Fairfax Public School uses DRA 2nd Edition twice a year to assess children’s reading level. One is in the beginning of school year. (September and October) One is near the end of school year. ( from March to June depending on grades and schools).
So What is DRA?
The Developmental Reading Assessment or DRA identifies a child’s independent reading level. It is used by classroom teachers to evaluate student independent reading level. Mostly it is one on one casual test. The teacher will start from low level book first. Teacher will let your child to read a leveled book. Then will ask your child to retell the story. Teacher will mark and give score on accuracy, comprehension, fluency. Teacher will move to higher level if the student is doing very good at current level. The level starts from A for the easiest books. Then switches to numeric 1 to 80.
What level should my 1st grade daughter be?
Here is DRA Benchmarks for one Public Schools in Virginia
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Grade Assessment 1 (Aug.-Oct.) Assessment 2 (Jan.-Feb.) Assessment 3 (May-June)
1 2-4 10-12 16-18
2 16-18 20-24 28-30
3 28-30 34 38-40
4 38-40 40 44
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Just talked to my daughter’s teacher yesterday. My daughter is in 1st grade. She just passed level 10. Her teacher will continue to test her with higher level in following weeks to find out her final level.
If your 1st grader is in level 16 -18, he/she matches the benchmark of of 1st grader’s school end and 2nd grader’s school year beginning benchmark. Teacher may use the score as a reference to find the best books for your children to read at school/home. If your children’s reading level is far beyond his/her classmates, teacher may give her/him special materials/attentions to best fit his/her needs.

Tags: Developmental Reading Assess, DRA, GT screening test, Reading Test