What steps might be taken to get the most benefit from an informal reading inventory?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Some steps in an informal reading inventory (IRI) include the following:
1 Explain the inventory to the student before administering it.
2 Use a word-list test to determine the appropriate level to start. Prompt the student when a mistake is made and recheck erroneous responses to determine whether misread words were truly indicative of a lack of decoding or recognition skills.
3 Measure the student at four levels of reading—independent, instructional, frustration, and listening capacity.
4 Have the student read an oral selection and silent selection, at appropriate grade level, to determine placement level.
5 Use the 95 to 98 percent word-recognition standard, and not lower percentages, when rating the student, because students do best when they can read at least 95 to 98 percent of the words, according to research.
6 To assess fluency, use timing from the instructional level, not the frustration level.
7 Interpret results by finding patterns in word-recognition and comprehension, as well as overall strengths and weaknesses. Analyze the word-recognition errors, or miscues, with a modified miscue analysis.
8 To be most effective, interpret results in order to understand student language skills, work habits, interests, and personal development.
9 To save time, give a shortened version of the IRI using the word-list test but only the oral passages of the inventory. But consider these results as tentative, and validate them with observation and other assessments.