Do you all feel the reading counts program is a good indicator if a child met his IEP goals in reading? My youngest son 4th grade had 2 reading goals on his IEP. Goal 1-Child will increase word attack skills to a 2.5 (start point was 1.8) level. Goal 2-Child will improve his word identification skills to a 3.0 (start point 2.3) level. Goal one mainly deals with pronouncing consonant blends at the beginning and ending of a word and correctly identifying the vowel sounds in a word. Goal 2 mainly deals with understanding vocabulary. Included in this section though is identifying correctly with 75 % accuaracy the words on the Dolch List from pre-primer through second grade. He currently is allowed to read books on the blue level (2.0-2.9). He tells me they have to read the book 3 times before they are allowed to take the test. They read the books to themselves and then take a computer generated test. If they are not hearing him read how do they know he pronounced the words correctly? How do they know what percent of sight words he missed? I think they may be testing comprehension but not the other? Am I off base here? Is it assumed if he can pass the comprehension test the other items must be ok? Just curious. He last tested on a book that they rated at a 2.8 level and was able to pass the test without difficulty.
Re: Reading counts
Programs like Reading Counts are good ways to increase independent reading and to ensure some accountability, if kids take and pass a test, then they PROBABLY did actually read the book. Our classroom teachers all have it going and it goes well.
I’m sorry, but I do not consider Reading Counts a measure of progress on these particular goals.
Janis