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Elementary reading level test


How to Test Reading Level Online: The Ultimate Guide

I decided to start hunting for a reading level test for my kid during my first year of homeschooling.

I had a first grader who had completed her phonics curriculum, but wasn’t really interested in chapter books. She loved for me to read to her, but was not interesting in reading very much herself – which stressed me. 

As a frazzled, first-time homeschooler, I wanted to test her reading level to see if she needed more reading instruction, more practice, or if she was right where she needed to be. 

I have tried a number of online reading tests over my homeschooling years and have found that they are not all created equally. 

In this post I am going to share with you everything you wanted to know and more about giving your kid a reading level test. 

But First, Avoid Reading Level Tests If…

Your kid is still going through a high quality phonics program, such as All About Reading, Explode the Code, or Primary Phonics.

Let your kid finish the program before worrying about what grade level they may be at. 

Most reading tests do not assume that the child is learning phonics (since most kids aren’t) and will rely more heavily on sight words they think the child should have learned by a certain grade. 

Taking a reading test with a kid who hasn’t finished their phonics reading curriculum is probably not going to be helpful to a parent or child.

Do Take a Reading Level Test If…

  • You have just started homeschooling and have no idea where your kid should be placed for reading.

  • You have finished a phonics program, but are still unsure if your kid is where they need to be. 

  • You think your child might be gifted reader and want to see what level they are testing at.

  • You want to make sure your student is progressing, even though they’re not reading aloud to you anymore

  • You need to make sure you are buying the right level books for your child to read.

     

  • You want to see if your kid is smarter than someone else’s kid and you want proof.

These are all great reasons, well except for that last one. Definitely do not test your kid for homeschooling glory.

Hopefully that gave you a laugh, so let’s dive in!

4 Tips for Getting the Best Results When You Test Reading Level

1.Take the Reading Test Yourself

I took a lot of time to explain how the test runs below, but it would be helpful to run through the test yourself first. Make sure you know how to administer the test and confirm that the reading assessment is a good fit for your kid.

2. Administer the Reading Test at the Best Time

Make sure that your kid takes the test when they are their best. Is that first thing in the morning, in the evening, or right after lunch (probably not)?

Ensure your kid has plenty of energy, isn’t hungry, and is in a comfortable environment with minimal distractions.  

3. Prep Your Kid Mentally

If you are giving a reading assessment to your kid, there is a good chance that your kid is already a little insecure about reading. Do not put the pressure on them that this test evaluating them. 

I have given several reading tests and I make a point to tell them it is no big deal, but I do need them to do their best. I go on to say that I need to evaluate our curriculum. Depending on how they do on the test, I will make decisions about what books I need to buy for the next school year. 

This takes the pressure off of them.

The are not being evaluated – the curriculum is being evaluated. 

4. Do Not Share Their Results with Them

When the reading level test is complete, tell them they did well and that you are happy with their effort. 

If the score is less than you were hoping for, you don’t want to destroy their confidence. If it’s really high, you don’t want them to be prideful and brag about it.  

Either way, tell them they worked hard and you’ll use the scores to make the best decisions for their education. 

This also helps if you plan to test their reading in the future. They will go into the assessment with no expectations – positive or negative. 

3 Free Ways to Test Reading Level Online!

1. MacMillian Reading Level Test

The MacMillian Reading Level test seems to be one of the most popular and trusted reading level tests out there.

I used it with my daughter a couple years ago and I recently tested my own reading level to refresh myself on their process. 

How the MacMillian Reading Level Test Works

Everyone starts at the easiest level. You are provided a picture and a fill-in the blank question. There will be 4 multiple choice options to choose from.

 

As you answer questions you progress through the levels until you have missed a certain number. Then you are immediately told what level reader you are – Starter, Beginner, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate, or Advanced.  

Interestingly, I found the questions to be a bit slanted towards an understanding of grammar and reading comprehension.

Here is an example of a grammar question. Your kid may be able to read all the words, but does he understand the correct verb agreement? 

Pros and Cons of MacMillian Reading Level Test

The benefits of this online reading level test are that it is free, simple to use, and provides you an answer right away (no need to wait for an email). 

It is also a great test for a kid who can read, but struggles with comprehension.

The negatives to me are that it seems to be testing more than reading and the results do not provide a grade level. You may not know what to do with an “Elementary Level” result. It is kind of a broad answer. 

One More Thing to Know About MacMillian Reading Level Test

The test does not tell your child when they miss a question. I intentionally missed questions in order to see what would happen and it just went to the next question.

This might help if your kid would be stressed by a reading level test – no big red X when they make an error. 

2. San Diego Quick Assessment

I have also used this reading level test with my kid – twice actually – and it lives up to its name!

It really is quick!

How the San Diego Quick Assessment Works

Go to this online PDF and print off the four pages.

You will see grade level words in columns from Pre-Primer through 11th grade. There are 10 words in each column.

Give your child the student portion and ask them to start reading down the first column. Use your grader sheet to check off if they read the word correctly or not. 

The test helps you break down the results in terms of Independent Level, Instructional Level, and Frustration Level.

Pros and Cons of San Diego Quick Test

The benefits of this online reading level test is that it does give a quick and free snapshot of your kids reading level. No lengthy test that your child gets bored with.

It is also on paper, which many kids do better with than reading off a screen.

The test doesn’t have any context or pictures to help your child. It will really tell you if they can read or sound out the word or not.

Parents will also like that they get a solid grade level result – a little easier to understand and work with.

The only con I have is that determining grade level with just 10 words is pretty arbitrary. You child may know many other grade level words, but not necessarily the ones on this list. 

3. Pioneer Valley Reading Test

This is the most recent online reading level test we’ve used and by far my favorite. I found it to be much more comprehensive and I felt the results were a much more solid reflection of my daughter’s true reading skills. 

How the Pioneer Valley Reading Test Works

This online reading assessment is broken into two parts.

Part One: High Frequency Word Reading

The first part consists of words coming across the screen for your child to read. The words are simple at first and then get more complex. The parent sits with the child and clicks “Correct” or “Incorrect” as the child reads each word. 

Once the child misses two words, she is moves on to the next step.

Part Two: Reading

You will be asked to sit with your child while they read through an interesting story. Make a mark on a piece of a paper every time your child misses a word in the story. 

At the end of the story you will be prompted to record the total number of words your child missed and whether or not they struggled to complete the story. Based on those results your child will either move forward or backward on a scale of A-Z. Eventually your child will be assigned a Letter Level and you will see a chart that corresponds to a grade level:

Pros and Cons of Pioneer Valley Online Reading Assessment

I thought this was much more involved and thorough than other tests we have tried.

Even if your child encounters words he doesn’t know in the first part of the assessment, there are still many other chances in part two to show their reading skills.  

Other benefits include: it is free, the stories were interesting to read, and there was an option to test reading comprehension after each story. 

Cons for me would be that the scale does not go beyond 6th grade. It just says 6 grade +. I would have liked to see a scale that goes into high school level.

Other Free Online Reading Level Tests to Try

There are many other resources to try out there to test your kid’s reading level!

Here are some other tests that might be the perfect fit for you and your kid:

Red Cat Level Reading Assessment

Oxford Owl Online Reading Test

Oxford English Reading Test

Good and the Beautiful Reading Level Assessment

Wide Range Reading Test

Not Happy with Your Kid’s Reading Level Test Results? Try these ideas! 

1. Take a Different Reading Assessment

It is possible that the test you chose just didn’t jive with your kid. If you are unsure about the results, don’t be shy about waiting a day or two and then doing another reading test with your child.  

2. Think about what they struggled with the most during the the Reading Level Test

These reading level tests are excellent tools to help you pinpoint exactly where your child needs help.

Did your child struggle because of any of these issues:

  • Sounding out

When your child came to an unfamiliar word, did he freeze up, melt down, or give ridiculous guesses? If so, consider working with your kid on their phonics. 

A high quality, low cost phonics program we love is Explode the Code. These simple workbooks are known for giving kids confidence and raising reading levels. 

  • Vocabulary

Did your child manage to sound out a word, but have no idea what it meant? As your kid climbs the reading levels, increasing their vocabulary is crucial. 

Some simple ways to increase vocabulary are reading aloud to your child regularly, using higher levels of vocabulary around the house, and including vocabulary curriculum in your homeschool.  

I recently bought Word Roots for my 4th grader and we are so excited about it. It teaches the Latin roots of English words so that kids can break down AND understand a large number of difficult words. 

  • Comprehension

Is your kid reading beautifully, but has no earthly idea what he just read? Many parents would be jealous of the beautiful reading, but the comprehension is just as important – if not more so. 

Providing your kids with a continuous flow of interesting books that spark their imagination will help a lot in this area. And I hate to say it, but decreasing their screen time will also dramatically help.  

If your child continues to struggle with comprehension, consider looking into the Reading Detective series. We have added this workbook to our homeschool curriculum and I think it has really stretched my daughter. The workbooks teach children how to analyze a short story while answering multiple choice questions AND citing the paragraph or sentence number that proves their answer.  

  • Fluency

Did your child painstakingly struggle through sounding out just about every word? Even the short vowel words?

The best thing for fluency is a high quality phonics program as mentioned before and practice, practice, practice.

I am a huge fan of easy phonics readers and keep multiple sets around the house.  Here are some of our absolute favorites:

  • Bob Books

  • I Can Read It! Books

  • Primary Phonics Readers

  • Now I’m Reading! Books

  • Tug the Pup Books

  • Usbourne Phonics Readers

Recap Reading Level Test Guide for Kids

Remember above all else that a reading level test is a tool to help you customize your kid’s education and help them succeed. 

It is not a grade for your parenting. 

Or a grade for your homeschool.

You are not necessarily a failure or a success no matter how your child scores.  

Use these free online reading tests to drive you forward and you can’t go wrong! 

Have you tried an online reading test that isn’t mentioned here? Please share in the comments!

Do you want to make sure you save all this information for later – smart thinking! Just pin this article to your favorite Pinterest post and definitely share with your friends and followers!

Read Next:

Assessing a Student's Level | Reading A-Z

Digital


Running Records
on Raz-Plus

With our online running record tool, Raz-Plus or Raz-Kids members can:

  • Assign a Benchmark Book from Levels aa-J
  • Assign a Benchmark Passage from Levels aa-Z2
  • Listen to students' recordings from reading aloud a book or passage.
  • Score all student recordings using an online running-record tool.
  • Listen to students' recordings of retellings.
  • Score retellings using an online rubric.
  • See quiz questions missed and a report on which comprehension skills to support or re-teach with each student.
  • Reward students' progress through awarding stars to spend in the RAZ Rocket.
  • Track your students' progress over time.

Reading A-Z provides a three-part assessment process to help you place students in instructionally appropriate level texts.

  • Find out at which level to start a student.
  • Determine when a student is ready to move to the next level.

Part 1: Students read Benchmark Passages or Benchmark Books (Levels aa-J), and you capture their reading behavior on Running Records.

Part 2: Students retell the text, and you use Retelling Rubrics to score their comprehension.

Part 3: Students take an oral or written Comprehension Quick Check Quiz, and each question's answer tells what skill it assessed to help you identify comprehension skills for additional practice.

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. (Initially you may have to take more than one running record to determine a student's instructional level.) To assess a student's instructional level in Spanish, use printable versions of the Spanish Benchmark Passages, or Pasajes estándar.

Review About Running Records to learn about the details of taking, marking and scoring a running record.

Parts 2 & 3: Retelling Rubrics and Comprehension Quick Check Quizzes provide details about a student's understanding and comprehension of the Benchmark Passage or Book.

  • Retelling Rubrics provide details that identify strengths and weaknesses students might have comprehending fiction or nonfiction texts; including analysis of text structures.
  • Benchmark Passages and Benchmark Books (Levels aa-J) have multiple-choice Comprehension Quick Check Quizzes and answer keys. Use the skill tags on the answer key to see comprehension strengths and opportunities for additional instruction.

The three-part process establishes a baseline of your students' levels. Assign leveled books from Reading A-Z's extensive collection for small group practice at students' instructional levels. Allow students to choose books below their instructional levels for independent practice.

How Do I Monitor Students' Reading Progress?
Use Benchmark Books or Benchmark Passages and their associated resources for progress monitoring as students' reading at their instructional levels improves.

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

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

The scores your students achieve on running records, retellings, and comprehension quizzes give you valuable information about their reading behavior and comprehension. Use it to inform your instruction in addition to placing students and monitoring their progress.

Use the chart below along with the other information you learn from the three-part assessment process to determine if students are ready to move up a level.

Scores

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

For Raz-Plus members, results from the printable running records can be entered to display in a student's Reading Rate report in your Kids A-Z management hub. That way, you have not only the digital running records and assessment information, but also the results from printable running records—all in one place.

How Do I Match Learning A-Z Levels to Other Leveling Systems?
For your convenience, Learning A-Z correlates its levels to other leveling systems. If you've already placed students in levels according to another system, please reference the Level Correlation Chart to determine how another system's levels best match Learning A-Z's levels.

The correlations are not official levels assigned by the other leveling systems, but rather an approximate correlation based on a comparison of attributes in books assigned official levels by both the other leveling system and Learning A-Z.

4 Online Spanish Reading Tests (A1 Level)

Spanish Tests

7 comments on 4 online tests for reading and understanding text in Spanish (level A1)

As a rule, it is the reading skill that develops most quickly when learning a new language. We invite you to check your level and take 4 quality online tests for reading and understanding Spanish for beginners (level A1).

To successfully pass these four reading tests, you need to have beginner level Spanish and a basic vocabulary.

  • Test 1: Read the text and answer 16 questions about it.
  • Test 2: form a dialogue by putting the sentences in the correct order.
  • Test 3: Read the notes and match.
  • Test 4: read the dialogue and answer 8 questions (verdadero/falso)

Listening test (Level A1)

Reading test #1: answer the questions to the text

Read the text

Mi familia

¡Hola! Soy Gabriela y voy a presentaros a mi familia. Mi familia no es muy grande. Somos cinco personas: mi padre, mi madre, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo. Mi padre es moreno y muy alto, lleva bigote y siempre se está riendo. Es muy amable y alegre. Mi madre es un poco más seria, pero también muy buena. Es rubia y tiene el pelo largo y rizado. Mi padre es un bombero. Trabaja todos los dias excepto el domingo. Mi madre es una ama de casa. Le gusta cocinar, así que es un poco gordita.

Mi hermano menor se llama Diego. Tiene 16 años, se parece mucho a mi padre, su pelo también es moreno y ¡mide casi dos metros! A mi hermano le gusta correr en el parque. Estudia en la escuela de matematicas, es muy inteligente. Mi hermana tiene 12 años, es la más pequeña de la familia. Su pelo es liso y de color castaño claro, tiene los ojos negros. Es muy hermosa y cariñosa, pero todavía es muy joven y, por eso, es un poco caprichosa. Se llama Camila.

Soy rubia y tengo los ojos verdes igual que mi madre. Mi piel es muy blanquita y tengo muchas pecas. Estudio en la universidad de Madrid, así que vivo lejos de mi familia. Vuelvo a casa una vez al mes para ver a mis amigos y familia. Mi madre me prepara una comida deliciosa.

Answer the questions

Choose the correct answer.

Reading test #2: put in the correct order

Put the sentences in the correct order to form a dialogue.

Reading Test #3: Match

Match the note and the corresponding phrase.

Reading Test #4: Answer the Dialogue Questions

Read the Dialogue

Lola: Diga.

Marta: Hola. ¿Esta Ana?

Lola: No, no está. Esta en el teatro. ¿Quien habla?

Marta: Soy Marta Rodrigues.

Lola: ¿Qué tal, Marta? Me llamo Lola Sanchez y soy de Argentina.

Marta: Mucho gusto. ¿Tienes la clase de inglés con Ana y yo, ¿verdad?

Lola: Si. Tú eres de Mexico, ¿no?

Marta: Si, soy mexicana. Hay muchos mexicanos en la universidad.

Lola: Si, ¡es verdad! Hay cinco en mi clase de frances.

Marta: ¿Hay muchos argentinos en la universidad?

Lola: No, no hay. Mi país tiene problemas economicos.

Marta: Oye, ¿deseas estudiar a las siete esta noche con Ana y yo?

Lola: Si, muchas gracias. Ana regresa a las cinco.

Marta: Entonces llamo más tarde a las cinco y media.

Lola: Muy bien. Adios.

* Source: http://web.uvic.ca

Answer the questions

Based on the dialogue you read, choose the correct answer.

See also:

  • Vocabulary tests (level A1)
  • General test for level A1
  • Test for 100 popular verbs
  • 100 popular adjectives test

Check your Spanish level online - Lengalia

Online Spanish Level Test

Official Levels: Elementary to Professional

This test will determine your level of Spanish so you can easily find the right course for you.

  • 24 Spanish courses A0 – C2
  • 2000 teaching hours
  • vocabulary trainer
  • verb conjugation
  • voice recording
  • online translator
  • videos
  • podcasts

Start learning!

How long will it take?

You will need approximately 30 minutes to complete the test. The test is divided into 3 parts:

Grammar
36 questions

Reading
12 questions

Listening
12 questions

Pass the test

Description of each level

For each level of Spanish, there is a general description of the knowledge and skills that a student should have in such categories as reading, listening, writing and speaking.

Spanish. Level A1
I can understand single familiar words and very simple phrases in slow and clear-sounding speech in everyday situations, talking about myself, my family and my immediate environment. I can understand familiar names, words, and very simple sentences such as in ads, posters, or catalogs.

Spanish. Level A2
I can understand certain phrases and common words in conversations on topics of interest to me (basic information about me and my family, shopping, where to live, work.) I understand what is being said in simple, clearly spoken short announcements and messages. I can understand very short, simple texts. I can find specific, predictable information in simple texts related to everyday situations, such as advertisements, brochures, menus, schedules, etc.

Spanish. Level B1
I understand the basic idea of ​​speaking clearly in everyday conversations that I have to deal with at work, leisure, etc. I understand most current affairs broadcasts and programs related to my personal or professional interests. The speech of the speakers should be clear and relatively slow. I can understand texts that include topics of everyday and professional communication, descriptions of events, feelings and desires.

Learn more