Interpreting the Retell

Literably graders do not score retells.

We are not aware of a consistent way to score them, so we think it best not to score them (lest we introduce error).

If you would like to score your students' retells, we have created a retell rubric for your convenience: 

1	No understanding of the text. Does not respond or talks off topic.
2	Very limited understanding of the text. Does not include the important information.
3	Partial understanding of the text. Includes some important information.
4	Excellent understanding of the text. Includes almost all

1 quick note on interpretation:

If the student reads accurately and performs well on the comprehension questions, then we would generally recommend trying that student at a higher level, regardless of the student’s performance on the retell.

Retells reflect a number of abilities and conditions unrelated to reading comprehension (e.g. speaking ability, confidence, motivation, etc).

Also, we are not aware of any research indicating that reading at a lower reading level leads to faster growth in retell performance. 

For these reasons, we would generally advise caution in keeping a student at a lower level based on the retell alone.