Contents
Reading proficiency entails two things: (1)
Proficient reading is equally dependent on two critical skills: the ability to understand the language in which the text is written, and the ability to recognize and process printed text. Each of these competencies is likewise dependent on lower level skills and cognitive abilities.
Below basic means they’re reading below grade level. Proficient means they’re reading beyond — they’re able to negotiate the grade-level materials in a way that they can use their thinking flexibly, they can make inferences that go beyond the text, and so on.
Why is it so important? Reading proficiency is the essential skill required for academic success, especially after the third grade. Students are expected to be readers at the end of third grade, so reading instruction time is diminished or eliminated in favor of other disciplines.
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand what you are reading. A student is considered a proficient reader when reading fluency and reading comprehension are at grade level. Achieving the proper balance between reading fluency and reading comprehension is important.
For each skill, these guidelines identify five major levels of proficiency: Distinguished, Superior, Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice. The major levels Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice are subdivided into High, Mid, and Low sublevels.
Based on a review of the literature, reading proficiency is commonly measured by national or state standardized measures; and in some states, age/grade assessments of literacy. A rating of “proficient” generally means that a student has mastered age/grade level expectations.
When you read, you exercise your comprehension abilities and your analytical abilities. It fires up your imagination and stimulates the memory centers of your mind. It helps recall information as well as stabilize your emotions. The importance of a reading habit is that it strengthens mental muscles.
Reading increases knowledge
When you have a strong knowledge base, it’s easier to learn new things and solve new problems. Reading a wide range of books will help expand your general knowledge. Specific knowledge can be acquired by taking a deep-dive on a subject or topic.
When you read regularly to children in their home language/s, you give them a strong language foundation that makes all learning easier. If you don’t understand what you are reading, then you are not really reading – no matter how well you can say the words on the page!
Children with high reading fluency rates tend to read more and remember more of what they read because they are able to expend less cognitive energy on decoding individual words and integrating new information from texts into their knowledge banks. Reading fluency also has positive effects on word recognition skills.
Screening, diagnosing, and progress monitoring are essential to making sure that all students become fluent readers — and the words-correct per-minute (WCPM) procedure can work for all three. Here’s how teachers can use it to make well-informed and timely decisions about the instructional needs of their students.
Proficient – The word, proficient, means a well advanced skill level. In terms of language, the “proficient” label can refer to someone who is very skilled in the use of a language but who uses the language less easily and at a less-advanced level than a native or fluent speaker.
As nouns the difference between skill and proficiency
is that skill is capacity to do something well; technique, ability skills are usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities, which are often thought of as innate while proficiency is ability, skill, competence.
Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately.
Assessments are extremely powerful tools for informing teaching or, as a parent, what you can include when you read with your child. This means an effective assessment is essentially a method of gathering information about what a learner is already doing well and what it is they need more teaching for or support with.
Usually, your child’s teacher will determine their reading level and then choose books that have a matching score. The Lexile score, or measure, describes your child’s reading ability and matches them with books and other reading materials. This measure ranges anywhere from 0L to 2000L.
Part 1: Start with Benchmark Passages & Running Records or Benchmark Books & Running Records (Levels aa-J). Select a passage or book that best approximates a student’s reading level. Use the running records that accompany each passage or book to score a student’s reading behavior.
5th Grade (5.0 – 5.9)
One key benefit of inculcating the habit of reading is the development of critical thinking skills. Reading books increases your knowledge, enhances your inventiveness, builds your vocabulary and generally makes you smarter.
Other major purposes for reading include to learn, to be entertained, or to further your understanding of something. Some of the advantages of reading include gaining a deeper understanding of a text, increasing reading comprehension, expanding your vocabulary, and improving your own writing skills.
Reading allows children to understand various emotions. This helps in their emotional and social development since they learn to associate their feelings with words and find a way to express themselves better. Books showcase various characters and perspectives which allows children to be more empathetic.
According to neuroscientists, reading “rewires” those areas of the brain responsible for spoken language and vision. This improves our cognitive intelligence. Reading can improve the functioning of the brain area that filters the massive amount of visual information that we see every day.