Responding to recent challenges to Clay's Running Records (2019) and their analysis using a three-cueing system, the author examines this reading assessment from an additive perspective of both bottom-up and top-down orientations of reading instruction. Endorsing their inclusion among classroom reading assessments, the author navigates the tension between the two orientations by examining signposts of both that can be found in Running Records. In the discussion, I include a corresponding framework to assist teachers' interpretation and instructional planning for strategic actions, including searching for, using, and cross-checking various sources of information; solving words; monitoring; self-correcting; and maintaining fluency. When applied formatively, Running Records may be an assistive component in classroom reading assessment, yielding instruction targeting automaticity decoding and deeper comprehension.