How Do We Measure Reading Skills?
For the first several years of my career, students were given “reading levels.” I’m still asked for them by parents today. It can be frustrating for parents, especially those of older learners, to hear the answer that I have… and that answer is- they don’t exist. Reading is a complex skill that cannot be boiled down easily into a letter or number level. Doing so implies that reading is a complex skill that is made of many subskills such as decoding, background knowledge, fluency, vocabulary, and language comprehension. Look for a post later on language versus reading comprehension!
Instead, these components and subskills must be measured individually. Together, all these skills help students to demonstrate reading comprehension. If your learner is measuring below grade level in the area of reading comprehension on school based assessments, what you’re seeing is the symptom. Think about it this way… you have a fever, cough, and congestion. You go the doctor and the doctor looks at you and says, “Yep, you’re sick.” The doctor doesn’t take your temperature, inquire about your symptoms, or do any evaluation. The doctor wishes you luck and then sends you to the cold and flu aisle to try some different over the counter products out. However, a few weeks later… you’re not feeling any better. You’ve now developed a sore throat and your other symptoms are worse. You go to a different doctor, who does some tests and determines… STREP THROAT! So, you need antibiotics.
Reading difficulties work the same way. Specific problems require specific solutions and treating a vague, broad symptom rather than digging in to find the actual cause will do little to mitigate the problem. It might just mask or reduce symptoms, but long term is not a solution.
Because reading is such a complex process (look for another post on this later too!), boiling things down to a “level” can seem easier to understand and helpful, but really is an over generalization that does nothing to help the struggling child.
Instead, a comprehensive, detailed dive into the learner’s skills is necessary. Do they have challenges with specific phonics skills? Do they have a hard time reading because they struggle to blend sounds into words? Or, are they lacking age appropriate vocabulary? Finding these things will help learners to acquire literacy.
