Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments How is reading level tested in schools?

Ultimately, it's a judgement call, because what's acceptable for one person isn't the same as what's acceptable for another.

With that said, I was into the Lord of the Rings saga in 6th grade, and that series is far more violent than the Ender series. The Ender series also has some rather profound moral themes that get explored. So in your place, I'd find my son's interest in Asimov not only appropriate, but laudable.

Aculady: Thanks for the feedback. Isn't the maximum score 300? If so, there seems to be some room for improvement (otherwise why bother establishing the range). When you say talent searches what are you referring to? He had an opportunity to go to a tech/engineering oriented GT Middle School (I'm fairly certain that he could have - classmates in elementary School GT that were not quite as successful as my son made it in). But we were satisfied that he would be well served at our local MS. He's doing Algebra now (6th grade) and will move on to Honors Geometry soon. While he likes English and is quite good at it, his true interest is math and science...

Dude: Thanks for the feedback. I'm generally not that worried about violence - he seems to put it in the proper context - for instance I let him read John Le Carre etc. It's just that he noted it and shared his "concerns" (and that was the first time since the Hunger Games (sp?) that he did that)...

I just had a conversation about this with DS10's teacher. She said there is nothing really to strive for reading level wise and let him read what he is happy reading. His Lexile is 1260 this fall. So, at your son's level I really wouldn't worry. DH loved Ender's Game and recommends it for DS. He just needs to fit it in because his class requires a certain amount of on-lexile level books to be read per quarter (didn't the teacher just contradict this???) anyway, Ender's Game is pretty low but I will surely let him read it once he has his other books read. He chose Jane Eyre for this quarter (it's a 1300+ lexile)