Reading Level Conversion Table & Making OTJ's

Reading Level Conversion Table 2015
Ready to Read Colour Wheel	PM/PM+ Readers		Reading Recovery Level	National Standards	NZC B=Beginning M= Middle E= End	New Zealand Curriculum	Reading Age (Caution use!)
Magenta 1	Magenta 1	1	1		1B	Level 1	5 – 5½
Magenta 2	Magenta 2	2	2
Red 1	Red 1	3	3
Red 2	Red 2	4	4
Red 3	Red 3	5	5
Yellow 1	Yellow 1	6	6
Yellow 2	Yellow 2	7	7
Yellow 3	Yellow 3	8	8				5½ - 6
Blue 1	Blue 1	9	9
Blue 2	Blue 2	10	10
Blue 3	Blue 3	11	11
Green 1	Green 1	12	12	After 1 year at school	1M		6 – 6½
Green 2	Green 2	13	13
Green 3	Green 3	14	14
Orange 1	Orange 1	15	15				6½  – 7
Orange 2	Orange 2	16	16
Turquoise 1	Turquoise 1	17	17	After 2 years at school	1E		7-7 ½
Turquoise 2	Turquoise 2	18	18
Purple 1	Purple 1	19	19				7½ - 8
Purple 2	Purple 2	20	20
Gold 1	Gold 1	21	21	After 3 years at school	2B	Level 2	8 – 8½
Gold 2	Gold 2	22	22
	Silver	23		By the end of Year 4	2M		8½ - 9
		24
	Emerald	25			2E		9 – 9½
		26					9½ - 10
	Ruby	27		By the end of Year 5 and By the end of Year 6	3B	Level 3	10 – 10½
		28			3M		10½ - 11
	Sapphire	29					11 – 11½
		30			3E		11½ - 12
					4B/M/E	Level 4	12-14

Making Overall Teacher Judgements

Triangulation diagram

Overall teacher judgements of achievement and progress involve combining information from a variety of sources, using a range of approaches. Evidence may be gathered through the following three ways:

1. Conversing with the student to find out what they know, understand and can do.
2. Observing the process a student uses.
3. Gathering results from formal assessments, including standardised tools.

This ‘triangulation’ of information increases the dependability of the OTJ.

A note on the concept of “reading age”

“The concept of “reading age” provides only a rough guide to the complexity of a text, and the

term is not a valid way to describe a student’s level of reading expertise.

An analysis of student data by NZCER reveals that, at least by year 4, “year level is in fact

a slightly better predictor of scale score than age” (Darr et al., 2008, page 14). The results

showed that differences in chronological age made no signifi cant difference to the results of

PAT reading tests, despite an age difference in any one year group of up to eighteen months.”

Literacy Learning Progressions  p6