How do I set a reading baseline for my class?
Step by step · Updated
A reading baseline is a small weekly or monthly reading goal for every student, such as 100 pages a week. It's a floor that builds a reading habit, not a stretch. For stretch goals, use a reading challenge.
Set or change the baseline
- On your class Home, under Motivate reading, click the Weekly goal card (Monthly goal for a monthly baseline). The Reading baseline link under Validate reading goes to the same page.
- On the Reading Baseline page, click Set a baseline (or Edit baseline once you have one).
- Choose the Interval: Weekly or Monthly.
- For a weekly baseline, choose the day the Week begins on. It starts on Monday.
- Under Track, choose Pages read or Books read, then enter the Quantity.
- Click Add (or Save if you're changing a baseline).
To turn the baseline off, click Edit baseline, then Remove goal.
Give a student their own weekly goal
With a weekly pages baseline, the Reading Baseline page has a Weekly goal column. Each student is on the class goal until you give them their own.
- Click a student's goal (such as 100 pages · class), enter their Pages a week, and click Save. To put them back on the class goal, click their goal, then Use the class goal.
- Or click a suggestion, such as Suggested 80 · usual 70, to use it.
- To use every suggestion at once, click Apply N suggested goals. Back to the class goal for everyone clears every student's own goal.
A suggestion is the student's usual week (the middle of their last 4 weeks) plus 10%. It's counted in words, then turned into pages of the book they're reading, so a denser book asks for fewer pages. A student with under 3 weeks of reading gets a typical reading speed for the grade, two hours a week. A student with neither, or whose books have no word count, gets no suggestion.
The student sees their own goal on their dashboard. Their tile, panel and dots measure against it, every week on the timeline included.
Only the class owner and co-teachers with Admin access can change the baseline. A monthly baseline runs by calendar month.
What counts
| Track | What counts toward the week or month |
|---|---|
| Pages read | Pages recorded on those days: progress updates, finished books and reading sessions |
| Books read | Books finished on those days, plus the books in reading sessions |
- Reading counts on the date it was recorded for.
- All recorded reading counts, including books still waiting for a quiz or your certification.
- Minutes can't be tracked here. To track minutes, use a reading challenge.
Where progress shows
| Where | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Weekly goal card on Home | The baseline, and how many students have met it so far this week (or month) |
| Student tiles on Home | A dark green tile means the student has Met their goal |
| A student's panel (click their tile or name) | Their percent of the goal beside this week's pages |
| Reading Baseline page | Your baseline, how many students are at it (or their own goal) this week (or month), and every student, every week or month from your class's start date to its end date |
| The student's dashboard, and their page in your class | A Weekly Goal (or Monthly Goal) progress bar on their profile card |
On the Reading Baseline page:
- Each dot is one week (or month). A green check means the student met the baseline. Smaller red, yellow and blue dots mean they got part of the way (0–33%, 34–66% and 67–99%). Today's week is highlighted.
- Show data as switches between dots and numbers (the percent of the baseline reached).
- Avg is the share of weeks each student met the baseline. The current week counts once they meet it, so an unfinished week never pulls the average down.
- Class Average is the share of students who met it, for each week and for the class overall.
Print the baseline
On the Reading Baseline page, click Print at the top right of the Reading Baseline Timeline. It prints your baseline, how many students are at it this week (or month), and every student's row for the weeks so far, landscape and fit to the width of the page, with a key and a note on what Avg and Class Average mean. Weeks that haven't started are left off. Each week is a circle filled to the share of the baseline the student reached, with a check once they met it, so it reads on a black-and-white printer too. It prints circles or numbers, whichever Show data as is set to. Your browser's own print (Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac) prints the same page.
A new class starts with a baseline of 100 pages a week. A class without one (an older class, say) shows a sample ring for 100 pages on the Weekly goal card on Home and suggests setting one, and the Reading Baseline page says No baseline yet and draws its timeline for 100 pages a week. The tiles, the panel and the students' progress bars count toward a goal once you set one.
Ask Marian: "Set a goal of 100 pages a week" or "2 books a month". She shows you the baseline on a card, and saves it when you click Approve.
Still stuck?
Email us or book a call. A person on the Bookroo team will help.