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
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
Teacher control over Gold Reader access
Manually awarding Gold Reader passes
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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?
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?
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?
Can students catch up on old homework using Gold Reader?
No, students can only catch up on old homework reading e-books.
Why is it taking so long for my student to received their banked points on a completed book?
Why is it taking so long for my student to received their banked points on a completed book?
When students complete a book in Gold Reader, we run their logs through some automated checks (e.g. that the student has read at a consistent pace and been honest about how long they have read for).
If they pass these automated checks - they will receive their banked SRP within 24h
If they have some logs that do not pass these checks - they are then checked by a human. This can take up to 10 days as completed books are batched each Monday, and completed by the end of the week.