Reading benchmarks
Reading benchmarks by age and grade
Pick your child's age or grade to see the skills that usually come together then, the published fluency figures where they exist, and a 2-minute check you can do at home. Every number comes from a cited source. None of it is a diagnosis: children learn to read on different timelines.
By age
By grade
| Age | Usually in (US) | Reading stage | End-of-year fluency midpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Kindergarten | getting ready to read | No published norm |
| 6 | 1st grade | learning to decode | 60 words correct per minute |
| 7 | 2nd grade | learning to decode | 100 words correct per minute |
| 8 | 3rd grade | building fluency | 112 words correct per minute |
Fluency midpoints are the 50th percentile in spring from Hasbrouck & Tindal (2017): the middle of the group, not a pass mark.
This is not a diagnosis
This is not a diagnosis or an assessment, and a reassuring result doesn't rule anything out. Children learn to read on different timelines. If you're worried about your child's reading, talk to your child's teacher. The figures on this page describe groups of children, not a line your child has to cross by a certain date.
Frequently asked questions
Is my child behind in reading?
A benchmark can tell you what to practise next, not whether something is wrong. Start with the 2-minute check for your child's age; if the result worries you, talk to your child's teacher and ask what the school's reading screener shows.
Where do these numbers come from?
Reading speeds are Hasbrouck and Tindal's 2017 compiled oral reading fluency norms, which cover grades 1 to 6. Sight word counts are the canonical Dolch lists. Stages and skills come from our own parent check and are labelled as ours, not as published norms.
Free: reading milestones by age: a parent checklist
The skills that usually come together at each stage from age 3 to 12, as a tick-list you can turn into a practice plan. One printable page.
We'll email you the reading milestones by age checklist, a few short reading tips over the next month, then at most one monthly roundup of new guides. Unsubscribe anytime.
Where the numbers come from
- Hasbrouck, J. & Tindal, G. (2017). An Update to Compiled ORF Norms (Technical Report No. 1702). Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon. Table 4: Compiled ORF Norms 2017 (report p. 10).
- Dolch, E. W. (1936). A basic sight vocabulary. The Elementary School Journal.
- Dolch, E. W. (1948). Problems in Reading. Champaign, IL: Garrard Press.
- Stages and skills: our reading-level-by-age check, built from the questions in our "Is my child behind?" quiz. These are our rules for a parent check, not published norms.
- School years: our school year and grade equivalents chart (age at the start of the school year).