mom2twoboys,

We had the same thing happen to my daughter. She was easily reading 2nd grade books in Kindergarten, but at the end of the year she was assessed at a level C, which is the end of pre-primer rankings. Even her teacher said she was surprised that it was that low, which you think would have clued her in to maybe re-doing the assessment. But no. During the summer she started reading the American Girl books (grade level 3-4) and at the beginning of 1st grade -- a mere 3 months later -- she was assessed at a Level P, which is the beginning of 4th grade. So, clearly, the first assessment wasn't accurate.

I think what happened -- although I can't be sure -- is that the assessments are somewhat subjective. Some teachers will count "Don't" wrong when it says "Do not" while other teachers will not count that wrong, for example. Also, some teachers will prompt a child to look again if they have misread a word that the teacher suspects they know, but other teachers won't. So, there can be some variability there even though the teachers are trying, I'm sure, to keep it accurate. Also, sometimes, kids just have an off day.

The nice thing about reading is that, while it's ideal to have your child reading something at their level at school, it is thankfully something that can easily be made up for a home. Ideally, though, they should be reading something at their instructional level while they're at school, since we send them there to learn! So, I would schedule a meeting with the reading specialist to talk. Maybe you could bring in some books that he is reading, including Flat Stanley, but some other ones as well. And if you want to meet with her fully-armed, maybe look up each book's reading level on the Scholastic Teacher Book Wizard website.

Good luck getting your son what he needs.

Last edited by mnmom23; 10/09/09 03:42 PM.
She thought she could, so she did.