One thing I realized in our schools is that reading ability is NOT based on their ability to read and comprehend a text. Children are grouped by ability to "interpret" a text. Interpretations are EXTREMELY subjective, but not by the teacher--there are "right" and "wrong" answers, even when the questions are moronic.
So my daughter, who regularly reads, talks about, and interprets fourth-grade reading material, is at the second grade level officially. This is because if you ask her questions such as, "What was the author thinking about in this passage?" she will answer, correctly, "I don't know."
And she doesn't know. The author might have included it by chance, or might have been copying or translating--my child has no idea what the author was thinking. The question ought to be, "Why did the author include this paragraph in the story? What is it supposed to add?"
This trips up a LOT of literal, logic-oriented children in terms of assessment.
It is worth knowing this when you go in. I phrase it to my daughter's teacher, "I know that she's still working on interpreting the critical thinking questions in a less literal way. But I do think she's absorbing the material."
This doesn't get us any slack, of course, because my daughter is just one of many children in that precise situation. It is really hard to get above second-grade reading because the third-grade questions are just out there.
Every test is going to miss some child's talent. Some kids are phonetic geniuses and don't get to show that; other kids are great readers but have unique interpretations; still other kids will not read a text they are not interested in but are brilliant at interpretation when they care. Every test will miss somebody. The key is to see their point of view--they have to have one standard for all the kids--and make sure they know you know it, when advocating.
Good luck.
Last edited by binip; 03/21/14 12:01 PM.
