Tip #109 from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents (McKinley & Trombly) - Reading Tests/Levels
Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.
#109
Reading Tests/Levels
The man who does not read good books is no better than the man who can't.
~ Mark Twain
If you have a child in elementary school, you have probably been told your child’s reading level. Throughout the years, the tools used to measure and report these levels have changed. You may remember reading groups divided by levels when you were in school. There seems to be nearly continuous debate over whether kids should be grouped by ability or by interest instead. However your child’s teacher does it, she probably also gives your child individual reading tests several times a year to show where he is reading at the beginning of the year and where he ends up at the end. These scores can be confusing if you are not familiar with them and can be worrisome if you feel your child isn’t where you think he should be.
There are a few things to keep in mind when you get a reading score for your child. Probably the most important thing is to remember that it is a picture of your child’s reading at one particular moment in time on one particular text. Though the texts are specially graded, there is still an interest factor; if your child is highly interested in the topic or is already very familiar with it, he may read it better than an unfamiliar text or one he finds boring. There is also the setting and formality to consider; sometimes a child may feel nervous about reading aloud for a reading test and may not do as well as he normally would. If you feel that, at home with you, your child reads much better than his score shows, those may be some reasons why.
More important than the actual number is to look for growth. Scores that don’t change or change very little may indicate a problem. If your child is improving, though, talk with his teacher to see if that improvement is enough to be satisfied with. Ask his teacher for a guide as to what the scores mean. Ask what you can do to help him at home if you feel he needs it. Try many of the activities in this book to not only help him learn to enjoy reading more, but to understand it better, too. While scores can be helpful tools for teachers and schools, keep in mind that they are just numbers. As his parent, you can use them however you want.
Just as kids do not always walk at the same time, or talk, or get their first tooth, they also do not always learn to read at the same rate, either. Resist the urge to compare your child to others. Most children (barring a few exceptions due to real learning disabilities) do learn to read in elementary school. So, don’t fret if you hear another child’s score is higher. You didn’t spend months worrying that your child would never learn to walk or talk just because someone else’s kid his age already was. You knew it would happen in his own time. Well, reading is the same. Expect improvement. Encourage practice. Read together. Read often. Talk about reading before, during, and after. Make it fun, and he will learn to read.
Cindy McKinley Alder Patti Trombly
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