DRA and F&P levels by time of year: reading level converter

Reading levels convert through the grade, because each publisher sets its own grade goals. In those goals, the end of 1st grade is Fountas & Pinnell level J, DRA 16 and AR 1.9. The end of 2nd grade is M, DRA 28 and AR 2.9, and the end of 3rd is P, DRA 38 and AR 3.9. Every match is approximate: the systems measure different things, and schools adjust the goals.

Convert a reading level

Pick the system on your child's report and enter the level. The converter tells you which grade and time of year it belongs to, then shows the same point in the other systems. You can also start from a grade.

Reading level converter

What grade is this reading level?

The level is

DRA runs from A to 80. Or try one:

Reading levels by grade and time of year

The full chart, from kindergarten to 8th grade. This chart was compiled by Readigo, an iOS reading-practice app for children ages 6–12, from the publishers' own material where we could open it: the F&P Text Level Gradient, Pearson's DRA2 cut-offs, MetaMetrics' national Lexile norms and the grade-and-month scale of AR book levels, plus Follett's correlation chart for DRA above 3rd grade. The sources are at the bottom of the page.

Reading levels by grade and time of year: Fountas and Pinnell letters, the DRA level to be on track, median Lexile scores and AR book levels, kindergarten to 8th grade
Grade	Time of year	F&P letters	DRA to be on track	Lexile, median score	AR book level*
Kindergarten	Beginning (fall)	A–Dgoal: D	A	BR315L	0.1–0.3
	Middle (winter)		1	BR215L	0.4–0.6
	End (spring)		3	BR140L	0.7–0.9
1st grade	Beginning (fall)	E–Jgoal: J	3	BR45L	1.0–1.3
	Middle (winter)		10	45L	1.4–1.6
	End (spring)		16	110L	1.7–1.9
2nd grade	Beginning (fall)	K–Mgoal: M	16	200L	2.0–2.3
	Middle (winter)		20	275L	2.4–2.6
	End (spring)		28	335L	2.7–2.9
3rd grade	Beginning (fall)	N–Pgoal: P	28	415L	3.0–3.3
	Middle (winter)		34	485L	3.4–3.6
	End (spring)		38	535L	3.7–3.9
4th grade	Beginning (fall)	Q–Sgoal: S	40–44†	605L	4.0–4.3
	Middle (winter)			665L	4.4–4.6
	End (spring)			710L	4.7–4.9
5th grade	Beginning (fall)	T–Vgoal: V	44–50†	770L	5.0–5.3
	Middle (winter)			820L	5.4–5.6
	End (spring)			860L	5.7–5.9
6th grade	Beginning (fall)	W–Ygoal: Y	60†	905L	6.0–6.3
	Middle (winter)			950L	6.4–6.6
	End (spring)			980L	6.7–6.9
7th grade	Beginning (fall)	Zgoal: Z	70†	1015L	7.0–7.3
	Middle (winter)			1050L	7.4–7.6
	End (spring)			1075L	7.7–7.9
8th grade	Beginning (fall)	Zgoal: Z	80†	1105L	8.0–8.3
	Middle (winter)			1125L	8.4–8.6
	End (spring)			1145L	8.7–8.9

BR means Beginning Reader, below 0L. †From 4th grade on, our sources give no DRA level per testing window: Pearson's DRA2 covers grades 4 to 8 with levels 40 to 80, and the chart shows Follett's band for the whole year. *The fall, winter and spring split of AR levels is our own convention (see below).

How to read each column

F&P lettersare the Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading levels, A to Z. F&P groups the letters by grade, and the last letter of each group is the goal for the end of that year: D for kindergarten, J for 1st grade, M for 2nd. F&P also publishes letters for points through the year, in its Instructional Level Expectations for Reading chart. That chart is behind a free registration and schools adapt it, so this page shows the grade bands and end-of-year goals only. Ask the teacher for the school's own version.

DRA to be on trackis Pearson's cut-off for each testing window from kindergarten to 3rd grade: the lowest story level a child must read (independently, from the end of kindergarten on) to count as progressing. Below it, the school may take a closer look. It is a floor, not an average. Above 3rd grade the chart shows Follett's whole-year bands instead.

Lexile, median scoreis what the middle child in each grade scores on a Lexile test, from MetaMetrics' national norms (about 20 million students, 2021 to 2025). Books written for a grade run higher than this, and the converter shows that band too. The Lexile converter places a score against the full spread of a grade.

AR book level is the ATOS scale Accelerated Reader uses, written as grade and month: 3.5 reads as 3rd grade, fifth month. Splitting that into .0 to .3 for fall, .4 to .6 for winter and .7 to .9 for spring is our own convention, not a Renaissance table.

Why the systems don't line up exactly

F&P letters and DRA levels come from a teacher listening to a child read a leveled book and talk about it. Lexile and AR come from formulas that look at sentence length and how common the words are. Two methods like that will place the same book or the same child a little differently, and neither is wrong.

The publishers say so themselves. F&P calls its grade-level goals general guidelines, to be adjusted by school or district and by teacher judgment. A correlation chart from the book supplier Follett says reading levels are subjective and the chart is for general comparison only. And your child's school may use its own goals. If the report and this chart disagree, the school's chart is the one that decides support.

What a level can't tell you

A level is taken two or three times a year and describes the books a child can handle. It doesn't tell you how the reading sounds: whether your child reads smoothly or word by word, and which words trip them up.

For that, listen to a one-minute read of a grade-level passage. The WCPM chart by grade shows what is typical. If you have no school report at all, the reading level test places your child at a stage in five questions. And if a level worries you, read reading below grade level for what schools look for and when an evaluation makes sense.

Frequently asked questions

What DRA level should a first grader be at?

In the cut-offs Pearson, which publishes the DRA, sets for its DRA2 test, a 1st grader counts as on track when they read level 3 independently in the fall, level 10 in the winter and level 16 in the spring. Those are the lowest levels that still count as on track in each testing window, not averages. In Fountas & Pinnell letters, 1st grade runs from E to J, and J is the goal for the end of the year.

What are the Fountas and Pinnell reading levels by grade?

On the F&P Text Level Gradient, kindergarten is A to D, 1st grade E to J, 2nd grade K to M, 3rd grade N to P, 4th grade Q to S, 5th grade T to V and 6th grade W to Y. Z covers 7th and 8th grade, and Z+ is for high-school and adult texts. The last letter of each band is the end-of-year goal. F&P calls its grade-level goals general guidelines, to be adjusted by school or district and by teacher judgment.

How do I convert a DRA level to a guided reading letter?

Go through the grade and the time of year. Pearson's cut-off for the end of 1st grade is DRA 16 and F&P's goal for the end of 1st grade is J, so both mark the end of 1st grade in each publisher's goals. In the same way, DRA 28 and M both mark the end of 2nd grade, and DRA 38 and P the end of 3rd. No publisher puts out an official letter-to-number table, and the correlation charts that do pair them differ (Follett's puts DRA 14 to 16 next to H and I), so every match is approximate.

What does an AR reading level of 3.5 mean?

AR book levels use the ATOS scale, written as grade and month. 3.5 reads as 3rd grade, about the fifth month of the school year, so around mid-year. The number rates how hard a book's words and sentences are. It doesn't say whether the story suits a child's age.

Are reading level conversions exact?

No. F&P letters and DRA levels come from a teacher listening to a child read and retell, while Lexile and AR are formulas over sentence length and word difficulty. Each publisher sets its own grade goals, and schools adjust them. Use a conversion to find the right shelf or to read a report from a new school, and expect two systems to place the same book a little differently.

Sources

Lexile to grade level Reading level chart by grade WCPM chart by grade High-frequency words by grade

Try Readigo for a Month →

$9.99/mo or $59.99/yr. Cancel anytime.