Final answer:
Students at the BR level are below benchmark readers for their grade level, indicating they need additional support to improve their reading skills. Assessments help identify students needing extra assistance and enable targeted interventions by teachers to address reading challenges.
Step-by-step explanation:
A teacher is looking over reading levels from a recent online reading assessment. She has several students who are at the BR level. These students are below benchmark readers for their grade level, indicating that they need additional support to reach grade-level reading standards. This situation requires the teacher to develop targeted interventions to help these students improve their reading skills. It is important for a student to be at or above grade-level reading to ensure they have the necessary literacy skills to succeed in school and beyond.
Understanding reading levels is crucial because it can help teachers identify which students might need extra assistance. It is a key part of individualizing instruction to meet the diverse needs of students in a classroom. Such assessment data also help schools to confront challenges faced by disadvantaged students who are often reading below grade level, aiming to close the learning gap between them and their more affluent counterparts.