Certificates for Student Achievement – Accelerated Reader

Who can do this with default user permissions?

District Level Administrators, District Dashboard Owners, District Staff, School Level Administrators, School Staff, Teachers

You can use Reader Certification Certificates to recognize those students who have earned reader certifications through their work on Reading Practice Quizzes.

Each student's certificate prints on a separate page; it includes the student's name, the reading certification that the student achieved, and the date it was achieved. It also includes three signature lines that can be customized with the appropriate titles.

Note: For classes that are using the K-2 goal model for other reading goals, certification goals are not available because students earn badges instead of certifications.

Follow these steps to print Certificates:

If you have a Home page tile like the first example below, select Reports; then, select Accelerated Reader / Reading Practice in the menu. If your home page is Renaissance Next, select Reports under My Data on the left side of the page; then, select Accelerated Reader Reports.

The Reports page will open with the Accelerated Reader / Reading Practice tab selected.
Scroll down to the Certification and Achievement section of the page and select Certificates for Student Achievement Report. (If you have added the report to the Pinned Reports, you'll find it under that section at the top of the page.)
Select Choose Assignment Type (either the link or the button).
In the window that opens, choose Accelerated Reader in the first column, and then Reading Practice Quiz in the second column. Select Apply. (Certifications are only available for work on Reading Practice Quizzes.)
Select Choose Students (either the link or the button).
Choose the students to include in the report. Teachers can only choose students in their own classes and groups.
- In the popup window, if there is a Schools column, select a school. (This column isn't available if you only have access to one school.)
- If the Teachers column is available, at the top of the column, choose either All Teachers (to choose all the teachers in the school) or Select Teachers (to choose specific teachers; check the ones you want in the list). This column is not available to most teachers.
- At the top of the Classes column, choose either All Classes (to choose all the classes for the teachers) or Select Classes (to choose specific classes; check the ones you want in the list).
- Teachers will also see a Groups column. At the top of the Groups column, choose either All Groups or Select Groups; if you choose Select Groups, check the groups that you want to include. The first choice in the column is "Whole Class" or "Whole Classes"; choose this to report on the class(es) as a whole. Below that, you will see groups you created.
- You may need to scroll to the right to see the Students column. At the top of the Students column, choose either All Students (to choose all the students) or Select Students (to choose specific students; check the ones you want in the list).
  
  You can search the items in a column by clicking within that column and then typing Ctrl+F or control-F on the keyboard.
  
  When you are done making your choices, select Apply (or Cancel to close this window without saving your choices).
If you want to use demographic data to focus the report on specific students, select Choose Demographics.

How to choose demographics

By default, the "All" option is chosen for ethnicity, gender, language (the students' primary language, if specified), and grade level. To focus the report on specific groups, choose the "Select" option at the top of the appropriate column and then check your selections in that column. Note that ethnicity, gender, primary language, and grade level may be specified for students when you add them to the software, but only grades are required; other information may not be available for your students.

In the example above, the user has selected one Language and three Grade Levels, while leaving Ethnicity and Gender at the default "All" options. Note: The Filter Reports by Ethnicity user permission may be set to prevent the use of ethnicities as a filter.

By default, the "All" option is chosen for Characteristics. To focus the report on students with specific characteristics, choose Select Characteristics; then, check the characteristics that you are interested in. You must also choose any or all above the check boxes to specify whether students with any of the selected characteristics will be included in the report or only those with all of the selected characteristics.

In the example above, the user selected two Characteristics (ADA and ESL). Because any is selected, the report will include students who are ADA, ESL, or both. If all had been selected, only students who are both ADA and ESL would be included. Note: The Filter Reports by Characteristics user permission may be set to prevent the use of characteristics as a filter.

Once you have finished choosing demographic options, select Apply at the bottom of the window to save your choices (or Cancel to close the window without saving your choices).
By default, the report will include the current school year. If you want to choose all time, a marking period, or custom dates instead, select the date field. For certificates, choose a time period that includes the dates when students achieved the reading certifications.

If you want to use one of the marking periods that have been added for your school, select the marking period in the list. (You can also choose "All Time.")

If you want to use custom dates, select Custom. Then, type the start and end dates in the fields (using four digits for the year), or select the start date and then the end date in the calendar (use the arrows to the left and right of the months to go back or forward). When you're done, select Apply.
In the Signature fields, enter the title that you want to appear below each signature on the certificate. You can include up to three signatures on the certificates.
Select Update Report under the report options. Your students' certificates will open under the button.
To create a PDF file of the certificates that you can print, select the PDF icon in the top right corner of the page.
The certificates will open in a new tab in your browser; use the browser or PDF options that are available to print the certificates.
When you're ready to leave the page, you can select the Home button to go back to the Home page. To go back to the Reports page, select the Reports button (circled below) or the Back to Reports link.