Learning

Reading Performance Metrics - What's Being Measured?

Birgir

Learning

September 6, 2025

According to the National Curriculum, schools are meant to regularly track student progress in reading, especially during the early school years. These assessments focus on technical skills (such as reading speed, accuracy, fluency, and reading ability) and cognitive skills (including reading comprehension and vocabulary). It's also important to consider attitudes and habits, like reading for pleasure, the joy of reading, and reading consistency, even though these are less formally measured. Analysis shows that evaluating all aspects with current tools is challenging, as many elements require subjective judgment. That's why LESA will harness digital technology to offer more detailed statistics—covering natural reading speed, comprehension, enjoyment, and consistency. This way, students, parents, and teachers gain a clearer picture, both individually and on a larger scale.

Here at LESA (www.lesa.is), we've been delving into all kinds of reading materials, including performance measurements. According to the national curriculum, schools are expected to regularly monitor the reading progress of their students, especially in the early years. These tests provide teachers with vital information about where a student stands (whether they read at the appropriate speed and understand the text) and what support they might need.

This article is written to help us and others understand what is involved in these measurements. We began by exploring what is measured, followed by more articles about performance measurements that have been used in our country.

Words and Concepts in Reading

When we started looking into this, we thought it would be straightforward, but it wasn't at all. First, we tried to grasp the concepts and their contents, but it was challenging to distinguish what was meant and the differences between some concepts like reading fluency and reading skills, which seemed incredibly similar. At the outset, it is important to consider phonological awareness in young students, which is the ability to recognize sounds and connect them to letters. It's clear that good language development lays the foundation for learning to read; without understanding the words (language), no one learns to READ. This skill is naturally trained at home and also at the kindergarten level.

Here is a short table on what is measured, making it easier to understand these things.

What is Measured	How	Assessed in Schools	Role in Reading
Reading Speed and Accuracy	Speed tests, words per minute, and error count	Yes	Measures technical ability
Reading Fluency	Part of speed test - interplay of speed, accuracy, and rhythm	Yes	Indicates ease and effortlessness in reading
Reading Skills	Combination of technical skills and comprehension. Using speed tests and surveys	Yes	Comprehensive view of reading both technical and cognitive
Reading Comprehension	Measured with questions, retelling, and tasks	Yes	Assesses whether students understand and can use the text
Reading Comprehension Vocabulary	Vocabulary tests, understanding key words	Yes	Prerequisite for understanding text/materials in a deeper sense
Enjoyment and Joy in Reading	Can be measured with surveys, questionnaires, and diary entries (home reading)	No	Reflects interest, attitude, and motivation for reading
Reading Continuity	Could examine progress over time and survey reading habits	No	Ensures regular reading and consistent development

Detailed Analysis

We then compiled a more detailed explanation of these elements that are measured or can be measured. It's worth noting here that MMS (Center for Education and School Services) maintains the Literacy Web, which is primarily aimed at those who teach reading but is also a rich resource of information on literacy for anyone interested in the topic.

Technical Skills consist of:
Reading Speed - how many words or letters a student reads in a given time
Accuracy - how often a student misreads words, confuses letters, or skips letters/words.
Reading Fluency: refers to how smoothly and effortlessly a person reads. It is based on speed, accuracy, and rhythm in reading. If fluency is present, the reader can focus more on content than reading technique.
Reading Skills: encompass all abilities to READ both technical skills (fluency) and cognitive skills (comprehension, inference, and critical thinking).
Reading Comprehension: Assesses whether a student understands the material they are reading
Reading Comprehension Vocabulary is sometimes measured, and this concept refers to the vocabulary a student needs to possess (words they understand) to grasp the meaning of the text they read.
Reading for Pleasure: is reading for one's own enjoyment, often spurred by one's own motivation. Not measured.
Reading Continuity: refers to the reading being consistent, regular, and continuous over time. Often measured through reading diaries that children use for home reading. There doesn't seem to be a comprehensive collection of this data.

What caught our attention the most was how incredibly challenging it is to assess these aspects because so much calls for subjective judgment, and it's also difficult not to have better tools and equipment for measurements. Therefore, LESA will utilize the latest tools and technologies to build measurement capabilities into the reading app, allowing detailed statistics on a child's progress to be seen.

With LESA's digital technology, we get the opportunity for detailed reading statistics for children in the first grades of primary school. We can analyze, among other things, natural reading speed, reading comprehension, reading joy, and continuity statistics. The intention is to make the measurements accessible, so children, parents, teachers, the school, and even school authorities can see the status at any time. As time goes on and LESA becomes widespread, we get a greater overview, perhaps even on a national level.