Making Reading Assessments Student Centered

This fall our school transitioned back to a balanced literacy model that I was thrilled about. We were asked to assess students using the Benchmark Assessment System (BAS). I looked forward to being able to spend time with individual students, discussing things within the text, beyond the text, and about the text.

I initially did a word list check to determine which short text to use with individual students. Fluency and comprehension skills were assessed, following the directions in the teacher guide. This helped me better understand students as readers and plan mini lessons to meet their needs.

Four months later our reading stations are in full swing. Students are loving that they have time to read a book of their own choice, meet with me for small literature discussions, and engage in hyperdocs with our former Reading Street program.

They are developing a passion for books and the adventures you can go on throughout the pages. They are also doing a deep dive into genre study, gaining skills and strategies needed to read various types of texts.

We were told we could optionally give the BAS in the winter, and I decided to assess every student. There was no word list to determine which book to use. Instead I decided to make this assessment student centered.

I gave each child three books to choose from at what I thought to be around their independent or instructional reading level. Students took choosing the book seriously. 22 out of 23 students chose a book that was at their independent or instructional level. One student opted to read one that I felt would be too easy, so I suggested he choose a more challenging book to show me his reading growth. He was glad I made that suggestion.

The conversations I had with students were far more engaging than the fall, and they were able to share insights and use higher level thinking to discuss the book. I was able to see their growth and share where I saw success and room for improvement. Most students told me they enjoyed these conversations better than the fall because they took ownership of the book they read.

None of them know what the letter level on the book means. Instead they are proud they read a nonfiction book of interest and could chat in an informal way. Many students passionately told me the big message in their book and how it could apply to their own life.

All of them were able to identify the genre and explain the features of nonfiction. They were also all about to summarize the book with details, which is always something we are working on. When I asked why this book chat was more successful I was told simply You let us choose a book we felt confident about reading with you.