FOUR DECADES OF INFORMAL READING INVENTORIES.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	FOUR DECADES OF INFORMAL READING INVENTORIES.
Authors:	Russell, Carolyn¹
Source:	Review of Higher Education & Self-Learning. Fall2013, Vol. 6 Issue 22, p1-21. 21p.
Subject Terms:	Informal reading inventories, Reading ability testing, Reading comprehension, Grading of students, *Books & reading
Abstract:	During the past few decades an extraordinary amount of public attention has been given to controversies regarding how reading is being taught, is not being taught, or how it should be taught and how it can be assessed. Commercial reading programs provide teachers with materials on a variety of reading levels for use in the classroom. The materials allow teachers to match the reading levels of students to the appropriate reading books. Within a typical classroom the reading ability of the students will range from below grade level to above grade level. In order to accurately select books that are on a student's reading level, a teacher must assess the student's reading skills. Emmett Betts (1936) developed a simple technique for using graded reading books to evaluate children's reading levels. The technique, which he called an "Informal Reading Inventory," involves selecting a short passage from grade level readers several grade levels below and above the student's grade level. Next, several comprehension questions are written for each passage. The student is to read passages on different readability levels and answer the questions about the passages. Results of the oral reading and the comprehension questions are analyzed to determine the student's reading level. Betts used the term "instructional level" to refer to the grade level at which a student reads with 95 percent or better oral reading accuracy and 75 percent or higher comprehension accuracy. The child's independent level, according to Betts, is the grade level passage at which oral reading accuracy is 99 percent or higher and comprehension is 90 percent or higher. The frustration level refers to a graded passage that is read with less than 90 percent oral reading accuracy and the student's comprehension drops below 50 percent. A great deal has been learned about the nature of the reading process since Betts first introduced his formula over seventy years ago. His procedure for determining a student's reading level has been used in many commercial informal reading inventories and has evolved as a result of ongoing research in the areas of reading and assessment. Improvement in the assessment of reading will continue as educators continue to conduct research related to reading and reading assessment. This review of the literature addresses the development of the Informal Reading Inventory during the past forty years. One area of particular interest is the concern authorities have expressed for the comprehension questions used in IRIs. One major flaw occurs when a student can answer a question correctly without reading the passage on which that question was based. In other words, questions are effective only if they can be answered correctly when the student has read the passage. Such questions are referred to as "passage dependent." The more passage dependent a question is, the better that item is as a true measure of comprehension. A student's comprehension cannot be accurately determined if an item can be answered correctly by guessing or as a result of prior knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
Abstract:	During the past few decades an extraordinary amount of public attention has been given to controversies regarding how reading is being taught, is not being taught, or how it should be taught and how it can be assessed. Commercial reading programs provide teachers with materials on a variety of reading levels for use in the classroom. The materials allow teachers to match the reading levels of students to the appropriate reading books. Within a typical classroom the reading ability of the students will range from below grade level to above grade level. In order to accurately select books that are on a student's reading level, a teacher must assess the student's reading skills. Emmett Betts (1936) developed a simple technique for using graded reading books to evaluate children's reading levels. The technique, which he called an "Informal Reading Inventory," involves selecting a short passage from grade level readers several grade levels below and above the student's grade level. Next, several comprehension questions are written for each passage. The student is to read passages on different readability levels and answer the questions about the passages. Results of the oral reading and the comprehension questions are analyzed to determine the student's reading level. Betts used the term "instructional level" to refer to the grade level at which a student reads with 95 percent or better oral reading accuracy and 75 percent or higher comprehension accuracy. The child's independent level, according to Betts, is the grade level passage at which oral reading accuracy is 99 percent or higher and comprehension is 90 percent or higher. The frustration level refers to a graded passage that is read with less than 90 percent oral reading accuracy and the student's comprehension drops below 50 percent. A great deal has been learned about the nature of the reading process since Betts first introduced his formula over seventy years ago. His procedure for determining a student's reading level has been used in many commercial informal reading inventories and has evolved as a result of ongoing research in the areas of reading and assessment. Improvement in the assessment of reading will continue as educators continue to conduct research related to reading and reading assessment. This review of the literature addresses the development of the Informal Reading Inventory during the past forty years. One area of particular interest is the concern authorities have expressed for the comprehension questions used in IRIs. One major flaw occurs when a student can answer a question correctly without reading the passage on which that question was based. In other words, questions are effective only if they can be answered correctly when the student has read the passage. Such questions are referred to as "passage dependent." The more passage dependent a question is, the better that item is as a true measure of comprehension. A student's comprehension cannot be accurately determined if an item can be answered correctly by guessing or as a result of prior knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	19409494