Guided reading levels by grade: what the F&P chart means

By the end of kindergarten, the Fountas and Pinnell (F&P) chart expects a child to read at level D/E. After that come J/K at the end of first grade, M/N at the end of second and P/Q at the end of third. The chart sets four targets a school year, and your child’s teacher uses them to plan, not to grade your child.

Which guided reading level fits each grade?

These are the “meets expectations” levels from the official F&P chart, Instructional Level Expectations for Reading. Find the column nearest the month your child was tested.

Grade	Aug-Sep	Nov-Dec	Feb-Mar	May-Jun
Kindergarten	no level yet	B	C	D/E
First grade	D/E	F	H	J/K
Second grade	J/K	K	L	M/N
Third grade	M/N	N	O	P/Q
Fourth grade	P/Q	Q	R	S/T
Fifth grade	S/T	T	U	V/W

Kindergarten starts without a level on this chart. Its first target arrives in November or December. Some charts online start kindergarten at A to C, but F&P doesn’t.

Each “meets” level has bands above and below it. Say your first grader is tested in February. Level H meets expectations, and I or above exceeds them. Level G “approaches expectations”, which means a little extra help for a while. Anything below G “does not meet expectations” and calls for intensive help.

So if your child is one letter under the table, it’s worth watching, but it isn’t an emergency.

F&P also print a reminder on the chart: the levels are broad guidelines, and each school or district adapts them to its own requirements and to what the teacher sees. Your school’s targets may differ a little.

What does “instructional level” mean on a report?

Most of the time, the letter on a report is the instructional level. That means text a little too hard for your child to read alone but manageable in a reading group with the teacher’s help. What your child reads alone, on the couch or in bed, should be easier.

So read an instructional-level book together at the kitchen table instead of handing it over for quiet reading. Your child also reads at several levels in one day: an easy book alone, a harder one in the reading group, a much harder one when the teacher reads aloud. A report letter shows only one of those, on the day of the test.

Is my child behind if their level is lower?

From one checkpoint to the next, the chart usually moves one or two letters. First grade spans more letters than any other year. One letter isn’t much on this chart.

Level tests are also imprecise. In a 2014 study, leveling assessments predicted how well children read only about half the time. Watch which way the level moves over several checkpoints instead of fixing on one.

You learn even more by listening to your child read. When they meet a new word, do they sound it out, or guess from the picture or the first letter? Does reading get a little easier each month, or is every page still hard work?

Why has my school stopped sending levels home?

Fountas and Pinnell see levels as a tool for teachers, not a label for children. Their own blog says levels don’t belong on report cards for parents, because a single letter can worry families and children don’t always read at one exact level.

Reading instruction has also changed. By August 2026, 43 states and the District of Columbia had passed laws or policies since 2013 on evidence-based reading instruction, often called the science of reading. Some of these rules also cover the tests schools use to spot reading problems, so your child’s school may now send home a different score instead of a letter. Indiana, for instance, approved reading programs only if districts left out the leveled readers that came with them.

If the letters have stopped coming home, ask the teacher what the school measures now and how your child is doing on that.

How can you help your child at home?

The federal What Works Clearinghouse guide on early reading covers kindergarten through third grade, and its advice fits any level.

• Work on sounds and letters. When your child stalls on a word, point at the letters and sound it out together, rather than saying “look at the picture.”
• Read real text every day. A short book or story your child reads aloud to you, with you right there to help.
• Read the same text again. Coming back to it over several days makes the reading smoother. A story taped up in the bathroom, read once a day for a week, is perfect for this.
• Keep reading to your child, and talk about the book. Hearing harder books read aloud builds their vocabulary and understanding.

For reading alone, choose a story one step below the school level, about something your child loves. Then practice feels like reading for fun.

When should you ask the school for help?

Talk to the teacher if your child lands in the “approaches” or “does not meet” band two checkpoints in a row. Do the same if the level hasn’t moved for a long time, if your child guesses words rather than sounding them out, or if they avoid reading altogether. Ask what extra help they get, how often, and when the school will check their progress again.

If help in the classroom isn’t enough, you can ask the school in writing to evaluate your child. Federal law gives you that right, and the school can’t make you wait just because a classroom intervention is still underway.

FAQ

What guided reading level should a first grader be at?

On the F&P chart, a first grader meets expectations at D/E in August or September. Then comes F in November or December, H in February or March and J/K by May or June.

What level should a kindergartener reach by the end of the year?

F&P expect D/E by May or June. A child at level C then approaches expectations, and anything below C does not meet them.

How do F&P levels compare to DRA levels?

Heinemann’s equivalence chart puts DRA 4 at about level D, DRA 16 at level I, DRA 18 at level J and DRA 20 at level K. They are different tests, so treat these as rough matches.

Should my child only read books at their level?

No. Books your child reads alone can be easier than the school level, and books you read to them can be much harder. A child who only gets lower-level text can find it harder to catch up.

Sources

• Fountas & Pinnell: Instructional Level Expectations for Reading (2015 chart, district copy)
• Fountas & Pinnell: Instructional Level Expectations resource page
• Fountas & Pinnell blog: A Level is a Teacher’s Tool, NOT a Child’s Label (2016)
• Fountas & Pinnell blog: A Note About Reading Levels (2018)
• Fountas & Pinnell blog: How High Do You Test Students in the Benchmark Assessment? (2018)
• Heinemann: Instructional Grade-Level Equivalence Chart
• Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse: Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade
• Education Week: Which states have passed science of reading laws?
• Education Week: Do leveled books have any place in the classroom? (2024)
• Common Core State Standards: Reading Foundational Skills, Grade 1
• IDEA regulations, 34 CFR 300.301: initial evaluations
• OSEP Memo 11-07: Response to Intervention and evaluations