Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How important is it to know reading level?

I just found out today from my dd's kindergarten teacher that they stop testing/evaluating reading after they reach a certain level. According to the teacher that is all the district requires from them to reach by the end of kindergarten. I personally would like to know so I can make good book selections in her reading level and be sure she continues to make progress. For this year it doesn't really matter any more... but next year if she's already maxed out their requirements then when will I have an accurate idea of what reading level she is at? If I request they keep testing her beyond their grade level requirements do they have to do it?

ETA: I may push that she goes to a higher grade for reading because she's already the highest reader in her class and the students in her reading group aren't near as advanced as she is... except for maybe one other student who I haven't heard read yet.

That's annoying, isn't it? Testing is a very useful tool in determining appropriate education. It is disappointing when a school doesn't use it this way. I suppose it's possible that the teachers are still attempting to teach each kid at his/her level without relying on the testing. But it's a lot easier to use the tests. Then you can group kids at similar levels to help make sure everyone is appropriately challenged.

If I were you, I would follow your instincts and request further testing and then subject acceleration. Or just subject acceleration if they won't do further testing. Good luck!

I think this is standard. Why would they give you ammunition to make more work for them? LOL!
There are places online where you can test her reading level. Personally, I did it by trial and error and now that dd is in 1st grade, she is selecting most of her own materials in the school library each week. Reading instruction at her school is done from self-selected titles. DD reads quietly to herself each day and reads aloud to her teacher on a weekly basis and also is tested for comprehension using Time for Kids with a sheet of questions afterward. It's an interesting change from the model they used when I was in school of reading aloud in groups and everyone being in the same reading textbook.

You know, I was just thinking back to our local school. I forgot that they didn't normally test using NWEA MAPs until 2nd grade, but they did test DS while he was in kindy and the window for testing was open. If your school uses a test like MAP, which allows you to go above grade level, then perhaps you can request this for your kiddo, even though they are not in the usual grade for it? When the school saw our DS's scores compared with kids above grade level, they were much more willing to believe that our DS did indeed need more challenge.

As others have said, there is probably minimal testing in kindy in general, but I've always been a squeaky wheel and asked for more.

I have never known the level for our kids. They have been able to read anything they came across since age 3 or so, and the school certainly never tested them to capacity during reading screenings. But I think they don't feel an urgent need to know a level on a kid who reads well, and neither do I.

Our school also does not focus on choosing books at the "proper" level, except that the librarian has a rule that if you have to stop to figure out words 5 times on a single page, then the book is too hard. Otherwise, I think they use the levels only for remediating reading difficulties, which seems appropriate to me.

DeeDee

I'm a big fan of MAP testing, simply because it's a great way to show that your kid is progressing and learning something. If my kid's numbers are going up, I am happy. If they are not, I will investigate what's going on at school.

As for whether I think knowing a child's reading level is important, I'd lean toward yes if you're talking GT kids. In my experience, most classrooms are filled with grade level books. Some school libraries restrict what kids can read. So if you would like your child to be appropriately challenged, you will need to do the work as a parent and advocate for more at school or make sure that your kiddo gets appropriate materials at home. I would think a good number of GT kids will start to think that school is not a place for learning if they are not given progressively more challenging materials. Just my not so humble opinion.

But if I don't have to stop to figure out words at LEAST 5 times on a page, I'm annoyed.

(when I'm reading to learn [ed. to add]ambitiously[end add]... you guys are safe ;P )

[Hmm... I guess I'm always wanting to learn when I read, but I have some kind of category of learning that feels "flowy," which is way more than I expect most of the time. Hmmm... Never noticed this about myself before.]

[eek, here I was being a smart-ass, and now I gotta go think about something. sheesh.]

The ability to quickly get a word definition while I'm in the middle of a book on my Kindle is one of my favorite things about it.

When my kids were learning to read, it was pretty important to us to know their level. Both have a pretty low threshhold for frustration. I take books I know they can read and look it up on the Scholastic Book Wizard. From there I find books at a similar level or slowly inch it upwards until finding their frustration level.

For both kids, I stopped doing this around DRA 20-22. After that it doesn't seem to matter for them. I've been frustrated by the strict application of the 5word per page rule, as both my kids easily infer meaning of unfamiliar words, so it doesn't dramatically affect their comprehension.

We have now encountered the negative consequences of the school stopping the reading assessment at one grade level above. DD9 is now identified as having a reading disability, but thr last time they found her ceiling was in kindrgarten. So now we're going onto an IEP without the school knowing what her reading level is, giving us neither a baseline or any means for monitoring the efficacy of the intevention.

Yes, I've gotten her tested privately, and I expect the report today.

I'm with DeeDee; it's never felt important to know what DS's reading level was, because he was an early self-taught reader and it was readily apparent that nobody was ever going to have to teach him to read. (I did find it interesting to see what level book in a reading scheme he could easily read, when he was very young, but this was just out of curiosity.) What he read was always determined by his interests, not by his reading level, and he never seemed to be vulnerable to getting frustrated by things being too hard. If school had attempted to stop him reading things above a certain level because they'd refused to assess him above that level, of course it would have been a different matter, but they never showed any sign of doing any such thing.