Guided Reading Levels
Guided Reading Levels are used at the elementary level to assess what level a student has attained in reading. The district uses the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Kit to conduct the assessment. During the assessment, the student reads various passages to the teacher. The teacher assesses both the child's ability to read the words as well as his or her understanding of the words (comprehension). The Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Kit assessment results into Fountas and Pinnell letter levels. The teachers use the letters to match the student's current instructional reading level to the appropriate books at that level. They also use the assessment to help them group students of similar ability into guided reading groups and small groups for instruction. For more information on guided reading groups, check out "What is Guided Reading" on the Scholastic website.
It is important to keep in mind that each student progresses at his or her own rate. When reviewing Guided Reading Levels for a student, the purpose is to assure that each student is making progress. There are general guidelines for "typical" reading ranges at each grade level. These ranges are guides as to what you would typically find as the range of scores for an "typical" student at that grade level.