What Are Your Child's Grades Measuring?

What are your child’s grades Measuring?

Is your child:

• Spending hours completing homework each night?
• Receiving low grades?

If the answer is YES to either question, complete the following activities to discover if his or her reading ability is part, or all, of the problem. The reading level of most classroom textbooks is at the grade level in which your child is enrolled. If your child is below grade level in reading, he or she may be unable to complete the assignments with ease.

Ö        Review state tests, and school records, to determine your child’s reading level.

Ö        If appropriate, schedule a conference with the teacher or school counselor to obtain current information.

Ö        Sample the readability of each text book by using the following process:

1.      Using your computer and Microsoft Word, type several paragraphs from the text book.

2.      Set Microsoft Word to measure the readability (grade level) of the paragraph(s) and run a readability check.

• under tools select spelling and grammar
• under the grammar choices select “show readability statistics” and check “OK”

·         Complete the spelling and grammar check. A box will appear at the completion of the check that describes the paragraph, including the readability level

If the readability of the text book(s) is at one, two or more grade levels higher than your child’s reading level, schoolwork will no doubt be difficult to complete. Following are a few ideas to consider for obtaining reading support.

·         request a conference with your child’s teacher(s) and/or counselor

·         enroll your child in any before or after school reading programs that are available at your school

·         explore reading support available in your local community and libraries