Reading Levels

Jerry Johns, Basic Reading Inventory, introduced me to the idea that responsive instruction is more likely to be provided if teachers know the student's reading needs (Kibbs, 1995).

Independent Level	Relatively easy for the student to read (95% word accuracy).
Instructional Level	Challenging but manageable for the reader (90% word accuracy).
Frustration Level	Difficult text for the student to read (less than 90% word accuracy).

 cited from Fluency: an introduction. Partnership for Reading. website: Readingrockets

There are three basic Reading Levels identified through quick word list reviews and oral readings of expository passages. They can also be identified by noting student behaviors.  When assessing reading levels as a classroom instructor students should be aware that they are being assessed and should be included in the process for developing strategies to improve their reading level. Some students have temporary stalls in their learning, some will need more professional attention to their reading needs. Teachers should use their assessment as a guide for building a lesson not ending one.

Assessment done by the Basic Reading Inventory examines how reading levels are determined from both the teacher and the student perspectives and the strategies that increase growth. 

Independent-

• Teachers can provide students with primary source readings, supplementary readings aside from the textbook. Students need some introduction and explanation of the connection to the unit of study.  They can follow up the reading with reflective discussion. 
• If students are reading without finger pointing, vocalizing, lip movement or without general tension they are at this level. If they can read orally with expression and accurate attention to punctuation they can  use this comprehension to answer comprehension questions. 
• Modelling of readings in various emotions or voices draws different meaning from a passage.  Modeling reading aloud gives students the confidence to practice this independently.  Encourage parents and community members to do the same.  If technology is available, recording audio or video of excerpt readings are great resources to provide to students on a classroom webpage. Dramatic readings of the Declaration of Independence can be found online.  (Youtube link)
• Intertextuality is taking place. Students are mentally building abstract model of the current text from prior experiences with the topic & prior texts. Experts consciously do this, students may not realize this is happening. This mental construct continues to change as more texts are introduced that are related. (Lenski, 1998)
• Text can be any form of communication that develops meaning- graphic novels, video, audio, art, poetry etc. 
• Lesson idea- have educators in a school system recall what they remember from reading Homer's Oddysey. Have them read a favorite passage in their own voice and post this on your website. Allow students to explore these posts before reading on their own.  They may even want to do this themselves for their classmates. 
• Teachers think that their students are at the independence level because they read with accuracy however, if students are unable to retell what was read or score lower than 90% on 10 comprehension questions, they do not fully understand the material.  The educator is responsible for responding to this with more instruction and opportunity for student improvement. (Johns, 1997)
• Student viewpoint as cited by Jerry Johns. - " I can read this book by myself... I understand what I read, I like reading this; this is easy. "

Instructional -

• Teachers can provide challenging readings but will provide modelling, imagery, strategies for making maximum growth in reading. 
• Most important note " students might experience some difficulties when reading classrrom materials at sight, most of these difficultuies shold be overcome after the student has had an opportunity to read the same material silently." (Johns, 1997) " oral rereading should be definitely improved over oral reading at sight." 
• With word lists students students should be able to identify terms with images.  They should be able to map or groups words with reason.  Students who take time to define terms out loud with a partner will improve recall.  
• From word lists students should be able to use contextual cues, phonic and other strategies within a reading passage to decode other unknown words.  They should miss fewer than 3 of 10 comprehension questions. 
• When they use retelling strategies they may encounter minor misinterpretations and inaccuracies.
• When a classroom engages in discussion of readings they should share how they made connections to the reading both personal and text to text.  There should be opportunity for sharing new reading strategies from both the teacher and the student body.  Teachers should model new strategies. 
• Student perspective- "I can understand this now.  Some words are hard but after the teacher gives me help, the story is easier to read."
• Students need assistance for developing intertextual links. From Susan Lenski's study on Intertextual Intentions (1998) she referenced Mackey (1997) who wrote, "reading can be an act of compromise of developing deep meaning from text and momentum to find out what happened."  I believe that students and teachers need to be empowered to make these compromises in order to keep an evolving construct of meaning to take place.
• Students need time in class to draw on triggers that a reading provides.  "This reminds me of.. " is as important as students who can recognize that "I never experienced.. but.. " statements. Students can draw on personal experiences or secondary experiences- movies, songs, readings... (Lenski)
• Storying- read a text in order to describe or create another story.  Creating alternative endings is a powerful tool for building understanding of perspective. 

Frustration- A serious problem in many classrooms is that large numbers of students are asked to read books at frustration levels. (Johns, 1997) They are often placed in instructional materials too difficult (Johnston & Allington, 1991)

• Students may refuse to continue reading or engage in homework assignments. They may exhibit a lack of expression in oral reading, reading silently word-by-word and/or with finger pointing. 
• a word list will expose 10 or more miscues per 100 words.  Students will score less than 70% and most likely consistently score less than 50% if they lack understanding of terms.  
• Students who can't identify terms might seem as if they understand the reading when it is read aloud.  They may be listening but are still at the frustration level if they are given opportunities to be assessed on their retelling of the story.  If they recall material incompletely or without logical or sequential order they will need many strategies and instruction. 
• Student perspective- "This is too hard, it is stupid, I'm not doing this."  These students need more text to self connection, more graphic organizers, imagery and opportunity to actively show that they know terms.  Terms need to be used in engaging and authentic activities.
• Teachers must respond to frustration levels promptly. Determine if frustration levels are temporary or in need of professional attention. 
• strategies - Students need a whole school environment where making connections to text is expected. (Lenski).  Begin with word lists. Have students build images, sentence triggers and definitions for words.  Continue to offer simple activities that build on comfort with terms. Students should separate a word list into categories. They should pair up to quiz one another on term/definition recall.  They should play games with terms.  
• Place terms with definitions in a salad bowl.  Distribute a number of terms to each of 2 or more student teams. They can design clues for presenting either the term or the definition.  The competitors must give the accurate missing term or definition for a point.  It is better if the second round, students have to draw or act out a term for the other teammates to guess.  Repetitive rounds give students repetitive opportunity for engaging in learning.
• Read warm up passages that deliberately include these terms. Read more passages that could give students the opportunity for creating a graphic organizer- side by side comparison of passages. Drawing conclusions, similarities, differences, new meaning is empowering.
• Students need opportunities to practice the presentation of a reading of a passage. They should follow their reading with an explanation- why they chose this piece, a summary in their own words, a text to self story, a text to text comparison, a critique. If technology is available it is possible to utilize sound recorders, avatars, comic strips.  Students can record their reading of a passage and then change the speed or style of recording.  They can change their audio voice to a new dialect or to sound like a chipmunk. They can add an avatar of their choice, a dog, an alien that speaks for them.  They can play the recording for the class. Playing recordings can eliminate student feelings of vulnerability to peer review and it is fun. 
• garage band, goanimate, make your own avatar, I love toondoo!

How do we read?  Readwritethink.org  offers this lesson