After having completed a running record, a teacher has a huge amount of valuable data regarding an individual student’s ability to read.
Be sure to make notes of any of the following behaviors immediately following the completion of a running record:
- The use of a finger to read
- How choppy or smooth the reading is
- How expressive and fluent the reading is
If the selection was timed, the teacher can figure out the fluency rate. For information on how to figure out fluency, read Understanding Fluency.
It is also possible to determine what skills need to be focused on through the data provided from a running record. For example:
- A child may consistently mess up the beginning of words, indicating that work in initial sounds is needed
- A child may consistently mess up at the end of a word, indicating that the child does not read through the whole word and needs to be reminded to slow down and read all the letters.
- A child may consistently mess up the middle of a word, indicating that the child is focusing only on the initial and final sounds. Vowel sounds and blends are likely needed to be worked on.
Look for patterns in mistakes, and pay closest attention to meaning changing mistakes. Making mistakes in names is not as important because that does not change the meaning of the text.
Using cues to when reading to children can be very helpful in teaching children to be strategic readers. Here is a great list of cues to use: Helping Children Become Strategic Readers
Learn how to use running record data to determine student instructional reading level.
Related posts:
I just visited your site and found the information to be correct and useable. I was concerned about the expression “mess up” in your running record post. I wouldn’t want a new teacher/any teacher to use that or similar expressions with young students. The child might not “hear” the prompts, conversation content, teaching point etc that follow. Otherwise I will keep checking this site and pass important information on to teachers that I mentor. Thank you. Kate Capion
I would suggest “err” in place of “mess up”. When a child errs, it’s also important to note what they attempted (if anything) at the point of difficulty (POD), or if they appealed (A) or just waited (W) to be told. Lots of really informative data can be used if it is all recorded well enough!