Children's Reading

 Why is it that publication of school test results is always met with stories about children being unable to read? Probably because those who spread such tales never themselves read beyond headlines and seem utterly incapable of interpreting simple data. The recent SATs results said that 84% of 11 year-olds had reached Level 4 in reading.

So what is level 4, anyway?

Level 4 is the standard the government expects most children to reach by the time they leave primary school.

Incidentally, last year it was 83% and in Kent this year it was 80.5%.

But what about the rest? Does this mean that 16% “cannot read”?

Take a look at what a child who reaches Level 3 can do – He or she:

• can show understanding of the main points of the text and re-tell the story,
• can read independently, using a range of strategies appropriately to establish the meaning,
• can express reading preferences – both by naming authors and by talking about different types of stories,
• can make sensible predictions about what is likely to happen in the story and to different characters,
• know how suspense is building up in a story, including the development of the plot,
• can prepare a reading that conveys humour..

There is more – and these apply to the minimum Level 3 standard, hardly illiterate!  For the record, of the 16% who did not reach Level 4 in Reading, 9% made Level 3, 3% took the test but did not register a Level. The rest did not take the test.

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