1. Running
Records
Presented by: Kimberly Shumaker Title 1 PD Coordinator-Elementary Literacy

2. Professional
Development Goals:
Build background knowledge
Learn how to score a reliable running record
Learn how to interpret a running record

3. Build Background Knowledge
What is a running record?
A running record is a specific type of shorthand or code used to record detailed information during reading.

4. “Running records reveal what the reader already knows, attended to, and overlooked.”
Marie Clay
A running record, “provides the teacher with a playback of an entire oral reading episode, including the smallest details on the reader’s attitude, demeanor, accuracy, and understanding ” (p. 10)
Mary Shea
Running records capture what the reader said and did while reading independently.
Running records allow the teacher to prompt, support and challenge readers.

5. Build Background Knowledge
Running records assess how well children can navigate through a text independently.
If running records are done systematically, they provide detailed information on how well students understand letters, sounds, and the meaning of text.
Gradually, readers begin to follow the directional conventions of print, attend to the visual detail of words, spaces, letters and sounds.

6. Quick Write: Why use running records?
The purpose of the running record is to assess:
Prior knowledge (letters, sounds, and words)
The child’s use of reading strategies
What the reader overlooked
Text difficulty
Reader progress
Needs for future instruction
The practice of running records allows teachers to prompt, support, and challenge individual learners. 6

7. Teacher’s Role: to observe child’s reading behaviors while tracking accuracy and errors on separate sheet of paper
Child’s Role: to read chosen text independently with minimal assistance from teacher

8. Running Record: How-to
Create a comfortable environment for you and the child.
Let the child know that you will be writing what they are reading.
You can start with a familiar text or a cold read.
Record everything that the child does and says.
Make note of behaviors as well.
Write down as much information as you can right after the running record because chances are that you will not be about to remember it all later! One on one Traditional running records are often not necessary for older, proficient readers because their reading speed is often too fast to make tick marks.

9. Photocopied pages from a book Tape recording the child reading
Two things to avoid:
Photocopied pages from a book
Tape recording the child reading
1-You need room to write and make the proper notations.
2- When you tape record, you can’t observe attitude and demeanor.

10. Consistency and standard procedures are key!
Turn and talk to tell you neighbor consistency is KEY!

11. Teachers must have a common standard for: Taking records
Describing what they observe
Calculating scores
Interpreting what they observed
If you don’t have standard procedures, then the record has no meaning. Teachers can compare all the records of one child or the records of multiple children for grouping purposes. 11

12. Conventions for Recording
Mark every word with a tick (or check) Group Practice (T/S/O)
Record an incorrect response above the correct word.
home
on the hill.
I saw a
house

13. If a child tries several times to read a word, record all trials.
If a child corrects an error, record it as a self-correction. Record as no error.
T/S/O
1 error
Child self-corrected, but didn’t read the correct word.
h... | here | his
h...ho
No error
Child self-corrected and read the correct word.
home
house
where | when | SC
were

14. If the reader omits a word. Record it this way. or
6. If the reader inserts a word, record it like this:
___ O
were
were
Both of these result in an error.
were
were
____

15. An appeal for help is marked with a capital A. Say, “You try it.”
If a child is stuck and knows that they made an error, but they are unable to self-correct and move on, you can tell them the word.
(T/S/O)
| A
home
Know your children! You know then they are really stuck or they are just giving you the puppy eyes because they want you to tell them the word. Remember, your goal is to record reading behaviors. You want to know if they can attack a word. Use your best teacher judgment on this.
home
house | T

16. Susan | went | with | the | principal
Sometimes children get so lost that they can’t seem to find their way out. If you find that this is the case, say, “Try that again.” Then, start that section over.
| look | said | | people
One error
Susan | went | with | the | principal
TTA
| said | | that SC |
Susan | went | with | the | principal

17. Repetition is not counted as an error
Repetition is not counted as an error. Usually children repeat in order to confirm a previous attempt. Mark the running record with a capital R and use “a hug” if it is a phrase or sentence. (T/S/O)
| R | | | p…pr…SC R
Susan | went | with | the | principal

18. splitting words into parts
Other reading behaviors…
sounding out letters
pausing
According to Marie Clay, Research evidence shows that teachers don’t need to record this information because record of these behaviors is much less reliable and is not included in the scoring.
When students are making a bunch of errors the running records are hard to score. The rule of thumb is to record all information about behavior that will help you.

19. Notice how the child is attacking the text.
Directionality
Notice how the child is attacking the text.
Make notes on the running record.
Left to Right L R
Right to Left R L
Snaking
Bottom to Top
This is an important early reading skill. Students must understand directionality in order to read and make sense of text. Talk about saccade.

20. Assessment & Comprehension
Comprehension can vary greatly
depending on the level of the text.
When teachers ask different
questions about the text, the
validity is compromised.
It makes no sense to assess on a passage that is too easy or hard. A quick conversation about the text adds to your understanding of the child.

21. Scoring Errors and Self-Corrections
Count any correct or corrected words.
There is no penalty for words that are eventually correct.
Insertions add errors. A child could have more errors than there are words on a line.
The lowest score on a page is zero.
Omissions count as one error. If the student skips a page, it is not counted as errors. The number of words on those pages will be deducted from the total number of words before you complete the scoring process.

22. Scoring Errors and Self-Corrections
Repeated errors-If a child makes an error (bag for bug) and substitutes the word repeatedly, it counts as an error every time. If it is a proper noun, it only counts once.
Multiple errors & self-correction - If a child makes multiple errors and self corrects all of them, score as a self-correction (SC).
Broken Words - This is counted as an error of pronunciation. It is not counted as a reading error unless the child says a totally different word.
Dialect is not counted as an error. (pitcher for picture or gonna for going to)

23. Inventions – If a child “invents” a page, the scoring breaks down.
TTA - This counts as one error and only the second attempt is scored.
Fewest errors - Score in a manner that gives the fewest errors.
Additional Tips
Don’t try to analyze omissions and insertions.
When analyzing, consider the sentence leading up to and including the error.

24. Recap Teacher Notation Meaning Error Correct word No T
Told (by teacher)
Yes SC
Self correct
- or O
Skipped word ^
Inserted word
TTA
“try that again” R
Repetition (per word) A
Appeal (asks for help) H
Student hesitated
/ /
Short Pause #
Long Pause

25. Vocabulary Activity: The Silent Shuffle
You have 3 minutes to find the match to your vocabulary word or definition.
Turn on the music and participants must match without talking.  Play Cupid Shuffle
Words:
Error ratio
Accuracy Rate
Self-Correction Rate
Easy
Instructional
Hard
Fraction format
Insertion
Repetition
Substitution
Self-correction
Tick mark
Omission
Visual/graphophonic
Meaning/semantics
Structure/Syntax

26. Let’s Practice!

27. Step 1: Count the words in the text (excluding the title).
Calculating Scores
Step 1: Count the words in the text (excluding the title).
Step 2: Count the number of errors.
Step 3: Calculate the Error Ratio.
Errors
(round up) 1: ___
Running Words
Ratio= 1:10
150

28. Step 4: Calculate the Accuracy Rate. 100 – Errors X 100
Scoring
Step 4: Calculate the Accuracy Rate.
100 – Errors X
Running Words
Step 5: Calculate the Self-Correction Ratio
SC : ___
Errors + SC
100 – 15 x 100 = 90%
SC Ratio: 1:4
15 + 5

29. Levels of Text Difficulty
Easy 95%-100%
Instructional 90%-94%
Hard 80%-89%

30. Interpreting the Running Record
Meaning
Did the meaning or the messages of the text influence the error? (semantic)
Structure
Did the structure (syntax) of the sentence up the error influence the response?
Visual
Did the visual information from the print influence any part of the error? (graphophonetic)

31. Three Reading Cueing Systems
Meaning
Semantic Cue system
Does it make sense?
Structure
Syntactic Cue System
Does it sound right?
Visual
Graphophonic
Cue System
Does it look right?
Prior knowledge
Story Sense
Text
Illustrations
Print conventions
Directionality
Words/spaces
Letters
Punctuation
Beginnings/endings
Analogies
Sounds and Symbols
Natural language
Knowledge of
English
Grammatical
patterns and
language
structures
www1.rcas.org/literacy/pdfs/assessmenthandout.pdf

32. Let’s practice one together!

33. Analysis Activity Examine the running record at your table.
Complete the following:
Score the running record
Determine the Level: Easy, Instructional, Independent
Conduct an M, S, V analysis.
What does this child need?

34. Complete a running record on at least 3 students in your class.
Homework:
Complete a running record on at least 3 students in your class.

35. All information in this presentation came from the following sources:
Running Records by Marie Clay (2000)
Taking Running Records by Mary Shea, PhD (2000)

36. Questions and Answers