Reading age tests....why?

[seeker]

My friend has just emailed me a copy of the reading age test used in her ds's private school, and I am amazed that it is simply a list of increasingly difficult words - just decoding and nothing about knowing what the words mean? And some of the words are very obscure. What's the point of that?

I will, of course, get ds to do it, and if he does well I will tell my friend - if he doesn't I will send a carefully crafted email about what a pointless test it is but I am genuinely interested. What was the thinking behind this sort of test and are they still widely used? I don't think they do anything like this at ds's school - or if they do no-one's told me!

as part of ds2's statement we're always told his reading age, his comprehension age and spelling age which are usually all pretty similarly high compared to his chronological age - I wouldn't have thought the reading test in isolation would be that useful?

You would know if he had an IEP. My dyslexic DS had lots of tests with scores-reading age alone isn't very useful. There is no point in knowing if a DC is a fluent reader and in line with, or above their age. You can imagine the posts on here along the lines of 'is my DC G&T because they are only 7 and have a score off the top of the test'! All it means is they are good at decoding-they may not be able to understand the words they decode.

I always wonder what "age" it goes up to... Like is a teacher somewhere telling a parent " your child has the reading age of a 31 year old" ?

We use reading tests at our school (not the one linked) just to check the children's progress...it is just another piece of the pie. It just highlights children who may be struggling and so we can look at interventions. There comes a point where they are not useful...as the children get older (I think we use them up to about year 4) and in foundation stage. The trouble is you can't really compare different reading tests scores because they test different skills...so they really are not the whole picture. That is why teachers are trainned professionals....we use our professional judgement but sometimes it is nice to have a bit of concrete evidence

I remember doing the Schonell reading test at Primary School very similar to the Burt and equally useless.

roisin I'm looking for a good reading comprehension test for primary school would you recommend the one you use?

I've just got my ds to do it - he came out with a reading age of significantly above his chronological age - but when I asked him what the words meant he got up to only a year over his chronological age!

we do an NFER one which does (or is supposed) to do some comprehension

Just goes to show that decoding is a performing seal trick - it's the comprehension that's important.

well I disagree decoding is very very important without reading is very hard...it is a primary reading skill, comprehension comes later

Which just goes to show why parents don't need them-it is just, as cazzybabs says, another piece of the pie.

We use NFER and while it gives a more accurate picture of a child's reading ability it doesn't really test understanding.

The reading tests only show the kids ability to decode words and not their comprehension levels. They can be used to see the progression of the child in phonics but comprehension is far more important. My DD can read everyword on the Burt Test, but she doesn't have a clue what half of the words mean. This gives her a reading age far far higher than her choronological age.
Take the tests with a pinch of salt, the comprehension and enjoyment of a book is far more important.

Hi at my daughters school they use the Salford reading test. If anybodys got the link to this i would love to see it. Thanks