What Is A Running Record Assessment

One assessment tool that I use in my classroom is a running record. A running record, according to Readinga-z.com (n.d.), “allows you to assess a student’s reading performance as she/he reads from a benchmark book”. I mainly used this assessment tool in the lowest reading group that I had in hopes to move their reading level up. This reading group consisted of five children and I would use this assessment during a warm read. What that means is that the students read the book one time and then I had them read it to me another time one-on-one. During the second time, I would write down the words that they missed while reading. After they were done, I took the number of words in the book minus the words that they got wrong and divided that number by the number of words in the book. This total gave me a percentage and I went with what was at the top of the running record to see if

This chart was something that I created that included the students’ names, lesson plan that was conducted (1-5 that we have to conduct and submit), and the assessment. Since this is an informal assessment chart, to assess the students, I used a smiley face if they understood the lesson, a check mark if they need extra help, an “X” if they did not understand the lesson, and then an AB if they were absent during the lesson. This data was used only for my personal use to see how the students did during the lessons that I conducted. Even though this was not used for their “grades”, I did use it during any follow up lessons. For instance, I did an introduction bar graph lesson plan and the next day we did another bar graph lesson. During the second lesson, I used my informal assessment chart from the first lesson to help me remember who needed extra help during the second lesson. These assessment charts were used in all five of my lesson plans that had to be conducted during this