progress carefully
• Check that students' percentage of correct answers is at 85 percent or higher
• Generate and study at-risk reports
• Intervene when the above goals are not being met -- especially with low ability students, and probably also with high ability students
• Increase the challenge level slowly and gradually
• Monitor carefully to ensure that challenge does not become so great as to begin to depress percentage of correct answers

Experience suggests that to these might be added the following general guidelines to good implementation:

• Teachers should be trained in implementation
• Participation must be voluntary for students
• There should be a large number of AR books available for students to choose from
• Books should be coded for readability to enable students to manage challenge on their own
• Extra opportunities for reading practice should be provided at school (in and out of class) and encouraged at home and in the community
• Student access to computers for the purposes of AR test taking should be easy, frequent, and immediate
• Students should be encouraged to reflect on the implications for action provided by the feedback they receive, with self-management encouraged
• Less able readers should be permitted to test on books read to and with them, as should their peer helpers
• Parents should be aware of the program, regularly receive AR reports from the school and respond to them, and be encouraged to ensure that their children have opportunities to read at home
• Peer tutoring should be incorporated, in support of reading, testing, or both
• Extrinsic rewards should be used only if necessary, effective, and culturally appropriate, and then the rewards offered should be books or reading-related items
• Retesting should be allowed only in exceptional circumstances
• Criteria for “Model Classroom” status should be met (even if certification is not applied for)

Practitioners might want to create a checklist for self-assessment of AR implementation quality in their own school by printing these points or copying and pasting them into a word-processing program.

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