Free reading...what does it MEAN?

[wannabefree]

Could somebody please explain this free-reading malarky?

How do teachers determine when its time to go onto free-reading?

What does it mean for the child?

Why do some kids stay on ORT until stage 14/15/16, whilst others seem to abandon it at stage 10?

As everyone is talking about the free reader I thought I'd just add what has already been said but our experience. Free reader means different things to different teachers and their approach. DD is reading level 14 ORT and starting to find it quite boring again. We have backed right off of the home readers and picked up some chapter books that we read together. In our school they seem to read books on each level and the "more stories" ones to. We go all the way up to level 17ish from what I've worked out. Rushing through the levels certainly doesn't seem to help the child. I wish we had read more to DD in the past year than just listened to her every night (late starter due to different curriculum and not having home readers). The level they also read does not make a difference to what grades they get. Children who aren't free readers can still get very good grades in SATs.