What is “Grade Level?
” It s also important to note that standards for what constitutes “grade level” in literacy are increased during the school year as the assessment is administered a second, and then a third, time. In other words, a student is expected to be able to do more as the year progresses in order to be considered “at or above grade level.” Figure One shows the progress in literacy that was made by first graders in the District during the last academic year, based on their performance on the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). As the graph displays, the percentage of first graders assessed at being at or above grade level grew from about 50% in the fall of 2000 to almost 70% by the spring of 2001. The number of students performing significantly below grade level was cut in half during this same time period. Figure 1: The performance of students in the first grade is particularly interesting, given that this grade level has received the most intensive interventions under the District s Bluepr
