At school, Salem, (pseudonym) was below his reading level but above his writing level according to his teacher. At home, his father perceived Salem as a proficient reader capable of working independently. From the author's point-of-view, Salem needed to revalue himself as a reader through understanding that his miscues are an attempt to construct…

Informal inventories emphasize observing a child's behavior and performance in order to draw inferences about factors affecting his achievement in all areas. Suggestions are given for some uses of informal inventories, teacher-designed measures, and adaptations of such tests as the Minnesota Rate of Manipulation Test and the Gray's Oral Reading…

The article reviews validity and reliability studies on the informal reading inventory, a diagnostic instrument to identify reading grade-level placement and strengths and weaknesses in work recognition and comprehension. Gives suggestions to improve the validity and reliability of existing inventories and to evaluate them in newly published…

Suggests that informal word analysis inventories be used to determine a pupil's skill mastery level and, because of the flexibility of informal tests, that they are perhaps superior to standardized measures. (TO)

Criticizes a study of the reliability and validity of curriculum-based reading inventories by L. S. Fuchs, D. Fuchs, and S. L. Deno and raises questions regarding the study's internal and external validity. (AEA)

Provides a critical and comparative analysis of the major commercially produced informal reading inventories. Offers recommendations for those who are considering purchasing or using one of the inventories. (FL)

Reports findings of a study that compared the scores on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests with information from an informal reading inventory, from the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scales, and from the Slosson Oral Reading Test. (FL)

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)

This study indicated that a reader should be allowed to reread or reinspect the passage before answering comprehension questions, suggesting that testing children with informal reading inventories seems to be more a test of memory than of reading comprehension. (HOD)

Presents an interview with Jerry L. Johns. Discusses topics related to reading assessment, standardized tests and test-wiseness, the format and content of reading assessment measures, informal reading inventories, and portfolio assessment. (RS)

Investigates the importance of using student interviews in the development of Chapter 1 diagnostic reading profiles. Finds that the type of information most often recorded in the existing reading profiles was from standardized measures. Finds that teachers and students were able to state unique and pertinent information. (RS)

Notes that children's views of themselves as readers and the reading strategies they develop are rarely considered in reading assessment. Emphasizes that, through observations, interviews, and instructional techniques, teachers can broaden evaluations to include student perceptions, thereby gaining a greater understanding of students, and giving…

Presents annotations from the ERIC database of eight journal articles, books, and conference papers (published between 1991 and 1995) on the issue of informal and classroom assessment. Notes that the annotations offer a wide variety of ideas and suggestions to help teachers carry out informal assessment in their classrooms. (RS)

A study was conducted to determine the effect of using a space test (marking word boundaries, a task involving setting aside words from the context of a sentence) as a measure of reading ability. Subjects in the study were 138 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students. The students were randomly divided into two groups so that one group completed…

This study was designed to investigate further the validity of using a space test (marking word boundaries, a task involving setting aside words from the context of a sentence) as a measure of reading comprehension. Specifically, the purposes of this investigation were to compare student performance on a space test to their performance on a cloze…