In a question and answer format, this guide for parents discusses important issues about standardized reading tests, including the following: (1) scoring systems are obscure; (2) grade level equivalency scores are educationally inaccurate and misleading to child and parent; (3) standardized reading tests are meant to compare groups and not to refect an individual's achievement. Five demands parents can make to school officials are: (1) insist that authorities provide parents with information; (2) demand an end to the use of grade equivalency scores; (3) insist that test scores be reported with scrupulous accuracy; (4) insist that schools develop fair and accurate ways of evaluating students' reading skills; and (5) insist that tests be stripped of their mystery and that there be open discussion between school and parents about testing. (JAZ)