Reading Levels

Knowing a child's reading level can be difficult.  Schools use different types of testing and classifications, few of which mean anything to people who don't work in education.  And quite honestly, the specifics of some of these systems are unknown to me too.  What follows is a comparison chart of the different systems used in schools in the US. Please remember that all children learn and develop at different speeds and there is no one right level for children of a specific age to be.  The stages contain a bunch of different levels and scores.  This list only goes up to the 6th grade, when really different reading levels exist beyond. I'll also explain what some of these stages and levels mean and how this translates to the real world.

Emergent Readers need guidance and assistance from adults, either one one one or in small groups.  They spend lots of time sounding words out.  Good books for Emergent Readers have predictable texts with sight words.  This means the sentences should have a formulaic structure, such as See Spot Run, and many of the words should be for physical objects or actions (bowl, dog, mirror, run, jump) or ones they see written in many places (stop, red).

Fluent Readers are able to read paragraphs and so should be reading easy chapter books.  They are developing the ability to read without lots of pauses or stumbling over words they are familiar with when reading out loud.  Fluent Readers are also working on reading to themselves and might start to be able to guess the meaning of new words from their context.  It is important for Early Fluent Readers to continue reading over school vacations so that they don't lose the skills they've gained.  Children at this stage should spend some time reading with an adult and some time reading to themselves.

Self Extending Readers mostly read to themselves.  When they read out loud they are able to do so clearly with a minimum of pauses.  They can learn the meaning of new words from examining their context.  Self Extending Readers can read chapter books that take days or even weeks to complete.  They are learning (or know) how to apply back round knowledge and connect texts with other books they have read.  Self extending readers have the skills to learn and improve their reading abilities on their own. 

What this means in every day life:

The basic reading level needed to function in adult life is generally considered to be 5th Grade.  Medication and assembly directions are often written at this level.  The newspaper USA Today writes at this level.  The adverage person or TV journalist speaks at this level.

The general highest reading level, outside of technical/area of a college degree, is 10th Grade.  High School Standardized Tests assess at this level. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are written at this level.  Any reading levels higher than this are related to a person's specific knowledge.  For example I have a degree in English/Creative writing and have taken college courses in Education, Womens Studies, and PostColonial Theory.  I read at the college level in these areas.  I know the specific jargon used and have the background information necessary to talk about the difference between "Post Colonial" and "PostColonial".  I do not have much college education in the sciences so if I read an article on medicine, global warming, or astrophysics, I can understand up to the 10th Grade reading level.  After that the information/writing is too specific and technical for me to understand.

Again, I feel it's important to state that these reading levels and stages are just a general guide line.  There are exceptions to all of these.  It's very possible for people to be Fluent or Self Eextending Readers and to not sound that way when reading aloud.  Also big jumps between reading levels are possible, especially for younger people. Because of my ADD and learning disabilities I was well behind most of my age group.  With tutoring from a specialist and reading out loud with my parents I jumped from being an Early Fluent to Self Extending Reader in half a year.  One of my roommates works at a middle school that is trying a new reading comprehension program.  They've just assessed its effectiveness and on average children's reading improved four grade levels in as many months.