http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4499
This was helpful to gauge DD’s approximate reading level.
THANKYOU. That chart has help me gauge where miss dd is at and where I need to go.
Excellent, Thanks for that 
Thanks for the chart - the link to the activities and reproducibles is especially great!
I’m wondering how important is it to make sure that your child completes each level. If the child is at the multisyllabic level, is it still important to go back and make sure she knows all the other steps in between? See, I never figured out how my DD learned phonics. Her reading progress has been more like Aleka’s (from YBCR) where, after seeing hundreds and hundreds of words, she just figured out phonics on her own. She has never wanted to sound out individual letters (she wouldn’t do it even when I asked her to), but, when she encounters a new word, she would take a pause (like she is sounding it out in her head??) then read the whole word out loud. She is currently working on multisyllabic words - not perfect yet coz she usually misses the last or second to the last syllable.
I hope I don’t come across as bragging or anything. That is not my intention. I know different kids learn in a lot of different ways. It’s just that I wish I understood more of how she learned phonics and how she is reading so I can shore up her weaknesses and help her progress. When a child is reading already (albeit imperfectly), does she still have to learn all the intervening steps? I can’t even make her give me the correct answer when I ask her what sound a certain letter makes.
No offense taken, I just wish I had the answers for you! I don’t, I’m sorry. I would probably try and fill in the gaps if I could, but that is just a quick answer, I don’t have an official expert opinion for you.
I’m in a similar position.
Sabian worked out the phonetic code himself - mostly YBCR but possibly a few other things who knows really.
Point is while I know he knows what the letters sound like he doesn’t actually do that when sounding out a new word - he pauses and then says (mostly pretty right - some of multisyllabic words are strange or have difficult combinations.
I figure I’m just going to skip that step but then when you keep looking there’s all the rhyming stuff and whatnot that is related.
Do I assume that because he knows his phonics and is several steps ahead of that that it’s okay or do I go back or do I wait until he’s a bit older.
If I asked him which of three words was cat he would look at me like I’m a moron and walk away (my son hates to be tested especially if he feels the question is stupid and he knows that you know he knows - very hard sometimes to come up with new and clever ways to test his learning without him knowing he’s being tested).
If any one out there has older children and has been through this phase of development or teachers with ideas I’d love to hear your opinion on where to go next?
I just want to comment how being all children different i think that ‘not liking to be tested’ is something most of them have in common.
It is difficult for us to ‘forget about testing’ specially since we are investing a lot of time and are anxious to see ‘results’.
As told by many others: ‘JUST ENJOY THE PROCESS’, if they assimilate anything take it as an additional gift.