Reading Assessments

Teachers must have helpful ways to assess their students. By assessing their students individually and as a whole group, teachers can see more clearly what their students need and how they themselves can teach them more effectively and meaningfully. Assessments can be done formally or informally, and it is best to use a combination of both in your elementary classroom. There are several ways to assess reading in particular.

Assessments do not always have to be written assessments, but can be oral as well. One informative way to assess reading is to simply ask questions about what the student is reading. I ask questions about the setting, the plot, the characters, etc. I also ask the students comprehension questions and teach them strategies to use as they read, so that they fully understand the content of what they are reading and what it means.

Another way to assess reading is to pull an individual student aside along with a book, a pencil and a piece of paper and do a quick running record. Running records are helpful in assessing students’ reading fluency and word decoding skills. They also provide precise documentation to show principals, reading coaches, and parents where the student is in their reading development and learning.

A third way to assess reading is to utilize a Dominie Kit for lower elementary grades, or a QRI Kit for upper elementary grades. QRI stands for Qualitative Reading Inventory, and assesses word decoding skills and fluency, as well as comprehension. I have done all these different types of assessments in the elementary classroom.

The following link is a summary on my reading assessment of a 5th grade male student. https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1GSpBMWH1x50hD33zqV7KRmUuByLtxNaVVctbEaKEpzA