Now in a revised and updated fourth edition, this accessible text has given over 100,000 preservice and inservice teachers vital tools for systematic reading assessment in grades K-8. The book explains how to use both formal and informal assessments to evaluate students' strengths and needs in all components of reading. Effective, engaging methods…

This book contains a collection of formal and informal reading assessments for use with students in Grades K-12. These assessments assist the teacher in targeting areas of strength and weakness, in monitoring student reading development, and in planning appropriate instruction. Unlike large-scale achievement tests, the majority of these…

Discusses guidelines for the construction of an informal inventory that focuses on text and reader characteristics and task demands. Gives examples from a sample inventory. Demonstrates how the inventory can be used to plan an instructional program. (RS)

When using an informal reading inventory, the teacher needs to keep in mind that the quality of a reader's miscues is more important than the quantity, and that apparent problems in word recognition may often be the difference between of a good use of context or a failure to make good use of context. (HOD)

Suggests using readability formulas, a skills inventory, an introspective report, and diagnostic approaches based on models of comprehension as informal evaluations of students' content reading ability. (MKM)

Presents two classroom activities designed to get students' questions without stress and to use journals for content area comprehension. Discusses informal reading inventories and the consensus model of reading. (RS)

Reports on available and forthcoming computer software packages for reading assessment, in the areas of informal reading inventories, comprehensive assessment packages for decoding, an open-ended test generation program, diagnostic simulation, and expert systems. Offers ideas for learning about assessment techniques. (SR)

Designed to assist teachers in the placement of students with appropriate reading and instructional materials, this book presents an informal reading inventory intended for use in public or private schools, intervention programs, or clinical settings for student in grades one through nine. The informal reading inventory in the book is traditional…

Presenting the positive role phonics can play in a student's ability to learn to read, this book emphasizes that phonics can be extremely beneficial when it is integrated as a part of a balanced reading program. Based on the author's real-world experience, the book covers the entire range of practical phonics applications for the elementary…

Suggests the use of the Qualitative Analysis System in conjunction with the Informal Reading Inventory to analyze student reading difficulties. Includes instructions and analysis and profile sheets for using the system correctly. (TJ)

Reviews the use of miscue analysis in conjunction with the informal reading inventory and recommends the use of a miscue mini-form to refine the identification of reading levels and error pattern analysis. Includes a copy of the mini-form. (TJ)

Argues that informal assessment is an important bridge between formal assessment and classroom instruction. Notes that one way to keep an informal record of a student's progress is to maintain a portfolio, a collection of student work that reveals both affective and cognitive growth. (RS)

This paper provides information on black English to be used by teachers as they score errors and miscues on the oral part of informal reading inventories. The information is presented in order for teachers to understand items spoken in black English that are equivalents to standard English and that when spoken would indicate understanding of the…

Guidelines for the selection and use of commercially prepared informal reading inventories (IRIs) with deaf students are offered. Modifications for deaf students pertain to: selection of the passage to begin testing, the criteria for oral and silent reading levels, and procedures for estimating students' readng potential levels. (SW)

Six informal diagnostic procedures are outlined to assist teachers in assessing how well their students may be able to read assigned readings. The procedures are observation, simplified reading inventory, cloze procedure, informal reading inventory, group reading inventory, and criterion-referenced tests. (MKM)