Hi I think that the first question you have to get an answer for, Angela, is what is the purpose for taking running records? Are you finding appropriate reading levels for instruction? If your school is using it in a formative way, then it doesn't really matter what leveling system is being used. Are you trying to monitor student progress? Are you trying to see if kids are reading on grade level? Are you benchmarking progress? Then you do need some consistency... it ought to be a discussion first at each grade level and then at the school level...what do we expect from our kids at each grade? How do our expectations meld across the grades? My personal belief is that running records are best used for formative assessment purposes. You can use them to see approximately where the instructional level is for each kid...but I would argue, more importantly, you can watch to see how the child processes text. Does he read for meaning? Are the miscues visual or meaning based? Is he attending to punctuation? Phrasing properly? Self-correcting? Knowing these kinds of things help you teach that child in a more deliberate way. Jennifer In a message dated 6/23/2009 9:53:35 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, angela_alm...@scs.k12.nc.us writes:
I guess my questions are: Is it normal for schools to be so haphazard with what assessment they are using? What (if they exist) are standard expected levels for each grade? I am unfamiliar with DRA but the DRA kit that fifth grade uses has Level 24, 28, 34, 38, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80. What about the in-between levels? Our North Carolina End-Of-Grade tests are lexiled. Shouldn't the levels we expect our kids to be reading at match the state tests? **************Check all of your email inboxes from anywhere on the web. Try the new Email Toolbar now! (http://toolbar.aol.com/mail/download.html?ncid=txtlnkusdown00000027) _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
