Within Oxford Reading Buddy, the Oxford Reading Levels underpin the student’s user experience – across Coaching eBooks, the eBooks Library and quizzes – ensuring they are given the right books to read, asked the right kinds of questions and supported in their reading development at the right pace.

Oxford Reading Levels are Oxford University Press’s method of text-levelling for the Primary phase and are applied consistently across the series. The Oxford Levels are derived from a combination of research-based curriculum and assessment criteria for reading development, advice of expert consultants and many years of experience and school-feedback.

There is, therefore, both a science and an art to developing texts using the Oxford Reading Levels – and it is this combination that helps to create books that students will be able to read and that they will want to read. So, careful consideration is given to the specific words used, the number of words per page, the number and grammatical complexity of sentences and so on; but factors such as page layout, design and illustration and the age or emotional appropriateness of the content are also considered.

The 21 Oxford Reading Levels both reflect and support children’s development as readers through the primary school phase. Progression in a range of reading skills is woven through the Oxford Reading Levels including word reading, vocabulary development, different text structures and grammatical features, exposure to a range of genre and writing styles and, of course, reading comprehension.

Teachers can access clear reports on student achievement and progress (see Performance Reporting), linked to the Oxford Reading Levels, and can trust that the Oxford Levels provide a clear developmental framework for reading.