Academics · Subject Resources

Is this book too hard, just right, or easy?

Listen to a child read a passage aloud and tap each word they miss. The calculator works out accuracy and what it usually means for choosing books, with a timer, a log over time, and running-record terms when a tutor needs them.

Check a readingWhat you get

The calculator

The worked example is a 150-word reading of the sample passage with 8 errors and 3 self-corrections. Tap any word to change it, or switch to typing the counts.

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What you get

Academics · Subject ResourcesAlso for Teaching · For TutorsFreeFamily and tutor modes

What you finish with
The reader's accuracy on one text, its level (independent, instructional or frustration), the error and self-correction rates, words correct per minute, and a dated log you can chart over time and print.
Who it is for
Families checking whether a book is a good fit for a child in grades K to 5, and the tutors, reading interventionists and classroom teachers who take running records. The tutor mode serves both catalog entries for this tool.
Format
Browser tool. Works on a phone, tablet or computer, so you can tap along while a child reads. Print a summary, save the log as a .csv, and move it between devices with a file.
Access
Free. No account and no sign-in. Readings stay in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat. Use initials or a code for the reader, not a full name.
Where it lives
The Subject Resources space in Caveat Academics; also listed for For Tutors (the tutor and teacher mode).
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Pick a passage the child has not read before: the sample passage, or paste your own. About 100 to 200 words is plenty.
  2. Press Start timer, ask the child to read aloud, and tap each word they misread, skip or need you to tell them. Tap Self-correction for a mistake they fix on their own.
  3. If they stop early, tap the last word they read. Stop the timer.
  4. Read the result: accuracy, the level and what it means for choosing books.
  5. Save the reading to the log, and print a summary for the teacher or your records.

Check a reading

How the numbers are worked out

The arithmetic used for running records, with the cut points stated and adjustable.

The formulas

  • Accuracy = (running words − errors) ÷ running words × 100. Running words are every word in the part the child read.
  • Errors are words misread, skipped, inserted or told by the adult. A repeated word is not an error. A self-correction is a mistake the reader fixes without help; it is not counted as an error.
  • Error rate = running words ÷ errors, written 1:n. Self-correction rate = (errors + self-corrections) ÷ self-corrections, written 1:n.
  • Words correct per minute = (words read − errors) ÷ minutes. The calculator shows the number but no norms or percentiles: compare it with the norms your school uses, on texts at the right grade level.

The levels

  • By the usual running-record convention, 95% to 100% is independent (easy to read alone), 90% to 94% is instructional (right for teaching), and below 90% is frustration (too hard for now).
  • Other assessments set different cut points. In the tutor mode you can enter theirs; the levels, chart bands and log all follow.
  • Accuracy describes one reader with one text. Comprehension, interest and background knowledge matter too, and the analysis of what kind of errors a reader makes says more than the percentage.
  • This is not a screener or a diagnosis. Concerns about reading belong with the child's teacher or school.

The worked example, checked when the page is built. On the sample passage, an original 167-word story, the reader stops after 150 words with 8 errors and 3 self-corrections in 1 minute 52 seconds. Accuracy is (150 − 8) ÷ 150 = 94.7%, instructional by the usual cut points. The error rate is 150 ÷ 8 ≈ 1:19, the self-correction rate (8 + 3) ÷ 3 ≈ 1:4, and 142 correct words in 112 seconds is 76 words correct per minute. The log shows the same made-up reader, R.T., at 88.3%, 91.9% and 94.7% over three sessions.

Sources

  1. Marie M. Clay, An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement (Heinemann; several editions, most recently the fourth), the running record: scoring conventions, accuracy, error rate and self-correction rate, and the 95% and 90% guides for text difficulty.
  2. Emmett A. Betts, Foundations of Reading Instruction (American Book Company, 1946): the origin of the independent, instructional and frustration levels used in informal reading inventories.
  3. Jan Hasbrouck and Gerald Tindal, "An Update to Compiled ORF Norms," Technical Report 1702 (Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon, 2017): published norms for words correct per minute, for comparison by your school.
  4. Reading Rockets (WETA), "Running Records" and "Fluency" articles for families and teachers (readingrockets.org).

A practice and record-keeping tool, not a screener, diagnosis or norm-referenced test. The sample passage is original writing by Caveat Academic Services. Use initials or a code for a child, not a full name. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.