2. Crystal Hilts Sped 670 Week 9

3. 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?

4. 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)

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

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