running records

A running record is an oral test of fluency and reading rate. A student is given a short text usually 100-200 words. Then you time them and note how long it takes them to read the text. While they read you note Errors such as misreading, unknown words, substituting one word for another, self corrections and unknown words. You determine a accuracy percent by subtacting the errors from the total number of words and then dividing that number by the total. Students should read with 95% accuracy and at varying wpm depending on grade level of the text and the student. Running records are a really good measure of students reading rate and decoding skills. They are not used to measure comprehension. That can be accomplished through questioning or retelling or summarizing of the story.

A benchmark refers to IEP goals and objectives. They should be measurable and occur at intervals before the IEP expires. For example:

Goal: Suzie will increase her reading comprehension by two grade levels as measured by the BASIC Reading Inventory. (Note: this is a criterion test which can be given each grading period to measure progress).

Obj: Before the end of the first term Suzie will increase her vocabulary from a 2.4 grade level to a 3.0 grade level as measured by curriculum-based tests.

This is a benchmark because it is shooting for a certain skill by a certain date.

Running records are teacher’s records of errors while the student reads aloud. Some teachers do it well—others not so well. Some record it (which is good if it is not one’s forte.) Sometimes running records are a problem within the IEP objectives because it is difficult to always know what grade-level book the student is reading. This is especially true if the student’s class is oriented toward a Reading Workshop format. That makes the true measurement part of the IEP goal and benchmarks/objectives difficult.

Tell us more about your child’s reading problems. What do you notice when he/she reads? Does he/she seem to know the words but not be able to make out the reading? Do they skip easy words? Read slow or fast? Does she/he have trouble knowing what the words are? Are there diagnostic scores you could post, such as the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised (WRMT-R) or the Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement (WJR could be III or R)?

I have also noticed that reading “levels” become more and more difficult to establish after 2nd-3rd grade level.

I have about 4 published reading inventories I use. Most have a minimum of 4 and up to 8 passages per grade level and are a mix of fiction and content area reading. I have noted that by 4th grade level, students can be all over the place when given several different measures.

Reading level is very much tied up with the child’s own background of experience and knowledge. If the passage deals with experiences or a knowledge base, including vocabulary words, outside the child’s range of experience, the child frequently achieves a lower score.

To balance this I tend to administer several passages (2-3) from the level I am aiming for. I have found many of my students do very well on narrative selections, but fail the science and social studies content selections. This I have explained and shown to parents and often now write IEP goals to increase content area comprehension skills, when narrative comprehension skills are appropriate.

The notion of a reading level is a very rough approximation and should be used with this in mind. I have noted the same pattern on word recognition tests from 4th grade level and on, frequently a student might score 70% on the 4th grade list and 85% on the 5th grade list. What are 4th grade words and 5th grade words? Again, I use more than one and show/explain this to parents. I am more interested in whether or not the child can achieve 90% or better on the 4th grade list six months or a year later.

We use running records and benchmarks in my district in regular ed. classrooms, sometimes we find the passages to be widely disparate in their actual level of difficulty. When the entire grade level does worse on the running record in January than in September (both allegedly at grade level), then we know the selections are not of equal difficulty.

I agree 100%.

Would you list the tests you use and publishers if possible? I’ll do the same. My list is shorter. I’m always looking for different testing instruments.

Do you use the BASIC (Jerry Johns) or the Silveroli?

Silveroli, N. and W. Wheelock. (2001). Classroom Reading Inventory (9th Edition) Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 2001.

Johns, Jerry. (1997). BASIC Reading Inventory. (7th Ed.) Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co.