As the school year begins, assessment is on everyone’s mind. As a former Reading Recovery teacher, I feel strongly that running records are the best measure of a student’s reading performance, as well as the best way to analyze a student’s strengths and weaknesses as a reader. I am often asked if it is appropriate to give running records to English learners. It absolutely is, because this assessment provides us with valuable information about how a student is processing text. We must, however, keep a few things in mind:
- Some English learners may need more time for processing, as they may be mentally translating some or all of the English text into their native language, thinking about the meaning, and then changing their thoughts back to English. This takes time. Yes, we want them to eventually think in English, but this can take a while. Most importantly, we want students to comprehend the words they are reading.
- Proficient readers use three types of cues when reading in their native language: meaning cues, syntactical cues, and visual cues. English learners often do not have full use of all three cueing systems when they read in English because they have difficulty discerning whether or not the text makes sense or if the syntax is correct. This is due to the fact that they are not reading in their native language, so they often must rely on visual cues alone (running records give us this information). We must then provide strong support to enable students to build the other two cueing systems. If we don’t provide appropriate instruction, students will inevitably become “word callers” (students who can fluently decode connected print but they do not fully understand the meaning of what they have just read) and comprehension might always be a stumbling block.
- We must take pronunciation into consideration. For example, if students always struggle with the pronunciation of the word “with” and instead say “wif,” this should not be counted as a miscue.
We can learn so much from running records, much more than just the student’s reading level. If we carefully analyze the running record, we will see what areas we need to target to maximize students’ reading progress.
Where can I find out more information on running records? Any recommendations for websites? or books?
Thank you for your reply. The book that was the most helpful to me was Marie Clay’s Observation Survey. For tips in administering running records, readingrecovery.org is a good website. As a former Reading Recovery teacher, this site was invaluble to me. Please let me know if this is helpful.
Thanks,
Barbara
Great article–thank you! Is there a standard that an administer should follow to determine if text is too difficult/too easy for a student?
Yes, there are standards. If a student scores below 90% accuracy on a running record and/or if a student exhibits poor comprehension on a text, then the text is at a frustrational level. If a student scores 95% accuracy or above, and if comprehension is in place, then the material is at the student’s independent reading level. The student’s instructional level is 90% to 94% accuracy.
Thanks for your question,
Barbara