Reading age, how do they work it out?

[Why??]

At the last parents evening my son's teacher said he had a reading age of 11, he was 7 when they assessed him. I just wandered if anyone knew how they work it out and if that is his reading age is he given reading books to match, he is on stage 10?

I know I should have asked his Teacher, but you know what it's like you don't think of questions until your appointment is over.

[Billi]

Every school or borough uses a different system but basically the books your child can read correspond to a national reading age level. So they would normally get him to read a passage of text that gets progressively harder. When he starts making a certain amount of mistakes they stop him and that is his reading level.

They should be giving him books to match his level. But do remember that a 7 year old is probably going to struggle with some of the comprehension in a book for 11 year olds and decoding words is very different to having a full understanding of what he is reading. The comprehension aspect is just as important (if not more) than the ability to work out the sounds of a word to read it.

(Am a primary school teacher by the way)

[Why??]

Hi Billi, thanks for explaining that to me, I understand it a bit more now. He can read almost anything, but as you say understanding it is a different matter. Thanks again.