Reading and spelling ages

[Fingersmithismyfavourite]

I just got my son's school report and it said that he has a reading age of 10 years and a spelling age of 11.11 years. Should I take these numbers seriously? Are the tests taken to come to these conclusions well thought of? We have just returned from an international school so never seen this before!

There are dozens of tests and all will give different results

So do I take it then that they are basically meaningless if they all give different results? My son is 7.5 and I am sceptical that he is spelling at a level of 4.5 years above his actual age, although his spelling is very good and he seems to find it instinctively easy.

My ds has higher reading age and higher spelling age than his actual age.
I just think that he is advanced, and don't think anything of the number itself.

As Mrz says there are dozens of different tests conducted in slightly different ways and all will give slightly different results.
As the parent of a child with a SPLD I have seen that they exhibit a pattern my DD's reading age is consistently well above her actual age and her spelling age is consistently below.

I wouldn't say they were meaningless, just that they give an indication of the level of difficulty your child can read/spell.

As far as I'm aware, and I'm not a teacher, they do not measure how well your child can understand a word, or if they know how to use it appropriately.

Not meaningless as they can be a good indication of progress (increase in spelling/reading age over a period of time).
No they don't measure understanding or ability to use the word.

DD3 is in year 5 and at the start of term they did something the school called a 'reading test', which involved selecting the meaning of given words - multiple choice, getting progressively harder. From this they somehow concluded she had a reading age of 13. Can't really see it myself

I thought they were done to track progress.

Our junior school tested reading and comprehension "ages" on entry to Y3. DD's were 12 & 11 and there were about 6 children in her reading group, so I would assume 1/5 of the class were around that level. Some of the parents let slip the results to their DC, resulting in a 7 year old in tears because his reading age was "only" 9, unlike his friends. So I wouldn't read too much into the ages themselves.

They are mit's useful for tracking

Most

Thanks for your replies. Cressandra if 1/5 of your dd's class had ages of 12 and 11 it would seem that by Son's ages of 10 and 11 are not particularly special so I'll stop daydreaming that I've got the next Einstein on my hands!

My ds got ridiculously high reading/ spelling age in reception. Didn't mean he understood the meaning/usage. He just know how to decode and how to spell.

You can't compare between different tests though, he might be really exceptional on that test. Also I don't actually know what the others scored. Either way, the messages I took were that she was doing well and we shouldn't be nervous of offering more challenging books.

DD is a good reader, and her understanding seems pretty sophisticated to me. Spelling is much tougher for her.