Primary school teachers - reading ages?

[roisin]

Can anyone tell me what sort of reading age is necessary to get a L4 in SATs?
(Yes, I know they're not the same; but obviously they are linked. If you have a reading age of 5 you will not be able to pass KS2 SATs, yes?)

I think it's probably around age 9? But maybe it's lower?

Depends what you mean by reading age. Some reading age tests measure decoding skills ( ie can you actually read the word and pronounce it properly) but SATs reading papers measure comprehension skills. The two are not necessarily the same!

We use the Suffolk test which requires a child to fill in a missing word in a sentence from a choice of 4. I find that generally anyone with a reading age of 9 1/2 and above in Jan of year 6 gets a level 4, but it isn't guaranteed.

Thanks Waitforit - that's helpful.
We use Suffolk too.

It all depends ion the test used. Many reading age tests assess mainly decoding, but SATs (and teacher assessment NC levels) need good levels of comprehension.

Last year I had children with reading ages of over 11 not achieve level 3 on the SATs comprehension paper or on my APP teacher assessment - great decoders, not got deeper and more mature comprehension skills or understanding of some of the vocabulary. (year 2 class). Having said that I currently have children with reading ages of 7 and over who "failed" the Year 1 phonics check and are currently working at level 1.

We use Salford (sentence reading) and Suffolk (multiple guess for many children!). I can't say I rate reading ages much, the information from teacher assessments and NC levels is far more useful.

My son's reading age was 12 a year ago (he was 7.5 at the time), but his reading NC level was 3b. Go figure!