Oxford Reading Levels

Oxford Reading Levels is a system used to determine the level of many popular primary reading books from Oxford University Press (OUP). At each Oxford Reading Level, incremental changes to text difficulty based on a range of factors help to support students’ progress in reading.

The Oxford Reading Levels system has been devised over decades with the help of many leading authors, editors, educational experts, and teachers.

Oxford Reading Levels help every student to progress in their reading journey, supporting both their phonic and comprehension skill development.

Oxford Reading Levels are:

• expertly researched and well-established as a system of text levelling

• clearly aligned to Letters and Sounds

• a guide to help match students to books that will be at or slightly above their reading level in order to help them build on their skills at every stage of their reading development.

Oxford Reading Levels range from Level 1 to Level 20, supporting readers from Foundation/ Kindergarten to Year 6. The following chart shows how the levels map to students’ typical progress through primary school, although different students will of course progress at different rates and reach different points at the end of each year.