Page 9 - Ziptales Program Manual - US

What’s My Reading Level?

Ziptales has a ‘reading engine’ which allows teachers to easily determine what level of text (see page 6) is
appropriate for a child. This is the ‘What’s my Ziptales reading level?’ assessment. The test can be accessed
on the Student Dashboard. Full details of the test and our reading lists are provided in the Teacher Resources
section. Effective use of the test requires the specialised knowledge of teachers.

Here’s how it works. The teacher ‘logs in’ to the test instrument.*

The student, under the direction of the teacher, is offered a list of five story titles, aligned to broad age ranges:

Kindergarten/Grade 1 Tom and the Mouse
Grade 2 Bad Dog

Grades 3 & 4 Three Wishes
Grades 5 & 6 Over the Rainbow
Advanced readers The Education of Amelia

Each story represents a carefully designed reading skills test for different age and ability ranges.
For example, Test 1 suits children in early elementary who can read RR Level 10 guided reading texts.
Alternatively, Test 5 suits children in senior elementary who are reading at an advanced level.

The child reads a test story, selected by the teacher, that corresponds to their approximate level of
reading ability. The child reads the story and answers the comprehension questions that follow. The engine
then makes recommendations for reading on the basis of the child’s level of accomplishment on the test.

A list of titles from our extensive Ziptales reading library, classified according to the ten Zip Stages, is then
made available for the child to choose to read. The child is told to advise the teacher about the Zip Stage
level recommended by the test.

Like our overall readability scheme, this is a suggestion only. On the basis of a five minute assessment, the
child will be given a recommendation to one of the Zip Stage levels. This recommendation should provide
the child with a very ‘comfortable’ reading experience - not too simple, and not too challenging.

However, to repeat, Ziptales is an ‘open’ library, and a teacher can choose to direct the child wherever seems
suitable to their interests and needs - to another level completely (up or down), if needed.

What’s my Ziptales reading level?

*The password for the What’s my Ziptales Reading Level? test is “readability”. The test is password
protected to prevent students from attempting to self test.

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