How are DC assessed on their reading?

[BornFreeButinChains]

Just read in another thread someone's child was assessed for reading.

I did not think they were and how are they.

When do they start to be assessed.

Personally if I was the teacher I would ask that the child brings in Matilda from home so that they can be heard 121 at school, but maybe that's just me not a teacher

DD has read 121 with the HT recently (for the first time ever) my cynical side says its because DD is very vocal about what she reads at home and how much she enjoys it.

Try the Burt Reading Test online although this tests decoding only not comprehension but will give you a reading age.

Well, doubtless there are difficulties involved in teaching a child to read who can already read. But we can always teach any child to do reading our way.

That doesn't involve your copy of Matilda. You can leave that at home.

Here is Biff and Crap Feed Pot the Dog.

There aren't any difficulties in teaching a child who can already read to read

Simpson I would hear a child read an unfamiliar book (same level of difficulty) to assess whether they are independently reading at that level. (but that's just me being a teacher )

I certainly remember having surprise higher level books being produced in 121s with the teacher, and then subsiquently going up a level.

However I was one of those children stuck on the highest level the school could provide (later on) and because none of the books were of interest, or I had already read them, I didn't want to read them. It was a case of, we must see DC go through x number of books, and they must read in a fluent manner. Mum, used to seeing me/listen to me read everyday for hours for fun at home, eventually told me not to bother and started making up reports in my reading book.

Mrz - I would assume that that would have been done already.

I read with yr1s and it does surprise me how many parents write in the journals wanting their child put up a level as they read their school book very confidently (having read it several times before) but give them a new book at the same level and it is completely different.

I'm not talking about reading scheme books - rather using your example of Matilda I would ask the child to read a similar book with the same level of challenge rather than ask them to bring in a book from home to read

Ah ok that makes sense

DD was asked to bring in her book from home but only because she was half way through it and hadn't read it all.

It depends what the teacher wants. Accidentally teachers gave my daughter the wrong books several levels higher than the ones she's supposed to be reading and commented with some surprise that she could read foreign names, dates, long numbers and other random stuff. When I pointed out to them that this was because the books were at xyz level and not abc, they then switched the books back to the original level.

Just because a child can read books of any level (and you know she can) that doesn't mean you want her to do it in the school. Reading schemes are stupid. Reading policies are stupid.

Mrz, and once you had done that and heard them read it well what would happen next

Even if the obvious answer would have been , well, in that case I'd always find comparable books to give to that child, it doesn't answer a similar question for the thousands of children who are deliberately being given books way below their reading ability and possibly hundreds of thousands being given books way below their reading ability by mistake.

(I have heard of parents struggling to have reading scheme books above their child's ability reassessed too.)

There is more to awarding a reading level than the ability to "read it well" but if I was satisfied they met all the level criteria I would award the level.

Thanks Mrz.

BornFreeButinChains is your question about levels or reading scheme bands?

I will find out her level I suppose at parents evening but her ORT seems to be so far below her level of understanding etc I am not holding out hopes for a true reflection of her ability on the levels.

bornfree, if you suspect that your daughter's reading and comprehending abilities aren't being met by her school books then take charge of them at home. Why wouldn't you?

Currently schools use something called the APP grid to work out levels for reading, writing and speaking and listening. If you google APP grid reading it will come up. You will see the different strands to reading.

It's a starting point only though as Gove is scrapping levels soon

APP is only one of many things I use to assess reading. And the only thing it is useful for is actually giving a level to the skills you know a child has, it doesn't tell you if the child is reading the correct book band or not. It can point you in the right direction as do all of the methods used to assess. I find that if I use APP alone then nearly all my children will achieve a level much higher than the national expectation for their age and if they're given books aimed at that level will really struggle. Assessing children just isn't an exact science!

We don't and never have used APP to assess reading

bornfree, if you suspect that your daughter's reading and comprehending abilities aren't being met by her school books then take charge of them at home. Why wouldn't you?

I am very much taking everything in hand at home. I just want the school to give her a correct ish level. There is a vast gap between her ort and what she is actually reading.

I don't know about your school, but you are not alone. I've spoken to lots of people who have a similar reading gap. I don't know what the administrative problems where you are involve. But I'm familiar with a popular problem which goes like this:

The official ORT chart has colours and reading bands marked by age and school year. The children are reading books according to the scheme. Therefore they get allocated specific books along the scheme according to their age and school year -

not according to how well they can read, write, comprehend (you name it.) Not according to anything other than how the scheme works.

Now (I don't know how things work where you are, but) if your school takes a really literal line to how the scheme should work then a child could have relatively simplistic scheme books whilst being able to read all of the volumes of Winston Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples. (in four volumes)

Since parents have no control over school policy, the only sane thing to do in such an insane situation is to say: Right. I understand how the school system works. I'm going to go through the motions, write whatever is asked on me in the reading diary and

do my own thing with my daughter as far as reading/English is concerned because the school is clearly insane. (And there is nothing to be done about it. And leave it at that.)

I agree Column if it was just the book band scheme.
However I don't want her mis

• represented and marked down on her levels.

That seems chronically wrong to me.
I can live with the wrong book sent home, I can't live with the wrong level. She has blossomed and is showing amazing aptitude in reading, she is the older one in her class so this seems right.
I want her marked accordingly.

OK, well good luck. I personally don't care how my daughter is marked because I'm the one teaching her, her anyway. So, the mark in the school record is irrelevant. (Plus, you have no control over what the teachers write in the record, so trying to get them to change the marks is possibly just an exercise in driving yourself crazy.) I have seen complaints by teachers about parents trying to interfere. So, it is possible that some teachers won't change marks and assessments on point of principle.