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Frequently Asked Questions
I marked a word "Yes" by mistake. How do I fix it?
Just change the dropdown back to "No" or "N/A". You can manually delete the Date in Column C if you wish, but it's not strictly necessary.
Can I rename the student tabs?
Yes! The Dashboard identifies students by their tab name. Feel free to use First Names, Initials, or ID numbers.
Why isn't the Dashboard updating instantly when I click a checkbox?
To keep your sheet running fast, the Dashboard is not "live." You must click Update Progress Report whenever you want to see the latest summary.
Welcome to ReadRise! This tool transforms Google Sheets™ into a powerful progress monitoring system. It automates the tracking of Fry High-Frequency Words (Lists 1–10), generates personalized flashcards, calculates student grade levels, and displays and projects progress for you.
Getting Started
ReadRise lives inside your Google Sheet as an "Editor Add-on."
Open a new or existing Google Sheet.
Navigate to Extensions > ReadRise Flashcards > Show Sidebar.
The sidebar will appear on the right, giving you quick access to the tool’s features.
Using the Sidebar
The sidebar has several functions:
Import a new student
Generate flashcards for a single student
Batch create flashcards for all students
Update the quick view Teacher Dashboard
Open the Analytics window to view progress and charts
Setting Up Student Sheets
Don't type out word lists manually! ReadRise imports them for you.
Select Import Template from either the Extensions menu or the Sidebar.
A box will appear asking which Fry Lists you need.
Example: Type 1 for the first 100 words.
Example: Type 1-3 for the first 300 words (Lists 1, 2, and 3), or 1-10 for all 1,000.
Click OK.
A new tab will be created. Rename this tab to the student’s name.
**Best Practice** If you do not know how far your students might progress, import all 10 lists. Once you specify a list and import it, the list cannot be added to with successive lists by the script.
Adding New Student.movTracking Progress and Generating Flashcards
Use the Student Sheet during your assessment sessions.
Column A (Sight Word): The word being tested.
Column B (Mastered?): Use the dropdown menu.
YES: The student reads the word correctly. The date in Column C will automatically update to today's date.
NO: The student missed the word.
n/a: You haven't assessed this word yet.
Column C (Hidden): The system tracks a "Struggle Count" in the background. Every time you update the dashboard and a word is left unmastered (not flipped from "No" to "Yes", the count iterates up.
💡 Pro Tip: Do not delete rows to remove words. Just leave them as "n/a" if you aren't testing them yet.
Tracking Progress.movGenerating Flashcards
Stop cutting out generic decks of 100 cards. ReadRise generates flashcards ONLY for the words the student doesn't know.
For One Student:
Open the student's tab.
Click Show Sidebar > Print Flashcards.
A window will pop up with a printable PDF of only the words marked "NO".
Each card will display the selected student's name at the top left.
For the Whole Class:
Click Show Sidebar > Print Class Set.
The system creates a continuous PDF labeled by student name. The script will insert a blank page between decks so you can print double-sided without printing two students back to back.
Use Case: Print this on Monday morning, cut them out, and hand every student their personalized "Practice Stack" for the week.
The Teacher Dashboard: How to Use It Effectively
Unlike a standard spreadsheet formula, the ReadRise Teacher Dashboard is a report generator. It takes a snapshot of your entire class at that exact moment.
How to Run a Report
Select Update Progress Report from the extensions menu or Update Dashboard from the Sidebar.
A Student Selector window will pop up. Choose the students for whom you wish to update progress.
Data Safeguard: This is a safety feature, of sorts. ReadRise automatically detects today's entry and updates it, preventing duplicate data points, while the Student Selector lets you safely update just one small group at a time without affecting the rest of the class.
The script will scan every student tab in your spreadsheet.
It creates (or updates) a green tab called Teacher Dashboard.
Understanding the Data
The Teacher Dashboard gives you a bird's-eye view of the class:
Total Words: How many words are on that student's list.
Words Mastered: Total number of "Yes" marks.
% Complete: Great for IEP progress notes (e.g., "Student has mastered 85% of Fry List 1").
Est. Grade Level: Based on the number of words mastered (e.g., >100 words = 1st Grade level). Note: grade level alignments are estimates, not hard and fast rules.
For rich charts and progress projections, see the section below for Analytics.
Best Practices for the Dashboard
To get the most out of this feature, follow this workflow:
Run it Regularly: Click "Update Progress Report" every time you change the Mastered dropdowns. I do this daily. The script will track historical data and create an intelligent 30 day projection, so the more data it has to use, the better the projections will be. Projections are informational only, and not guaranteed.
The "Struggle Index": Look at Column D on the Teacher Dashboard.
This number represents the total "difficulty load" for that student.
High Number? The student is attempting words but missing them frequently. They may be frustrated. Consider reducing the number of new words introduced.
Low Number? The student is mastering words on the first try. You can likely accelerate their pace.
Check the "Data Log":
Every time you update the report, ReadRise archives the data in a hidden tab called Data Log.
Unhide this tab to see a historical record. This is perfect for showing Rate of Improvement (ROI) during IEP meetings (e.g., "On Sept 1st, John knew 20 words. On Oct 1st, he knew 45."). Note: altering the data in this tab could impact the trendlines and projections in the Analytics chart. Alter at your own risk.
Class Analytics
This is the most powerful feature of ReadRise.
Click Show Sidebar > Show Analytics.
Progress Over Time: Shows a line graph of how many words your students are mastering week over week (pulls from the Data Log).
Hardest Words: Shows a histogram of the words the entire class is struggling with most. Use this to plan whole-group instruction!
Select an individual student from the dropdown at the top. The script will display the same data, but individualized by student. Plan your interventions with this, or use it at data meetings.
Screen Recording 2026-01-03 at 8.53.45 AM.movReading the Charts
The Analytics window differs from the Teacher Dashboard in many important ways. The data here is richer, and is translated into easy-to-read layouts with beautiful charts.
Total Mastery: The total number of words a student has mastered. This displays only words flipped to "yes", not anything left "n/a".
Struggle Index: ReadRise updates a hidden column in each student sheet each time the Update Dashboard function is run. If a word that was set to "no" remains in the "no" position when the dashboard is updated again, the counter will increment up. This Struggle Index is a fantastic indicator of a student's ease of learning. If it is high, they require additional practice, and will likely need more time with assigned words than peers. The Struggle Index should be as low as possible. Struggle Index is represented on the chart as the red dashed line.
Est. Grade Level: The approximate grade level alignment of the number of words mastered. These are approximations, and are not intended to be a "reading level."
Projections (30 Days): ReadRise uses an advanced algorithm to understand past learning behavior, stored in the Data Log, and project a theoretical learning curve 30 days ahead. Projections are for informational use only, and are not intended to be guarantees of performance. The Projection line is represented on the chart by the dashed blue line.
Most Difficult Words
ReadRise uses the struggle count in column C (hidden by default) of each student sheet to draw a histogram of the most difficult words for each student, and aggregates it on a class level.
As the words in the Fry lists are not purely "sight" words, this histogram is incredibly useful for planning targeted phonics interventions.
example: I notice a student struggled with the words with, they, and this, I could plan a mini lesson, or series of lessons on the voiced and unvoiced sounds and positions of the th digraph.
Learning Velocity
Learning Velocity: A time-series analysis that isolates new learning per week or month. It highlights trends in learning momentum, helping you identify plateaus, inconsistent progress, or the immediate impact of instructional changes.
You can select to view by month or by week.
The Learning Velocity histogram is an incredibly powerful indicator when paired with the Mastery Projection (30 Day) chart.
This chart reveals the consistency of learning. It immediately answers: "Did the student have a bad week, or has their learning pace completely flatlined since October?" It is the only way to spot burnout or plateauing before it ruins an IEP goal.
Because the chart is buckets by week/month, you can map it against school events.
If Learning Velocity dropped to zero in December, it aligns with winter break. It could also align with individual changes too, such as a student's change in medication or a change in the home.
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