Find Your Child's Reading Level

Check out how well your children can read.

By using the San Diego Quick Assessment found on the next three pages, you will quickly be able to gauge your children’s reading ability.

Download now to print this assessment.

What you need to know:

1. Research has confirmed that the San Diego Quick Assessment provides a fairly accurate estimate of children’s ability to read grade-level material.
2. It is a first-step screening procedure – not a substitute for a comprehensive reading assessment.
3. At the high school level, the assessment is most effective for students with poor decoding skills.
4. Bright children often read several levels above their grade level.

What you will learn from the assessment:

1. You will learn how well your child is reading words at each grade level.
2. A reading category can be determined for each grade level:
   • independent – the child can read with no help from his or her teachers
   • instructional – the grade level where your child is actually reading
   • frustration – the grade level where material is too difficult for your child

Reading Level Assessment – Record Form

Directions: Begin with the children’s reading list that is at least two years below a child’s grade level or at the preprimer level. Cover the words not being read with a paper. Ask the child to read the list words aloud to you. Give no longer than five seconds before asking the child to move to the next word. Indicate the child’s errors on this record form. Continue until the child makes three or more errors in a list.

Reading Level: When testing is completed, record the highest reading level in each of the categories below.

___INDEPENDENT (1 error) ____INSTRUCTIONAL (2 errors) ___FRUSTRATION (3 errors)

Reprinted with Permission of the International Reading Association, 2011. LaPay, M. and Ross, R. (1969). The graded word list: Quick gauge of reading ability. Journal of Reading, 12(4), 305-307.

Children’s Reading Lists