Lessons · Teaching · the running record and its three bands
The running record, and its three bands
A running record is a count: the running words in the passage, the errors made, and accuracy as a percentage, which then falls into one of three bands that describe what the text is good for.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
A parent asks why their child is reading a book that looks easy. The answer is a number and a band rather than an opinion, and being able to say 'ninety-two percent, which is the band we teach in' ends that conversation kindly, in thirty seconds, with nobody upset.
How to think about it
Count the running words before you start. Mark each error as it happens. Accuracy is correct words over running words times a hundred. Then read the band off the table your school uses, which a problem here will always hand you.
Worked example
Running words: 100Counted beforehand, on the copy you are holding.
Errors: 8Substitutions, omissions, insertions, and words you had to supply. Self-corrections do not count.
Accuracy = 92 / 100 = 92%, which is the instructional bandCorrect words over running words.
Instructional means teach here: hard enough to learn from, easy enough to get throughThe band describes the text, not the reader.
Your turn
A passage has 150 running words and the reader makes 9 errors. Write the line that gives accuracy.
141 / 150 × 100 = %
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Counting a self-correction as an error. A reader who fixes their own mistake has just done the thing you want; it gets recorded, and it does not come off the accuracy.