Calling YR 3 teachers! How do you assess childrens reading levels?

[etubrute]

That's it really. Is it from a list of words (as it was when I was younger all those years ago!) or is it by what reading band? or some other way?

Just wondering.

Hi etubrute

Not a teacher but this archived Assessing Pupils Progress (APP) grid should help explain the criteria. It's a bit out of date (archived in 2012) - but should help give you the idea:

webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110809101133/nsonline.org.uk/node/20683

you then need to look in the areas of English you're concerned about (reading/ writing/ speaking & listening).

Hopefully some teachers will be along soon to explain any changes in how they're doing this and possibly edify us on how they're preparing for new national curriculum standards.

HTH

Not teaching Y3 but a literacy coordinator. We don't use APP (never have) and reading levels are assessed using lots of information over the year. We use The New Salford Sentence Reading Test which gives us a standardised score for both reading and comprehension. We also use the optional National Curriculum test in the summer term and termly phonics assessments, but most importantly we assess by Teacher Assessment ... listening to readers over the course of the year - not based on book bands as that gives a very general idea but on skills observed reading a whole range of texts.

We haven't got the new curriculum yet (should have it sometime next month if passed by parliament) only a draft version at the moment. It splits expectations into Y1&2, Y3 &4 and Y5 & 6 so we will probably use these.

We DO use APP but, as with mrz, in conjunction with a wide range of other evidence. We use optional SATS, reading age scores, individual and group reading responses to a variety of texts,( most of the evidence comes from the latter) and phonics knowledge too. Book bands only give an indication of a rough level. Most of these methods will not change with the new curriculum, just the expectations being assessed against.

We don't use APP - we assess in the following ways (for most children):

Reading comprehension tests, e.g. QCA or NFER Nelson test sheets which give the child a passage to read and a variety of questions to read and answer in writing. This is done half termly in our school.

Hearing children read, normally as part of a guided reading group, or sometimes individually, depending upon the stage they're at. By listening to the fluency of their reading and discussing their understanding of the book (plot, language, characterisation, patterns, layout, punctuation etc) we can ascertain how they're getting on and identify any very specific needs. This happens every day.

Reading age tests - personally I don't like reading age tests and think they can be very misleading, it's a blunt tool IMHO. However, the head likes them.

We then introduce specific reading interventions for children who need more support, or make decisions about how to develop a child's reading (e.g. progressing through book bands, becoming a 'free reader' or introducing a particular type of text, e.g. playscripts to develop expression in reading dialogue, or dyslexia friendly typeface, or books for reluctant readers).

HTH.