How To Know Whether Your Child Is Reading At The Right Level

How do I know whether my child is reading at the right level?

There's a standard benchmark for determining whether or not a book is the right level for a child and the benchmark for independent reading, without an adult sitting there, is 95%. So, you have your child read out loud part of the book that they're reading and if they stumble on more than a word or two for every 2 words then that book is probably too hard. If they read it perfectly it's either the right level or it might be a little too easy. The other thing that I really recommend that parents do, and if they can't do all the time at least do some of the time, is read the books that their kids are reading. They may not read it at the same time. Maybe they will read it at night. Most adults read faster than kids so you can skim through them, and have a discussion with the child about what's going on in the book. I see so many children who read and don't have any idea what they're reading. They will sit and they will hold the book in front of them and they'll swear that they read it but they don't have any idea what happens in the book and that's a problem too. So, just because a child can read fluently it doesn't mean they understand. I've got so many students who can read perfectly who you would think are just lovely readers but if you were to ask them “So what happened?”, they would answer “I don't know. I don't have any idea.” So you definitely want to talk to your children about the book that they're reading. A lot of children still miss out the subtle content even when they do understand. They miss some of the good content. It's so much fun to be able to read books with your child, point things out and discuss the intricacies of the plot etcetera.