SpinOff of "Chapter Books": I'm confused by "reading levels".

I'm sorry, what are MTH books?

And:

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Yes, but how is this done?

This is a big question. There have been leveled readers for ages, but the current "modern" readers are almost always based on the Reading Recovery model designed by Marie Clay in the late 70's. Publishers will often create their own "levels" which are often indicated on the back of the book with a colour of a flower petal or a letter or a number etc. It gets really confusing because they all have their own standard for each level, but the good publishers almost always create a chart for teachers to compare their books with the RR level (a number) or the also popular Guided Reading (based on Fountas & Pinnell) which uses letters. The newest system that seems to be widely used is the DRA (developmental reading assessment) It uses a number system as well but provides a much more comprehensive analysis with the use of running records which gives a VERY accurate report of a child's true reading abilities. If you don't know what a running record is, it is a written copy of the text that the the teacher marks on with a series of symbols to represent miscues (errors in enunciation, omissions, additions, pausing etc.) as the child reads aloud. The whole thing is timed and then there is a mathematical equation that considers the reader's rate, fluency etc. and spits out a level. Once the child is finished the oral reading component they then are sent off to complete the comprehension portion of the test which is also factored into the total score.

So... if you want to know more about how the books are leveled read up on GUided Reading and Reading Recovery. It is way too complicated to give a fair and complete review of here. It took me years to really understand and use the systems effectively to guide my teaching (and I was doing these tests at least twice a year on every student!) There are also ways to level trade books (MTH, for example) using this criteria.

I'm not sure if you are home schooling since this question is under learning at home, but the books are available to anyone to purchase. My personal favourites are from Scholastic and Pearson Education. They come with guides to teach you how to perform a running record as well. Your final question was wondering how the levels are relevant to school curriculum. They really are meant to provide a meaningful assessment that is an accurate reflection of what students can truly achieve. (As opposed to standardized testing that is often not a true reflection). Most schools use these test results to drive instruction and ensure that all students are "at" grade level.

I have personally used all three products and find the DRA to be the most accurate. It is time consuming, but worthwhile. My only caveat to this post is that I am in Canada and things might be very different in the US. This is based on my experiences only.

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I'm not homeschooling. I put this here because of the "...and Beyond" part of the Forum title. Also, my son is only 4.

But, the bit I quoted above brings up more questions for me. So, is the vocabulary and comprehension more or less than the oral? It sounds above like reading aloud is the clincher. Well, I can read aloud a lot of stuff, but that doesn't mean I comprehend it as I read it. Seriously, I have read aloud foreign language texts when I know how to pronounce and enunciate in that language and accent without knowing the language that well. I mean, I once read Scottish Gaelic aloud because I know what the sounds of the language are and the cadence and I briefly fooled people who are native speakers (from Skye). But, all I really can say in Gaelic is a few very practical, short sentences about boats and fishing. And I can read Imperial Latin poetry aloud very well (I've been told), but, honestly, I couldn't do an extemporaneous explanation of something I haven't already parsed.

I still am wondering about how plot and theme are (or are not) part of the reading level and how those are accounted for. Like, Tom Jones has a very complicated plot. Setting aside the fact that the english is archaic, though, it isn't a very hard book although it is long. But, would the complicated plot mean a higher level?

All components of the DRA are weighted equally. You're right in that many kids can blather on and on and read "perfectly" which fools many adults into thinking they are "advanced" readers. THe DRA is an excellent tool because it questions the reader on many different levels about the text. It even allows for a modification if the child is a non writer. I can ask the questions orally if a child is too young to write their thoughts cohesively. You'd be surprised how many "gifted" readers are actually just at grade level once comprehension is factored in.

A complicated plot does not necessarily mean a higher level for a book. However, if the comprehension required to answer the questions for that plot is advanced, then yes it would be higher. For example, (using your example of Tom Jones), specific recall questions about the character of Tom Jones may be easier to answer then a summary of the complexities of each character's relationship to Tom. IMHO, I doubt very much that Tom Jones would be used as an example of children's literature so we should probably stick to examples that are likely to be used IRL.

The bottom line is that children have very different levels of comprehension when it comes to their oral and independent reading. By that I mean that if I were to read a story aloud and elaborate on the important parts as I read students would score much higher on any test then they would if they were left to read the text on their own.

Hope that helps!

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Nope, I wouldn't!

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MHO agrees w/ YHO...but Tom Jones came to mind due to its infamously complicated and precise plotting. Yeah, I'm a

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Yes, as a matter of fact it does. So does dharmamama's info.

Still...

So, why were The Hardy Boys for 13 to 15 year olds, but high school assigned Salinger?

I used to volunteer at an elementary school library. Their books had color-coded stickers and the kids were supposedly unaware of their meaning. We were supposed to keep rough track of where they were. If, for example, they had checked out a blue stickered book last and when we asked, said that they thought it was a little too easy or boring (and there were computerized tests they could take to check on their understanding, they got rewards for taking a certain number of them but weren't required to, so you checked if their past results were showing it to be true), you suggested they look in a section containing mostly the next level books. If they did not understand the book, you suggested they try another in the same section or go down a level.

The level stickers seemed to be based on the results of the computerized database, which would be able to say that "80% of 2nd graders had a good grasp of this book, but 99% of 3rd graders understood it".

So it was based on a multiple-choice testing of current students and was a very rough method. It was widely acknowledged that the hallmark for what a child should read was not what age the child was or what level she 'should be' at, but what she personally was understanding and enjoying.

In this context, age-level recommendations are simple recommendations based on what the average child that age will understand and read.

Oh, and in the classroom setting, children often read books that are significantly more advanced than their recreational reading, because their teachers walk them through it, pointing out things that are important to understanding the story. I know when we read "To Kill a Mockingbird" in 9th grade, half of it would have flown right over my head if my teacher hadn't been there to explain it. Did I (and all my classmates) read it in the 9th grade? Yes. Is it an appropriate solo read for the average 9th grader? No.

Errr, so I say, take the recommendations with a huge grain of salt.