Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)

This method aims to identify how well children are reading independently. It puts children on a scale between 1-80. It looks at your child’s reading ability in three areas.

Similar to the GRL method, each year group includes several reading levels. For example, students in second grade (7-8 years old) include DRA levels 18-28.

I like this method too as the levels are very broad. This means the children can be given books suitable to their level rather than just whichever age range they are in.

Lexile measurement

A Lexile reader measurement can fall between BR for beginning readers (which is below 0L), to above 2000L.

They have also measured millions of books, websites and other texts to determine their lexile measurement. This makes it easier to know exactly which books your child should be reading.

They also take into consideration that just because your 6 year old child’s reading level is high, you don’t necessarily want them to read books with themes meant for 11 year old’s. With the Lexile website, you can find age appropriate books which will still hold their attention.

After reading about this, this is something I will also consider with my project. I want the algorithm to know the child’s age so they still receive age appropriate books, even if their reading level is above average.

Accelerated Reader (AR) Levels

This method uses a computerised test to measure the child’s reading level. The child will read a book and then take a test on the book to measure their comprehension and earn points.