As I looked at my daughter’s test scores last summer, my mama's heart felt heavy. On the Gort-5, one of the most widely used tests across the United States for measuring oral reading fluency and reading comprehension, my daughter’s raw scores across all the categories were zero. What does that mean?

Deciphering the GORT-5 Scores

On the Gort-5, students are asked to read a one-paragraph passage. Based on the number of words they read correctly and the amount of time it takes them, they receive a score between zero and five in rate (speed) and a score between zero and five in accuracy (the number of words they read correctly). A student’s score is based on criteria set by the assessment developers and based on norm-referenced data. When they created the Gort-5, the test makers collected data on what students could do with each passage that was given to them. They took the average number of errors that different age groups made on a given passage, as well as the average amount of time students in the age group needed to read the passage. They used this data to establish measures for determining whether a story is too difficult for the reader.

My daughter received a raw score of zero in rate because it took her so long to read the piece – longer than the maximum number of seconds established in the story’s criteria – and she earned a raw score of zero in accuracy because she surpassed the limit of errors for the stories she read. This indicates that the passages she read on the Gort-5 were too difficult for her.

The Significance of Raw Scores and Percentiles

A student’s raw scores are converted to age-based percentiles. At Redwood, we recommend administering the Gort-5 every six months to measure holistic progress. When looking at your student’s scores, it’s important to keep in mind that sometimes growth doesn’t show up in percentiles. This is because your child continues to get older while they work through the remediation, and their percentiles are age-based. So it’s a moving target. However, you can always see growth in raw scores. Look at the raw scores from six months ago and compare them with the new raw scores your child’s report includes after re-evaluation. It’s vital – for you and for your child – to celebrate the growth that is happening. The remediation process can be complex and long for a variety of reasons, so looking for growth wherever you can find it is essential for staying invested and informed throughout the catch-up journey.

Exploring the Four Key Categories of the GORT-5

The Gort-5 measures four different categories and reports the results in three ways. The four categories are rate, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. The results are reported as raw scores, grade equivalents, and percentile ranks by age. Let’s first break down the four categories:

1. Rate: Your child’s rate is simply how many words they can decode in an allotted amount of time, usually measured by words read per minute. This can give you a lot of information about how hard your child’s brain is working to decode the words on a page. If their rate is slow, that is often an indicator that decoding (sounding out) the words is a struggle. A slow rate might also be connected to processing speed or rapid automatic naming ability.
2. Accuracy:, the next category, measures how many words your child can read correctly. For example, if they read 38 words in a minute but only 30 of those words were read correctly, their accuracy will be 30/38, or approximately 79% accuracy.
3. Fluency: The third category, fluency, is your child’s rate combined with their accuracy. Sometimes fluency is misunderstood to be just about measuring your child’s speed, but fluency must include both the rate and the accuracy components to be considered an accurate measure. Fluency is sort of like a thermometer. If a child is struggling with oral reading fluency, diving deep into the rate and accuracy measures can tell us a lot about what gaps might exist or what specific area of struggle needs remediation. The goal of remediation is to build automaticity in decoding and encoding. Automaticity means your child is no longer exerting so much energy in the reading process, and that leftover energy makes comprehension possible.
4. Reading comprehension: Is – understanding, internalizing, and processing the information we take in – is the whole goal of reading. Growth in a student’s reading comprehension is the holy grail of progress. Sometimes students’ accuracy or rate only increases a bit, yet their reading comprehension jumps multiple grade levels. This is a sign of effective remediation. It indicates that your child is closing the gap in various areas and more energy is now available for accessing the content they’re reading. It’s very difficult to absorb a piece of writing when all your energy is focused on decoding the words.

Holding Onto Hope and Setting Goals

At the beginning of a new school year, I asked my daughter what she hoped her first-grade teacher would be like, and she said, “I just hope they like me and want to help me learn how to read.” Her grade equivalency is below the first-grade level across all four categories and between the second and fifth percentiles compared to her peers. This is her baseline, and I’m so grateful to know exactly where she’s starting. We have our work cut out for us. But we believe in her, and we’re teaching her to believe in herself. I have no doubt that she will make measurable progress, moving those raw scores, grade equivalencies, and age percentiles up and up and up. I don’t know how quickly they will move, but I know they will.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Want your child to be assessed using the GORT? Click here to learn more.

Looking for an assessment to support tutoring instruction? Sign up for a placement consultation to learn more about your child’s literacy levels and what Redwood intervention would be best for them.

If you resonate with this article, google “dyslexia tutoring near me” to find support. Connecting with a knowledgeable professional can be transformative in empowering you with what you need to support your child with dyslexia. Also, reach out to other parents. You can google “dyslexia parent groups near me,” ask around at your child’s school, or attend a local event with dyslexia as its theme. Redwood Literacy and Redwood Schools are also here to help if we can. Please reach out. We’d love to hear from you.