Approximate Grade Level Correlations
 

At the beginning of the school year your child will read a benchmark book to the teacher and then retell the story. The teacher then scores your child on a range of skills, such as accuracy of reading, comprehension, and fluency (ease of reading and use of expression). For example, in retelling the story the teacher would note if your child mentioned all the characters, called them by name, and said something each did in the story. DRA tells the teacher where she needs to start working with the child. As with other assessment tools, DRA matches your child to an appropriate level of text difficulty. This system starts with level A, for the easiest books, and then switches to numeric levels, running from 1 to 80.  Your child’s teacher always has your child’s level on hand and can explain what books are right for your child.  The chart below is a general guide to help you see the general expectations.

Because grade level divisions vary in so many different ways it is more important to consider what is appropriate for the reader. Children are exposed to many different experiences and we should focus on what is developmentally appropriate for each child and not what others think is above or below a child's grade level.

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