The Accountable Independent Reading program in English 11 is different from the lower grade programs. Students will be required to choose a book of a certain genre (mystery fiction, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, non-fiction, biography) each quarter.  They will be given a couple of days in class during the marking period to work on the reading, and will also be assigned a project to complete at the end of their book.  Some quarters, the project is a written one, others a creative one, sometimes a combination of the two.  They are generally given about twelve weeks to get the entire book read and the project completed.  (Honors classes typically get less time.)

Accountable Independent Reading is based on the belief that most young people today do not read for pleasure enough and also need to work on the skills that sustained reading brings (focused attention, stamina, thoughtful analysis, and also personal satisfaction) that are skills that are needed across the academic curricula. The practice is firmly rooted in the new Common Core State Standards.