Analyzing Running Records with ELLs

Running records are an important part of planning for instruction. A running record is a way to assess a child's reading level by looking at accuracy and the kinds of errors made. This document is useful for the teacher in two ways. First, it shows the teacher whether material currently being read is too easy or too difficult for the student. Second, it indicates the areas where a child's reading can improve. For example, if a child frequently makes letter omissions at the end of a word, the teacher will know to focus on getting the child to look beyond the first letter of a word to read the entire word. Running records may be administered to assess a student's progress in reading.


When I assessed two of the English Language Learners in my class using a running record, I discovered some valuable information to guide further instruction. With one of my students, she read 134 words per minute with no errors. This showed me that she needs to be reading more difficult text during guided reading groups. Another one of my students read 102 words in one minute, but made 5 mistakes. When I looked at the mistakes, I found some new teaching points for this student. For example, she said /id/ instead of /t/ for the suffix on the word looked. This shows me that she needs to practice these ending sounds for -ed to see which one sounds right for each word. Another mistake that she made was that she pronounced "said" with a long a sound. While she did apply the phonics rule for "ai", she also needs to develop skills to recognize those oddball words that don't follow the rules. Her three other miscues were vocabulary words that she did not recognize and did not stop to pronounce. I know that her vocabulary needs to be built more so that her miscues do not interfere with the meaning and understanding of her reading.