Guided reading level

What It Means

A guided reading level is a letter, A through Z, that rates how hard a short book is so a teacher can choose texts for small reading groups. One such system is the F&P Text Level Gradient from Fountas and Pinnell, where A is the easiest and Z the hardest, and each level combines ten features of a text that rise a little at each step. In guided reading, a small group reads a book the teacher picked at the children's instructional level while the teacher coaches each reader.

How Parents Say It

• "She's reading at a level J right now."
• "His report card says he moved from F to H."
• "What level should a second grader be at?"

The Breakdown

What the letters mean as children move up

What it's for. Fountas and Pinnell built the gradient as a teacher's tool for assessing readers and planning small-group lessons. In their words, a level is a teacher's tool, not a child's label, and they say levels aren't meant to be shared with children or parents. They warn that pushing children to judge their progress by moving up levels can hurt self-esteemSelf-esteemHow a person feels about themselves and what they can do. In a child, healthy self-esteem shows as feeling liked, accepted and able to try again after a mistake. See more and a love of reading.

Why this page has no grade chart. The makers say the levels aren't meant to label children, and no grade chart was confirmed from their own pages in this check. If a school sends a grade-level target home, ask the teacher where it comes from.

When to talk to the teacher. If your child has stayed on one level for a long time, or reading seems to be getting harder for them, ask what the teacher sees in their reading and what support is planned. Buhata's page on dyslexiaDyslexiaA learning disability that makes reading words accurately and smoothly hard, mostly because linking letters to sounds is hard; schools call it a specific learning disability. See more lists signs worth raising.

Good to Know

Fountas and Pinnell say levels are for the teacher, so a letter on a report cardReport card(1) The school's periodic report of a student's grades to parents; (2) the yearly public report on school and district results that ESSA requires states and districts to publish. See more is best read as a note about which books fit small-group lessons right now. At home, let your child choose books by interestInterest rateThe yearly percentage a lender charges for borrowing money, not counting fees; the APR adds certain fees to show a fuller cost. See more as well, and read harder books aloud together. If your school uses a different leveling system, such as LexileLexile levelA number followed by L, from MetaMetrics, that measures either a student's reading ability or how hard a text is, on the same scale so the two can be matched. See more measures, ask how the two line up rather than converting them yourself.

Related Terms and Categories

• Lexile level

  A number followed by L, from MetaMetrics, that measures either a student's reading ability or how hard a text is, on the same scale so the two can be matched.

• Balanced literacy

  A classroom reading approach that mixes read-alouds, shared, guided and independent reading and word study; phonics is included but usually isn't the focus.

• Reading log

  A simple record, often sent home by a teacher, where a child notes what they read, for how long or how many pages, sometimes with a parent's signature.

• Parent-teacher conference

  A short scheduled meeting between a parent and a child's teacher to talk about how the child is doing in school and how to help at home.

• Decodable books

  Simple books for beginning readers written mostly with the letter-sound patterns a child has already been taught, so most words can be sounded out.

• Sight words

  Words a reader knows instantly, without sounding them out; schools also use it for common words like "the" and "said" that children practice early.

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