Reading Assessments for Children and Teens

Teachers use reading assessments at all grade levels to determine where students need to improve. To help your child advance, provide at-home reading assignments and assessments to make sure he or she is up to speed. Read on for examples you can use today.

Find available tutors

When Will My Child Begin Taking Reading Assessments?

Children may be given reading assessment tests as early as kindergarten because teachers often use these tests to determine the skill level of their students. This information can be used to design customized lessons and reading interventions if necessary. As students progress through school, reading assessments can be used to help them prepare for more advanced courses and standardized tests. To get started, create your own assessments for after-school practice using the ideas below.

Reading Assessments by Age

Children

To assess a child's reading ability in kindergarten or first grade, you can ask him to identify letters of the alphabet and make the sound that the letter represents. You may also ask your child to identify rhyming words, the number of syllables and sight words. Additionally, teachers often assess students' phonemic awareness, which is the ability to hear and recognize sounds within words. To test your child at home, say a word aloud and ask her to name the sounds she hears.

Adolescents

Most standardized reading tests use passages and comprehension questions to evaluate a student's skill level. While your son or daughter has likely completed tests like these in class at every grade level, you can select free texts and printable worksheets on the Internet that better fit your child's needs and interests. For example, younger students typically read short narratives and answer simple multiple-choice questions on a topic selected by the teacher, but your preteen will be more likely to excel if the subject is relevant and interests him. Additionally, your student should be able to make predictions and draw conclusions about a text and express those ideas in short answer or essay format.

Teens

Writing and reading go hand-in-hand, and this exercise gives teenage students practice with both. If you really want to understand your teen's reading comprehension level, assessments must focus on more than multiple-choice questions. Ask your teen to choose a story, read it and then write a short reflection analyzing a character or proposing an alternate ending.

Did you find this useful? If so, please let others know!

Other Articles You May Be Interested In

  • More Blog Articles
    Can Reading Bridge Racial, Socioeconomic Gaps?

    Study after study shows the achievement gap in education between students of different cultures and economic backgrounds. Recently, two New Jersey schools successfully used literature to show students how 'the other half lives'. Can this experiment be a model for other schools to use books to bridge racial and socioeconomic...

  • More Blog Articles
    Too Much Emphasis on Reading and Math?

    According to a large number of surveyed educators who teach grades 3-12, U.S. public schools are spending too much time on reading and math and not enough on other subjects. Yes, math and reading are important. But what about science, foreign languages and social studies?

We Found 7 Tutors You Might Be Interested In

Huntington Learning

  • What Huntington Learning offers:
  • Online and in-center tutoring
  • One on one tutoring
  • Every Huntington tutor is certified and trained extensively on the most effective teaching methods
In-Center and Online

K12

  • What K12 offers:
  • Online tutoring
  • Has a strong and effective partnership with public and private schools
  • AdvancED-accredited corporation meeting the highest standards of educational management
Online Only

Kaplan Kids

  • What Kaplan Kids offers:
  • Online tutoring
  • Customized learning plans
  • Real-Time Progress Reports track your child's progress
Online Only

Kumon

  • What Kumon offers:
  • In-center tutoring
  • Individualized programs for your child
  • Helps your child develop the skills and study habits needed to improve their academic performance
In-Center and Online

Sylvan Learning

  • What Sylvan Learning offers:
  • Online and in-center tutoring
  • Sylvan tutors are certified teachers who provide personalized instruction
  • Regular assessment and progress reports
In-Home, In-Center and Online

Tutor Doctor

  • What Tutor Doctor offers:
  • In-Home tutoring
  • One on one attention by the tutor
  • Develops personlized programs by working with your child's existing homework
In-Home Only

TutorVista

  • What TutorVista offers:
  • Online tutoring
  • Student works one-on-one with a professional tutor
  • Using the virtual whiteboard workspace to share problems, solutions and explanations
Online Only

Our Commitment to You

  • Free Help from Teachers

  • Free Learning Materials

  • Helping Disadvantaged Youth