Twice a year, my school does beginning and end of the year reading testings for all students. This year, I had a long conversation with a 2nd grade teacher about things she wished-a couple of her parents had asked before leaving. This got me thinking about our students and parents, I believe all parents want the very best for their children but just don't know which questions to ask or where to start.

In most of my IEP meetings, what parent's really want to know is where their child is. This in many ways is a very difficult question to answer. In my case, in just reading there is DIBELS, DRA, running records, Wilson Reading, Just Words, Fundations plus anything special the classroom teachers does as well-those are just the building assessments Then you layer on the District ones Beginning Reading (covers all beginning reading skills-letter identification, sounds, rhyming) and Acuity. So a simple question becomes a full conference.


This handout can be sent home as part of a Back to School packet or when you do Flex Testing. It is by no means the end all of all questions you could ask but its meant to be a jumping off point to help you help parents to maintain open lines of communication. (In many cases it is the lack of communication that leads to problems.)