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Gold Reader

Learn how Gold Reader enables your students to use physical books with Sparx Reader, and how you can manage students' access to Gold Reader.

Updated over a week ago

Gold Reader exists as a reward for trusted students who demonstrate consistent, careful reading on Sparx Reader. This article explains how students unlock Gold Reader, how they add physical books, and how they can log their reading through Gold Reader.

When students have done enough additional reading, they’ll receive a Gold Reader pass.

This allows them to read any physical book and earn SRP by keeping a reading log.

No reading log system could ever be perfect! So, Gold Reader should be seen as a system of trust that allows students to read with some more freedom: it isn’t an equivalent alternative to ebook reading.

That’s why Gold Reader passes are time-limited: if we want students getting the benefit of regular, careful, attentive reading practice, they should continue to use Sparx Reader’s ebook system which has regular checks to ensure students are reading.

Unlocking Gold Reader

  • Students doing additional reading on top of their compulsory homework will be rewarded with gold stars

  • 300 extra SRP earns one gold star

  • Once a student earns 5 gold stars, they are awarded a Gold Reader pass which lasts for 5 weeks

  • Conscientious students can retain their pass indefinitely if they continue to do additional ebook reading, earning their 5 gold stars during the 5-week pass

  • Students can see their Gold Reader status on their 'Home' page

Teacher control over Gold Reader access


Manually awarding Gold Reader passes

In most cases, we recommend that you don’t manually award Gold Reader passes; instead, it’s best for students to unlock them themselves by doing additional reading.

This is because Gold Reader is largely a system of trust and can never be as precise as normal Sparx Reader ebook reading in telling you how much students have read.

If you want a student to be able to use Gold Reader without the student having to earn 5 gold stars first, you can grant a Gold Reader pass manually:

  • Go to 'More' → 'Student Manager'

  • Select the student's class

  • Click on the pencil icon next to the student

  • Scroll to the 'Gold Reader' section

  • Click 'Grant Gold Reader pass' → confirm that you want to grant the pass

Extending Gold Reader passes

In most cases, we recommend that you don’t extend Gold Reader passes. Instead, it’s best to let them expire and for students to earn their next pass. This means they’ll be getting the benefits of the careful, attentive reading that’s required for normal ebook reading on Sparx Reader.

If you want to give a student longer to use their Gold Reader pass, you can extend its deadline:

  • Go to 'More' → 'Student Manager'

  • Select the student's class

  • Click on the pencil icon next to the student

  • Scroll to the 'Gold Reader' section

  • Click 'Set a new expiry date'

  • Choose the new expiry date

  • Click 'Save'

Preventing access to Gold Reader

If you don't want a student to be able to earn a Gold Reader pass, you can prevent access:

  • Go to 'More' → 'Student Manager'

  • Select the student's class

  • Click on the pencil icon next to the student

  • Scroll to the 'Gold Reader' section

  • Tick 'Prevent <student> from unlocking or using Gold Reader'

  • Click 'Save'


Adding books to the Gold Reader library


In order to be able to log their reading in Gold Reader, students need to add their physical books to their Gold Reader library.

Adding a book by scanning its barcode

The student will need to:

  • Go to the 'Gold Reader' page

  • Click 'Add a book'

  • Click 'Scan barcode'

  • Their browser may ask them to allow Sparx Reader to access their camera, which they'll need to allow

  • Hold barcode on their book up to the camera until Sparx Reader successfully detects it

  • Click 'Add this book'

  • Enter the page numbers that the story starts and ends on (this allows us to more accurately track the student's progress through the book).

Adding a book by entering its ISBN

The student will need to:

  • Go to the 'Gold Reader' page

  • Click 'Add a book'

  • Enter the book's ISBN number

  • Click 'Add this book'

  • Enter the page numbers that the story starts and ends on (this allows us to more accurately tack the student's progress through the book).


Recording reading progress with Gold Reader

In order to record reading progress and earn SRP for physical books, students need to log their reading sessions in Gold Reader.

To do this, the student will need to:

  • Go to the 'Library' page

  • Choose the Gold Reader book that they want to read

  • Click 'Start reading'

  • Enter the page numbers that they'll start reading from, and the last three words on this page (this helps us to check for genuine reading)

  • A timer will start.

We recommend that students log their reading progress every 20 minutes.

To do this, the student will need to:

  • Click 'Next' from the timer screen

  • Enter the page number that they're on now; indicate whether this is the last page in the story; enter the last three words on this page; and confirm how long they read for

  • Click 'Next'

  • To help to check for comprehension of the text that's been read, the student will need to enter a question and answer relevant to the text.

  • Click 'Finish'

  • Students can only mark a book as finished once they have completed the entire book. They should not tick "I have finished this book" until then.

  • There may be a delay in a Gold Reader student receiving some of their SRP while we check their reading logs. However, they will receive enough to complete their current task immediately.

  • Once a student has completed their current homework task, any extra SRP that they earn will go into a bank. If we're happy the student is reading carefully, the student will then be awarded their banked points when they complete the book.

  • If the student's reading behaviour doesn't seem right:

    • They may not receive all of their banked SRP

    • They may received a warning that they haven't been using Gold Reader properly

    • If the student receives multiple warnings, they will lose access to Gold Reader and will have to go back to reading ebooks.

Monitoring usage of Gold Reader

Teachers can monitor students access to, and use of Gold Reader:

  • The Insights page shows which students have access to Gold Reader (indicated by a gold star)

  • The Hand-in page shows which books students have read via Gold Reader. Clicking on the student will show their reading logs.

  • We carry out some automated checks of students' Gold Reader activity. If we believe that a student is not reading carefully they will receive a warning. If the student receives multiple warnings, they will lose access to Gold Reader and will have to go back to reading ebooks (the teacher will be notified of the revocation).


Frequently asked questions


Why can't my student add their book to Gold Reader?

Check that:

  • The student is using the correct ISBN number (usually 13 digits long)

  • The student is using the ISBN for the specific book, not the whole series

  • The ISBN matches the exact edition of the book that they have (check the copyright page inside)

You can verify ISBNs online using ISBN Search or ISBN DB.

Why are my Gold Reader students missing SRP?

There may be a delay in receiving some SRP while reading logs are checked.

Students will always receive enough to complete current their current homework task(s).

Extra SRP goes into a bank and is awarded when the book is completed. This helps prevent students from claiming huge amounts of SRP with spurious reading logs.

What if students are misusing Gold Reader?

Gold Reader is a system of trust: we give students more freedom, and we broadly trust their reading logs.

While we have some automated checks to prevent misuse, it’s never possible for a system of reading logs to be as precise as the ebook reading experience on Sparx Reader.

So, we recommend:

  • Seeing Gold Reader as a reward for trusted students who unlock it themselves

  • Treating ebook reading as the default way of ensuring regular attentive reading practice

  • Not granting or extending Gold Reader passes to students

  • Occasional spot checks of reading logs. If you see a student is completing spurious logs, you should remove their Gold Reader access

Can students catch up on old homework using Gold Reader?

No, students can only catch up on old homework reading e-books.

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