Informal classroom assessments remain essential tools for improving the instruction of students, even in an age of accountability testing. This article focuses specifically on Informal Reading Inventories (IRIs). Even though the growing number of commercially available IRIs has made choosing the ones most suitable for students' and teachers' needs…

Levels of comprehension skills in the reading of literary works are identified and represented in a set of questions comprising an informal reading inventory. Literal and inferential levels of comprehension are explained, and ground rules for developing a set of inventory questions are presented for use. (DF)