reading levels?

[LEK]

Ok, seriously silly newbie question alert (we have been HS for 3 months). In a lot of posts I see people refer to their child's reading level (ie in 1st grade but reading at a 4th grade level). How do I assess reading level??? Is there a website/book/product readily available to assess the reading level of my children. How is everyone assessing reading levels?

TIA

[CatholicMom]

I use Sonlight's Quick Reading Assessment.

 

I think there are other ones online but I always use this because at least 2 other online tests gave me the exact same results as this quick and easy one and because I use Sonlight's reader packages.

 

Hope that helps. :)

[SkateLeft]

I don't worry too much about reading level. It's one of those things that seems to matter a lot when kids are young. Barring a reading disability, most kids hit a point where they can pretty much read anything.

 

One way to calculate reading level is to look at the books your kids enjoy reading and look up their Lexile level here. You can use that lexile level to find other books that your child might enjoy.

 

Sometimes publishers will put a suggested reading level near the ISBN on the back cover of a book. Scholastic often does this. You'll see a RL 5.0 and know that Scholastic considers that a 5th grade level book.

 

Then there are reading level assessments. The San Diego Quick Assessment is one that I used periodically with my older kids, when I was curious about their reading level. It's easily found online if you Google it.

 

Sonlight also has their "Quick Reading Assessment" though it seems a bit inflated to me. (It has my 6yo at a 2nd grade reading level, but he's only just finishing kindergarten K12 phonics and hitting the 1st grade point in Phonics Pathways.)

 

With my older son, I used the DORA reading assessment from Let's Go Learn one year. It costs about $20 and provides a pretty interesting picture of a child's reading skills.

[lewelma]

I don't worry too much about reading level.

:iagree:

 

I just encourage them to read slightly harder and harder books. I use graded lists like those from Sonlight and Amblesideonline to help me up their level over time.

 

Ruth in NZ

[CatholicMom]

I agree that literally "worrying" about reading level isn't really worthwhile, but I think assessing is definitely worthwhile (not that the OP asked).

 

Assessing helps you pick books on the appropriate level. I find that the levels on Readers are NOT trustworthy.

 

And the Sonlight Quick Assessment is super helpful especially if you're going to buy one of their reader packages (which I highly recommend). It makes total sense to assess reading level before you buy a reader package (from anyone). What's awesome about SL's reader packages is according to the schedule they gradually get harder even throughout one level. So at the beginning of the 2nd grade readers, the books are fitting for.... well, the beginning of 2nd grade. But as they go on, they get harder and harder (but the child gets better and better at reading) and by the end they are ready for the 3rd grade package. Brilliant. So much easier than skimming through random readers to see what kind of words are in them and deciding, "hmmm, that word is way too hard. We haven't covered that in phonics yet and won't for a while. But are words like that rare in this book, because it does look cute. Lemme see..." Oy. I hate doing that. And, like I said, you can't just look at the level listed on the book because half the time they make no sense. I'm thinking each company must have different standards for the grade levels.

 

But if you take the SL assessment, you KNOW which reader package to get, within reason.

 

Just my 2 cents. :tongue_smilie:

[jennynd]

most those assessment is for "decoding". you also need a "comprehension" which is much harder to assess.

using those decoding assessment, my dd will read 4th grade level book, in reality, she can't comprehend more than 2nd, and if you just care decoding, you gonna just take all the joy out of reading. So, my suggestion is only to take the "decoding" type assessment as reference. those really not reflect true reading level.

[mhaddon]

 

http://www.readinga-z.com has books and I can see where he is at based on what level. It also has a place to compare on that site to the other levels because their are at least 5 different ways to track.

[LEK]

Thanks guys. No not worried about reading level, just thought having an idea of approximate level would be beneficial. Thanks for the idea of using graded reader lists online (man I must be having a slow day here lol), that is a huge help.

[boscopup]

I just look up books he's reading and comprehending at Scholastic Book Wizard. I don't know his limit, but I know what he can read comfortably.

[mhaddon]

I just look up books he's reading and comprehending at Scholastic Book Wizard. I don't know his limit, but I know what he can read comfortably.

 

 

 

I've done this as well. Just google title of book and reading level :)

[give_me_a_latte]

I've used the San Diego Quick Assessment. Not sure how accurate it is, but it gives me an idea of what level books to look at.

[nov05mama]

I just look up books he's reading and comprehending at Scholastic Book Wizard. I don't know his limit, but I know what he can read comfortably.

 

This worked for us as well. I used the Scholastic Book Wizard and the AR BookFinder to look up what books he was reading well to get an idea of the range where he is.

 

This might be helpful as well...

http://title1.spps.org/sites/283c935b-2b13-4da8-9fee-f4f5ea72b44d/uploads/TEXT_CORRELATION_CHART.pdf