Reading Benchmarks

ASHA

Barbara J. Ehren, EdD

EMERGENT (initial)

1. Attends to storytelling and discussion.
2. Pretends to read.
3. Attends to environmental print.
4. Identifies familiar pictures in picture books.
5. Demonstrates an awareness of symbols and conventions in written text.
6. Predicts what the text will be about in familiar words.

Emergent (Developing)

1. Experiments with familiar text (stories, poems, songs, fingerplays, chants, informational, etc.)
2. Connects own knowledge and experiences to information presented in written texts.
3. Recognizes and uses cues to predict meaning in printed texts.

Early (Initial)

1. Retells meanings.

2. Contributes to creating comprehension in shared, paired and guided reading.

3. Explains that written language is created.

4. Distinguishes between real and imaginary events in text.

5. Uses symbols and language convention clues to construct meaning when reading.

6. Uses some strategies to create meaning from written texts when understanding has been interrupted.

7. Gathers and organizes information on a topic read about from a variety of sources.

Early (Developing)

1. Identifies and discusses ideas, information, and events presented in written texts.
2. Identifies sterotypes and symbols used in texts and discusses the purposes and meanings.
3. Chooses to read during free time.
4. Discusses how language forms affect the meanings of written texts.
5. Uses a broad variety of strategies to create meaning from written text when understanding has been interrupted.
6. Uses several strategies to find information in written texts.

Fluent (Initial)

1. Justifies own interpretation of written texts.
2. Justifies different interpretations of written texts.
3. Explains how language forms and structures impact readers’ understanding of written texts.
4. Selects, uses, and discusses strategies appropriate for different texts and different reading purposes.
5. Identifies needed information from written texts and locates these resources in order to accomplish specific purposes.

Fluent (Developing)

1. Discusses themes and issues in written texts
2. Judges the accuracy of information in texts
3. Explains how specific texts are written for different purposes and/or audiences.
4. Demonstrates how language forms and structures are incorporated into the creation of written texts.
5. Uses knowledge of the conventions of written text types to construct meaning from a broad variety of resources.
6. Finds and records information systemically and independently.