About Running Records

The Running Records that accompany the Benchmark Passages and Benchmark Books (Levels aa-J) are one of three parts in the process designed to accurately assess students' reading behavior and comprehension.

How to Use Running Records

The beginning of the school year is an opportune time to use this three-part assessment process. It will provide you with information on your students' reading abilities and help you determine where to start each student. Continue to use the process at regular intervals (such as those provided in the chart below) to monitor students' progress throughout the year.

• Assign a Benchmark Passage or Benchmark Book (Levels aa-J) that best approximates a student's reading level by clicking on the Assign button and selecting the student. A recorded retelling and comprehension quiz are automatically assigned for the book or passage you select.
• The next time a student logs into Kids A-Z, they will see the assessment they have been assigned.
• You listen and score the running record and retelling after a student submits the recordings to your Kids A-Z In Basket.

Note Students can be assigned only one assessment at a time.

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Assessment Schedule

Developmental Level	Reading Level	Schedule
Beginning readers	Levels aa-C	every 2 to 4 weeks
Developing readers	Levels D-J	every 4 to 6 weeks
Effective readers	Levels K-P	every 6 to 8 weeks
Automatic readers	Levels Q-Z	every 8 to 10 weeks

Note Students who are not progressing at the expected rate should be assessed even more frequently than the Assessment Schedule suggests.

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How to Score Running Records

Taking a running record takes practice. To learn more about running records in general read About Running Records on Reading A-Z. Information covered here is specific to our online running records.

The information gathered while doing an online running record is used to determine error, accuracy, and self-correction rates.

• While listening to the recording of your student, indicate a mistake by clicking the text at the point of an error and selecting the types of error from the menu.
• You can select more than one error by clicking on the word again and indicating a second error.

The recording will pause while you are selecting an error type. Once an error is selected the recording will resume at a point slightly before the error.

Additional Scoring Tips

Scoring Tip 1

Change the Start Word and End Word of the section of text you'd like to assess by grabbing the box border and dragging it to the desired word.

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Scoring Tip 2

Ensure the Words Per Minute and Words Correct Per Minute are accurate by adjusting the start and end time of the recording. Click and drag the green or red arrow in the recording timeline to eliminate a pause when the student begins reading or cut a recording short.

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The Running Record Scorecard

Scorecard formulas are automatically calculated based on recording length and errors you have marked.

• Error Rate

  Expressed as a ratio using the following formula:
  total words / total errors
  
  For example, 1:12 means that for every error made, the student reads approximately 12 words correctly.

• Self-Correction Rate

  Expressed as a ratio using the following formula:
  (total errors + total self corrections) / total self corrections
  
  For example, 1:4 means that the student corrects approximately 1 out of every 4 errors. A rate of 1:4 or less indicates that the student is self-monitoring his or her reading.

• Accuracy Rate

  Expressed as a percentage using the following formula:
  (total words - total errors) / total words * 100

• Words Per Minute

  60 / (recording time) * (total words)

• Words Correct Per Minute

  60 / (recording time) * (total words correct)

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Place and Move Up Students

Use the chart below along with the information in the Assessment Report to determine if students are ready to move up a level. To move a student up levels in Raz-Kids, select the appropriate level from the student's Kids A-Z profile page to create a new self-paced assignment at the student's developmentally appropriate level.

Scores

Running Record Accuracy Rate	Quick Check Comprehension Quiz	Action
95% +	100%	Advance Student a Level
95% +	80%	Instruct at this Level
95% +	<80%	Lower a Level, Assess Again
90-94%	80-100%	Instruct at this Level
90-94%	<80%	Lower a Level, Assess Again
<90%*	N/A	Lower a Level, Assess Again

* Some teachers may choose to instruct students at a level in which they have scored lower than 90 percent, but generally will not instruct using texts in which students score below 85 percent.

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How to Choose an Assessment Text

Views differ as to whether students should be assessed using text they have never read or familiar text. We believe using a previously unread text will give a more accurate measure of a student's ability to read and comprehend text at the assessed level.

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How Do I Reward Students' Reading Progress?

Reward your students' progress with Incentives in the interactive Kids A-Z student-learning environment. Students earn stars for completing assessments and other activity on the site. You can award bonus stars after scoring assessments. Students spend earned stars to personalize their avatar in the Avatar Builder and their Raz Rocket.