This term has seen the introduction of an assessment tool that will be used to assess and track reading development of students from Kindergarten to Year 6. Assessment serves multiple purposes: to drive teaching and learning, to diagnose and remediate essential skills, to measure growth and monitor progress and provide feedback to learners.
Fountas and Pinnell is currently being implemented in grades K-3, involving teachers benchmarking students individually to assess:
- Decoding Skills- the process of applying letter-sound knowledge to correctly pronounce written words
- Fluency- the ability to read with speed, accuracy and proper expression, in order to understand what is read
- Reading Comprehension- the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows.
When learning to read, it is a combination of decoding skills, fluency and reading comprehension that is explicitly taught in order to help students develop into confident readers.
In the past, K-2 students have been assessed using the PM Benchmarking system. Transition from the PM benchmarking System to Fountas and Pinnell is a challenging one, as there is a much more in depth focus on reading comprehension using this new benchmarking system. As a result, students are not only being assessed on their ability to decode a text and read fluently, but just as importantly, they are being assessed on their deep understanding of what is read and their ability to think about, within and beyond the text.
Please don’t be alarmed if your child has appeared to ‘drop down’ levels in this transition. Teachers have gathered valuable data on your child’s needs and are able to use this data to plan explicit instruction in classrooms to work on next steps.
Independent Reading Levels
The Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark system allows us to clearly identify the independent level of reading for students, and it is this level that students will bring home in the form of home readers. Home readers are not meant to be challenging. They are meant to be easy for the student to read and will provide opportunities for them to practise their fluency, speed, accuracy and expression. Re-reading home readers, multiple times throughout the week, is a great way to help students develop confidence.
Instructional Reading Levels
The instructional reading level is the level of text that teachers identify students to be at, where explicit instruction is provided, in order for students to develop new skills. In the classroom, students are presented with opportunities for reading more challenging texts that extend their decoding skills, help them to practise their fluency and challenge them to think about texts in more complex ways.
Fountas and Pinnell will shortly be rolled out into Years 4, 5 and 6, with staff undertaking professional development in using this resource.
Should you have any questions regarding Fountas and Pinnell, please feel free to contact me at carmen.gaspersic@hillsgrammar.nsw.edu.au
Carmen Gaspersic | Junior School English Leader
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