Giving assistance with reading the texts.
The basic guidelines for the test are that the pupil should be allowed to read at their own pace as we want to capture and assess their spontaneous reading ability. The assessment of an individual pupil should never be affected by time pressure. Each pupil should be given the opportunity to perform according to their ability. We encourage pupils to feel relaxed and, most importantly, we want them to enjoy the experience as much as possible!
However, sometimes a pupil will struggle with the text. Before intervening, please consider the following:
- The pupil may not be experiencing as much difficulty with the task as you may think. They are used to working in this way.
- If you think there is a need to assist, let them try to decode the word for themselves and then silently count to five before assisting. The pupil often finds a way forward on their own.
- Pupils should read at their own pace. A pupil's results must never be affected by time pressure. Each pupil should be given the opportunity to perform according to ability.
- Only intervene if:
- The pupil is stuck and lacks the strategies to move forward. Silently count to 5 before assisting the reader with a word. Beyond that, please then return to silence and offer no further help.
- The pupil misreads something that puts everything out of context, making it very difficult to carry on. Unless this applies, the misreading of isolated words is not corrected.
- The pupil cannot read at all. In this case, you can read one text together. This recording is not saved, but a comment is needed.
Always add a comment if help was given.