How often does your child's teacher assess their reading level?

[Lorelai]

DD1 is just coming to the end of Reception and in general I am really pleased with how she has progressed, the teacher, and the school in general. But I am slightly annoyed/concerned with how they assess progress in reading. DD started the year knowing her letters and just starting to be able to read a couple of words, but has progressed really quickly and ended the year reading really well (I don't want to be specific about levels because I don't want it to be that kind of thread!).

My issue is that every time she has moved up a level it is because I have pointed out to the teacher, either in person or through comments in the reading record, that I think the books are getting a bit easy, or just outright that I think she is ready to move up. Each time the teacher has been happy to assess her and has agreed and moved her up, but I just wonder what would have happened if hadn't prompted her; a friend commented a while ago that her daughter hadn't changed levels at all, but I don't know if she has since because the parents' at this school don't really discuss levels.

So I was just wondering, what is normal in terms of teachers assessing reading at this age?

At DD's school they assess every half term, or if particularly asked to do so by a parent (for example, DD had read all the books at one level, I asked what she should do - I was told they would assess her).

However, in Reception they tend not to motor the children through the reading levels - so what you are seeing may well change in Y1. Do you know a parent of an older chlid you can ask?

My DD is just finishing reception too. The first move the teacher did spontaneously but after that I've have to point out that DD is finding books too easy / has read all books at a particular level before she has been moved up. I think partly it is down to a difference in how well the child reads when relaxed at home and what they do in the classroom for the teacher. Also with 30 kids in a class it must be easy to overlook that a particular child is at the wrong level.

I think generally it would be about every half term unless they/parent specifically notice a sudden increase in ability. Children can pootle along at one level for a long time then suddenly rapidly increase and be ready to change level every week for a few weeks. Obviously the staff only hear them read a couple of times a week in many cases so in that time it can be hard to know. I don't think they do really assess their reading, I think they probably take more notice of it about once every half term and see if perhaps the child is ready to move up then.

Thanks, glad to hear this sounds normal. She didn't move at all until Feb, then 3 levels in 6 weeks, then nothing again until end of June, but it seems like that might be normal. I will see what year 1 is like, her teacher will be new to the school so no idea what she will be like, DD has met her and liked her though so that's good!

yes that sounds very normal. I know in Feb out of my daughter's friends there were suddenly 3 of them shot up to level 6. 2 of her 3 friends continued to move up quickly but the other one obviously had a plateau then.

At DS' school, they move up a level (they do ORT Biff, Kipper and Chip) whenever they have read all of the books on offer in a level. So, for example, on Stage 4, if the child has read all six of the books in more stories A, all six of the books in more stories B, and all six of the boks in More stories C, then he would move on to stage 5.

I get the impression that all of the children are treated the same, but I can only speak for my DS.

By the way, nearly all of the children in DS' reception class are on stage 4 or 5. I don't know any on stage 6. They all read with the teacher and at home every day.

HappyAsEyeAm - interesting approach, it doesn't sound very flexible for individual children. 18 books on a level may be too many for a child who is improving rapidly but also 18 isn't actually that many at a level so for children who aren't learning as quickly it may not be enough. My daughter's school has way more than that at each level, even up at the top levels when Biff etc have run out BUT they don't make them read all of them if they don't need to. I know the level she started at she read nearly 30 books and over 20 on the next one and she was reading well. Unless they make a sudden rapid increase I think they generally are reading between 15 and 30 books on a level before progressing. Certainly they have to read the biff chip and kipper books, other reading scheme books, non fiction etc at each level to make sure they can transfer their skills across a variety of literature.

Peri - DS' teacher has kept him at a certain stage when she felt that he wasn't reading at that stage as well as she'd like. But only for six or so more books, maximum. So for example sometimes he has come home with some of the ORT First Stories series, before being moved up a stage. I suppose that is 24 books. He looks at non fiction and other fictional books at school - they aren't what he brings home and so I don't get to keep track of them so much iyswim, as they aren't mentioned in the 'reading log' that goes back and forth between home and his teacher.

I should clarify that when DS was on Stage 1-3, he read more than 18 books within each stage. I think all of the children in his class did. DS maybe got a new book every 2 or 3 days, when his teacher was satisfied with his learning. Other children maybe got a new book every day. So each child was treated individually. But for Stage 4, it has been 18 books.

I have no idea how teachers who are only able to listen to chikldren read once or twice a week are supposed to be able to move children up so often. Surely the academic year isn't long enough to fit so many books in!

Interesting; DD has probably read less than 18 books at each level before moving on, and they are free to choose whatever books they want from that colour in the library - she mainly chooses Biff, Chip et al (joy!), but there are others she could choose. Not much non-fiction though, but I guess there isn't much in the early stages. They generally can change their books 3 times a week, but it is up to them whether they do or not - if we have been good about listening to her at home she has changed them that often, sometimes she has kept a book for a week or more if we have forgotten not had time to read with her.

I don't think the teacher listens to her read very often though; if I go by the reading record she has been listened to 11 times in the whole year, about half by parent helpers and half by TAs - the teacher has only written in the record when she has assessed her or made comments like 'well done' next to my comments about that book.

ds2 reads with the teacher weekly. she moves him up when she sees he is ready and I've never had to ask.

If you mean assessing when my child needs to move onto the next set: every time a teacher or TA hears them read. Reads to class teacher one-to-one every two or three weeks, so most likely to change reading sets then. Sometimes TA changes the set. The other reading times are guided reading times, so home readers don't come out.
But reading assessment is far more than checking the reading book is at the same level, just as the grade of the set (e.g white = L2a, or what ever) doesn't mean if your child is reading white they are a 2a.

With ds and dd, ( and in my workplace), every child is read to, in KS1 at least, every week 1-2-1 with the teacher at least once, the TA at least once, and every other day in group guided reading, with the TA or teacher. Any moving up or down is done via ongoing assessment. If we are at any point unsure we use the benchmarking system to check.

At KS2, there's less reading one on one but the guided reading is still every day, and the accelerated reading tests also take over somewhat.

Ds went from black to green in Reception, green to white this year. Dd from black to blue.

Wow, that's a lot more class time reading than DD seem to get, at least as far as I can tell. Still, can't really complain about her progress, she has gone from not really reading at all to orange, and know she des get small group time with the teacher on phonics/writing so I am sure the teacher is well aware of her abilities, just seems odd I had to keep prompting her. I hope I haven't been being 'that' mum

I think 3 books a week adds up to a lot of books in a year though. I agree it is a snapshot from the teachers point of view with individual reading levels but if guided reading is at the same sort of level then they will know how the child is doing.

In my daughter's class the TA can move children up a level but if they are on higher levels then I think the teacher tends to be more involved in any changes. Ours read to someone twice a week on a one to one basis. no idea on guided/group reading. DD says they don't do it but I doubt that is true, she probably just doesn't realise that is what they are doing.

It sounds more flexible than I first thought HappyAsEyeAm, I hadn't read it like that the first time.

I think a good teacher just knows when they listen to a child read if it is the right level, too hard or too easy. If you spend a lot of time over many years hearing children read I think you get used to the little clues of if they are not concentrating because it is too easy or not concentrating because it is too hard. We had a patch where my daughter was bored of the books and they were too easy word wise BUT she wasn't reading with expression (mind to be fair the books were DULL) so obviously she had to stay on them until she got the hang of it all as if she had gone up then she would have found it even harder. I have noticed with the books she is reading now the expression has decreased slightly as she has now started reading harder books at home but this is through her choice. Her school ones are fine but I hope that as she is keen and she wants to read them then it doesn't matter and she will get the hang of it when she gets used to the harder sentence structure etc.