I would begin documenting their performance when read aloud and when read independently. I would also speak with the RTI coordinator at my school to see a 504 plan could be put in place for these students so that all assessments are read to them as one of their accommodations.

What reading assessment did you utilize to check their reading level? I would recommend working with the Reading/ELA teacher to ensure that your results on the reading level match. The next step would be to incorporate the actual test language in your class assignments. This would help students to get acclimatized with the vocabulary. Another great website that I utilize for vocabulary mastery is Quizlet. This is available for all grade levels and the student can digitally practice and learn vocabulary and their definitions. This would definitely help students when reading vocabulary words during tests and quizzes.

You might want to see if a 504 and IEP are in place and follow procedure after. Making sure you note those things as well.

Students may be failing the tests because the passages and questions are on a 3rd grade level. You may be using questions on their level orally. You should attempt to modify the test to ensure that it is on their level. The text on the test may be too complex for their understanding which would explain them not doing well.

Since students are understanding the questions when given orally, I would give the test orally. Before the assessment I would go over the questions that would be asked during the lesson and explain what each question means.