A critique of running records

Abstract

Running records of children‟s oral reading are commonly used to assess children‟s reading and to make decisions about the types of reading instruction that children require. This paper critiques recent guidelines on the use of running records and questions the value of this assessment technique. The guidelines are unclear about whether running records should be used for beginning and fluent readers. There are difficulties in making comparisons between running records taken on different texts, and running records do not assess comprehension. The paper argues that the analysis of oral reading errors is a time consuming procedure that may provide misleading information about the type of instruction that would most benefit a particular child.