Despite the important role of strategies in language learning, they have not been afforded much attention in the development of language proficiency scales. This study, situated in a nationwide project of developing China's Standards of English language ability, presents in detail the development of a reading strategic competence scale for Chinese tertiary EFL learners, including determining the descriptive scheme, establishing the descriptor pool, constructing a preliminary scale by panel experts, and validating the calibration by Rasch Model scaling. According to the study, reading strategies are hierarchical in difficulty levels, and two levels can be set for Chinese tertiary EFL learners. A very clear progression is visible in the content of the final scale. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications for teachers and learners to use the scale are discussed.