Dear Primary and Special Education Teachers

Dear Primary and Special Education Teachers,

To help prevent students, as they move from grade to grade, from using seen text during the PM Benchmark process I’ve assigned each grade a kit number. If grade one and three could use kit 1 (green) and grade 2 and the juniors use kit 2 (orange) hopefully we will have fewer students respond with “I’ve seen that.” This should also make the binders easier to find.

Please remember that a student’s instructional level depends on accuracy, rate, fluency and comprehension. Below, you will find a brief outline of the memo we received at the beginning of the year.If you would like the memo, with tips for the Benchmark process, please see me!

PM Benchmark

To move to a higher level text in the PM Benchmark process four criteria must be meant;

1. Read at 90-94% accuracy 2. Read at a rate appropriate for grade

3. Demonstrate level 3 fluency 4. Correctly answer 1 knowledge and 1 inferential question.

Rate

End of Grade / Oral reading rate (words per minute) / Maximum time to read a 150 word passage (last Benchmark of year) (minutes)
1 / 50-80 / 4
2 / 80-100 / 3
3 / 100-120 / 3

* Senior Kindergartenstudents who are reading at the expected level for June of SK will be reading in a more word-by-word fashion. They should be able to read about 25 words per minute in continuous text.

Fluency

Level 1 / Very little fluency; all word-by-word reading with some long pauses between words; almost no recognition of syntax or phrasing (expressive interpretation); very little evidence of awareness of punctuation; perhaps a couple of two-word phrases but generally disfluent; some word groupings awkward
Level 2 / Mostly word-by-word reading but with some two-word phrasing and even a couple of three- or four-word phrases (expressive interpretation); evidence of syntactic awareness of syntax and punctuation; although not consistently so; rereading for problem-solving may be present.
Level 3 / A Mixture of word-by-word reading and fluent, phrased reading (expressive interpretation); there is evidence of attention to punctuation and syntax; rereading for problem-solving may be present.
Level 4 / Reads primarily in larger meaningful phrases; fluency, phrased reading with a few word-by-word slow downs for problem-solving; expressive interpretation is evident at places throughout the reading; attention to punctuation and syntax; rereading for problem-solving may be present but is generally fluent

* Once a student can read one full grade level beyond the expected it is recommended that the assessment stop.

* Students will likely score instructional at more than one level. Continue to offer more challenging texts until the highest level that meets all criteria is found.

* If a text appears very easy, stop the assessment, ask a question to check comprehension and then, if appropriate move up levels. It is not necessary for students to read texts at every level.

KIT 2

GRADE TWO AND JUNIOR

PM Benchmark

To move to a higher level text in the PM Benchmark process four criteria must be meant;

1. Read at 90-94% accuracy 2. Read at a rate appropriate for grade

3. Demonstrate level 3 fluency 4. Correctly answer 1 knowledge and 1 inferential question.

Rate

End of Grade / Oral reading rate (words per minute) / Maximum time to read a 150 word passage (last Benchmark of year) (minutes)
1 / 50-80 / 4
2 / 80-100 / 3
3 / 100-120 / 3

* Senior Kindergartenstudents who are reading at the expected level for June of SK will be reading in a more word-by-word fashion. They should be able to read about 25 words per minute in continuous text.

Fluency

Level 1 / Very little fluency; all word-by-word reading with some long pauses between words; almost no recognition of syntax or phrasing (expressive interpretation); very little evidence of awareness of punctuation; perhaps a couple of two-word phrases but generally disfluent; some word groupings awkward
Level 2 / Mostly word-by-word reading but with some two-word phrasing and even a couple of three- or four-word phrases (expressive interpretation); evidence of syntactic awareness of syntax and punctuation; although not consistently so; rereading for problem-solving may be present.
Level 3 / A Mixture of word-by-word reading and fluent, phrased reading (expressive interpretation); there is evidence of attention to punctuation and syntax; rereading for problem-solving may be present.
Level 4 / Reads primarily in larger meaningful phrases; fluency, phrased reading with a few word-by-word slow downs for problem-solving; expressive interpretation is evident at places throughout the reading; attention to punctuation and syntax; rereading for problem-solving may be present but is generally fluent

* Once a student can read one full grade level beyond the expected it is recommended that the assessment stop.

* Students will likely score instructional at more than one level. Continue to offer more challenging texts until the highest level that meets all criteria is found.

* If a text appears very easy, stop the assessment, ask a question to check comprehension and then, if appropriate move up levels. It is not necessary for students to read texts at every level.

KIT 1

GRADE ONE AND THREE

PM Benchmark

To move to a higher level text in the PM Benchmark process four criteria must be meant;

1. Read at 90-94% accuracy 2. Read at a rate appropriate for grade

3. Demonstrate level 3 fluency 4. Correctly answer 1 knowledge and 1 inferential question.

Rate

End of Grade / Oral reading rate (words per minute) / Maximum time to read a 150 word passage (last Benchmark of year) (minutes)
1 / 50-80 / 4
2 / 80-100 / 3
3 / 100-120 / 3

* Senior Kindergartenstudents who are reading at the expected level for June of SK will be reading in a more word-by-word fashion. They should be able to read about 25 words per minute in continuous text.

Fluency

Level 1 / Very little fluency; all word-by-word reading with some long pauses between words; almost no recognition of syntax or phrasing (expressive interpretation); very little evidence of awareness of punctuation; perhaps a couple of two-word phrases but generally disfluent; some word groupings awkward
Level 2 / Mostly word-by-word reading but with some two-word phrasing and even a couple of three- or four-word phrases (expressive interpretation); evidence of syntactic awareness of syntax and punctuation; although not consistently so; rereading for problem-solving may be present.
Level 3 / A Mixture of word-by-word reading and fluent, phrased reading (expressive interpretation); there is evidence of attention to punctuation and syntax; rereading for problem-solving may be present.
Level 4 / Reads primarily in larger meaningful phrases; fluency, phrased reading with a few word-by-word slow downs for problem-solving; expressive interpretation is evident at places throughout the reading; attention to punctuation and syntax; rereading for problem-solving may be present but is generally fluent

* Once a student can read one full grade level beyond the expected it is recommended that the assessment stop.

* Students will likely score instructional at more than one level. Continue to offer more challenging texts until the highest level that meets all criteria is found.

* If a text appears very easy, stop the assessment, ask a question to check comprehension and then, if appropriate move up levels. It is not necessary for students to read texts at every level.