Crystal HiltsCrystal Hilts

Sped 670Sped 670

Week 9Week 9

Informal Reading Inventory (IRI)

- Can be used in a diagnostic-reading and improvement program.

- Is a diagnostic reading test to help discover a student’s strengths and weaknesses.

- Three questions should guide a teacher in choosing a test.- What do I want to know?- Why do I want to know?- Which test will help me discover this information?

What is an IRI?

• The IRI can be a valuable aid in helping the teacher determine a student’s reading levels and his/her strengths and weaknesses. “It usually consists of oral and silent reading passages selected from basal readers from pre-primer to eighth grade levels.” (P 193 Opitz and Rubin, 2007)

The IRI can help the teacher discover….

• A Child’s functional reading levels

• The specific strategies a child uses when reading

• How well children comprehend

• If children are able to identify words when reading connected text

How to administer the IRI..

First- Word Reading Inventory (WRI):

Have the child start reading a word list that is two levels below their present level.

The child begins oral reading at the highest grade level word list they received no errors in pronunciation.

Third: Silent Reading

Have the child begin silently reading at same level as the oral reading. The child continues through levels until they reach a frustrational level on comprehension questions. ( 50% or less correct)

Second: Oral Reading Have the child read each passage aloud, while

marking errors and answer comprehension questions. The child continues through grade leveled passages until they reach frustrational. ( Unable to pronounce 10% of words/ 50% or less correct on comprehension questions)

Fourth: Listening Capacity

Have the student listen as the teacher reads aloud the next unfamiliar grade level passage and answer questions to determine listening capacity.

What do the scores mean?

- Independent level- the child can: pronounce at least 99% of words in the passage and get 90% of literal and interpretive questions correct.

- Instructional level- the child can:pronounce at least 95% of words and get at least 75% of comprehension questions correct.

What happens when a child scores between independent and

instructional?

• 94-91% pronunciation, 74-51% correct on questions.

• This is called the “buffer zone”, the teacher needs to determine based on specifics of the passage reading and comprehension questions where the student should go.

Findings

• I administered the IRI to a student with a suspected reading delay.

• I found out very quickly through direct observation that the student rushes on oral reading and skips important reading strategies due to rushing.

• This test helped me to understand that the child was relatively good at literal questions but struggled with interpretative questions on all levels.

Findings

• I may not have been able to easily understand that the student was rushing when reading which caused him to skip reading strategies if I had administered a traditional reading comprehension test.

• The IRI enables the person administering it to directly understand the how and why students are delayed in specific reading areas.

Findings

• The IRI is a very time consuming test, but I am sure that the benefits to child outweigh the cost.