The school that I was talking about earlier which told me they like to hold back kids and not let them progress too far with levels, told me that they assess in the fall and assess in Jan. or Feb. The principal was very proud of this new guided reading program they just started, like it is doing such a big service to kids. Assess a kid and then assess again 4 months later? Are they assuming a kid will stay at one level for FOUR WHOLE MONTHS? It would be better to drop the whole thing and let kids choose what they are comfortable reading rather than keep them at a level until they finally get around to assessing again.
Another district that I talked to said they had leveled reading, but they assess kids every two weeks or so. It's a different program, Read Well or something like that.
