PM Benchmarks

PM Benchmarks allow us to uncover a student's independent and instructional reading levels. We use this assessment to sit alongside a student and listen to them read as we take a reading record and note each student's reading strategies and behaviours. Through the use of retelling indicators and comprehension questions we are able to understand the student's level of comprehension. When we analyze running records, we are able to:

note student strengths
plan for next steps
target our small-group instruction

We know that each child is so much more than a reading level and we can use the valuable information gained from administering PM Benchmarks to match students to appropriate text for independent reading, and to guide our instructional moves in the classroom.

Using PM Benchmark Kits in Your Classroom

Reading is making meaning from print and we want our students to make meaning from everything they read. Benchmarking allows classroom teachers to determine the complexity of text to which a student can successfully apply these three reading processes:

1. Decoding – Identify or decode the words in print
2. Comprehension – Construct an understanding or meaning
3. Fluency – Coordination of decoding and comprehension so reading is automatic and accurate

SD22 Primary teachers are regularly assessing their readers using systematic and scheduled benchmarking of all students along with their daily, ongoing observations. Teachers gather evidence of student reading competencies in one-on-one conferences and in small-group instructional settings.

Primary teachers rely on their professional judgement, using both a timely PM Benchmark as well as their ongoing observations when determining a benchmark level to input into EdPlan Insight.

Why Do Teachers Input Benchmark Data into EdPlan Insight?

Listening to students read one-on-one and benchmarking their reading level has been a common practice in SD22 for years.
Listening to students read and carefully analyzing the results provides teachers with valuable information to plan for whole-class, small-group, and independent instruction.
Reading benchmark data at the school and district level helps us better understand where learners are and plan ways to support students, teachers, and schools.

Coming Soon: Videos of SD22 teachers modelling PM Benchmark administration