Running Records
Miscue Analysis
Miscue analysis is a tool for looking closely at the types of reading strategies a reader uses. The kinds of miscues (incorrect guesses) a reader makes when reading from a text will give the listener clues about how familiar or unfamiliar the reader finds the content matter, how easy or difficult they find the text to read and what strategies they are using when reading.
What are Running Records?
A running record is a record of the miscues, that readers make as they are reading. Running Records were developed by Dr Marie Clay as a way for teachers to quickly and easily assess their students' reading behaviours "on the run", so to speak.
Running Records capture what the reader did and said while reading. They capture how readers are putting together what they know in order to read. They allow teachers to describe how children are working on text. They allow teachers to hear how children read - fluent, phrased, word by word, acknowledging punctuation, or on the run.
(Further reference: Clay, M "Running Records for Classroom Teachers")
Why complete Running Records?
Running Records are intended to:
Ken Goodman (In F. Gollasch (Ed.) Language and literacy: The selected writings of Kenneth Goodman [Vol. I. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul]) says that reading "miscues" are "windows into the reading process". They can give you a clear picture of the cueing systems that each student knows how to use and which systems they need to learn. Having this kind of information about your students is invaluable when planning your next teaching steps and when working with individuals and small groups.
It is essential that we ascertain the child's "instructional" reading level as it is at this level that the child can learn.
When you are asked to provide a child's reading level it is the INSTRUCTIONAL LEVEL which is required!
When should you do a running record?
Running records are taken with the greatest frequency at the earlier stages of reading.
Children not progressing at the expected rate should be assessed even more frequently than the schedule suggested below.
Miscue analysis is a tool for looking closely at the types of reading strategies a reader uses. The kinds of miscues (incorrect guesses) a reader makes when reading from a text will give the listener clues about how familiar or unfamiliar the reader finds the content matter, how easy or difficult they find the text to read and what strategies they are using when reading.
What are Running Records?
A running record is a record of the miscues, that readers make as they are reading. Running Records were developed by Dr Marie Clay as a way for teachers to quickly and easily assess their students' reading behaviours "on the run", so to speak.
Running Records capture what the reader did and said while reading. They capture how readers are putting together what they know in order to read. They allow teachers to describe how children are working on text. They allow teachers to hear how children read - fluent, phrased, word by word, acknowledging punctuation, or on the run.
(Further reference: Clay, M "Running Records for Classroom Teachers")
Why complete Running Records?
Running Records are intended to:
- Ascertain a child's instructional book level
- Monitor ongoing student progress in reading
- Find out which particular skills and strategies students are using
- Identify specific needs of the children
- Group together children with similar needs for reading instruction
- Choose books at an appropriate level for your students
Ken Goodman (In F. Gollasch (Ed.) Language and literacy: The selected writings of Kenneth Goodman [Vol. I. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul]) says that reading "miscues" are "windows into the reading process". They can give you a clear picture of the cueing systems that each student knows how to use and which systems they need to learn. Having this kind of information about your students is invaluable when planning your next teaching steps and when working with individuals and small groups.
It is essential that we ascertain the child's "instructional" reading level as it is at this level that the child can learn.
When you are asked to provide a child's reading level it is the INSTRUCTIONAL LEVEL which is required!
When should you do a running record?
Running records are taken with the greatest frequency at the earlier stages of reading.
Children not progressing at the expected rate should be assessed even more frequently than the schedule suggested below.
|
Reader
Emergent reader Upper emergent readers Early fluent readers Fluent readers |
Levels
Levels 0 - 9 Levels 10 - 14 Levels 15 - 20 Levels 21+ |
Frequency
every 4 weeks every 4 - 6 weeks every 6 weeks every 8 weeks |
How do I Complete a Running Record?
REMEMBER - RECORD NOW, TEACH LATER.
To achieve objectivity in records of reading behaviour it is necessary for teachers to be recorder of the behaviour and not a stimulus of behaviour. All comments, teaching points, helpful replies, leading questions and pointing guides have to be dispensed with entirely during a running record.
It is important to record how the reading "sounded" - staccato, phrased, fluent (mostly, sometimes, little).
Running Record Conventions
Check for understanding using literal, inferential and evaluative questions.
Analysing running records
The most common miscue is the substitution of another word for the one that is in the text. To understand what miscues reveal about the reading process, you need to know something about the cueing systems:
Interpreting the Miscues
Calculating Accuracy
Using Running Records to inform teaching
Ask yourself: "What is the most important teaching point that can help this student progress right now?"
Explicit Teaching Reading Strategies
REMEMBER - RECORD NOW, TEACH LATER.
To achieve objectivity in records of reading behaviour it is necessary for teachers to be recorder of the behaviour and not a stimulus of behaviour. All comments, teaching points, helpful replies, leading questions and pointing guides have to be dispensed with entirely during a running record.
It is important to record how the reading "sounded" - staccato, phrased, fluent (mostly, sometimes, little).
Running Record Conventions
Check for understanding using literal, inferential and evaluative questions.
Analysing running records
The most common miscue is the substitution of another word for the one that is in the text. To understand what miscues reveal about the reading process, you need to know something about the cueing systems:
- Meaning (semantic) cues - applying background knowledge and the context of the sentence or passage to identify words.
- Visual (graphophonic) cues - applying what is known letter-sound correspondences to decode words.
- Syntactic (sentence structure) cues - applying what is known about how our language goes together to identify words.
Interpreting the Miscues
Calculating Accuracy
Using Running Records to inform teaching
Ask yourself: "What is the most important teaching point that can help this student progress right now?"
Explicit Teaching Reading Strategies
