Making the Most of Informal Reading Inventories: Moving from Purposeful Assessment to Targeted Instruction

Abstract

Purpose – The chapter provides the reader with an overview of the major components of informal reading inventories (IRIs) and how they can be administered to answer specific questions about students’ reading behaviors. The focus then shifts to how IRIs can be used to help teachers target instruction to better meet students’ instructional needs.

Methodology/approach – The authors describe how educators can use the results of IRIs to analyze a student's strengths and areas of need, align those findings with research about six types (clusters) of readers (Valencia & Buly, 2004), and select one or more of the strategies recommended in the chapter to provide instruction related to that student's specific areas of need.

Practical implications – In addition to the numerous instructional recommendations provided for the six clusters of readers, the chapter includes a detailed scenario of how one teacher used the results of an IRI to plan instruction for a struggling reader, a process that could be replicated by educators who read the chapter.

Social implications – The chapter suggests how small groups of educators could work together to determine which of their students to assess with an IRI and, after assessing, to discuss how they will use the results to target instruction for those students.

Citation

Johns, J.L., L’Allier, S.K. and Johns, B. (2012), "Making the Most of Informal Reading Inventories: Moving from Purposeful Assessment to Targeted Instruction", Ortlieb, E. and Cheek, E.H. (Ed.) Using Informative Assessments towards Effective Literacy Instruction (Literacy Research, Practice and Evaluation, Vol. 1), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 39-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2048-0458(2012)0000001005