Why are there no K-2 grade level benchmarks/progress monitoring probes for the Basic Reading assessments?

The Basic Reading assessments, shorter comprehension passages with associated questions for students, are indeed available for Grades 3-8 only.

This is because empirical research shows that early (e.g., letter naming, letter sounding, phonemic identification/segmentation) and emergent (e.g., word reading, passage reading) literacy skills are developmentally critical for students in Grades (pre)K-2, versus the higher order skills of comprehension.  In everyday-speak, it’s the difference between “learning to read” (Grades K-2) and “reading to learn” (Grades 3+).

While we would expect that in-classroom activities, those led by the teacher, would start addressing comprehension skills over Grades K-2 (e.g., listening comprehension —  students’ ability to read/listen to a passage and then answer questions asked aloud by their teacher), formal benchmark screening and progress-monitoring assessment of higher order reading comprehension skills are more critical/appropriate for older students in Grade 3+.