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Overview of Informal Reading Assessments

All Assessments Should be Given One-on-One

Reading component What it measures Examples of assessment Age or grade When should component
measured questions typically mastered be assessed?

Letter/Sound
(Alphabet) Ability to recognize letters and Show a student one letter at a time • Many students enter Assess letter/sound
Recognition sounds and ask: Kindergarten with the recognition three times a
ability to recognize letters year. At the beginning,
“Can you tell me what letter this is? middle and end of
(Record response) • Few students recognize Kindergarten.
letter sounds
“Can you tell me the sound it
makes?” • Both are taught in
(Record response) Kindergarten

Concepts of Print
Assessment Understanding:
• That print has meaning
• That print can be used for
difference purposes
• The relationship between
print and speech
Give student a book and ask the Some students enter Assess concepts of print
following questions: Kindergarten with an twice per year. At the
“Can you show me ?” understanding o print beginning and mid-year
concepts, but other students during Kindergarten.
• A letter must receive instruction in
this area
• A word
• A sentence

• There is a difference • A space

between letters and
words • Point to the end of the

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Reading component What it measures Examples of assessment Age or grade When should component
measured questions typically mastered be assessed?

• That words are separated sentence (punctuation

by spaces mark)

• That there is a difference • The front of the book

between words and
sentences

• That there are • The back of the book

(punctuation) marks that
signal the end of a • Where I should start
sentence reading this story

• That books have parts • How should I hold this

such as a front and back book
cover, title page, and
spine • Show me the title of the
book
• That stories have a
beginning, middle and • How many words are in
end this sentence

• That text is read from left

to right and from top to
bottom

Phonological Awareness
Assessment

1. Recognizes a word in
a sentence Ability to segment a sentence “How many words are in this Age 3 Assess 3 times per year. At
sentence?” I am happy. the beginning, middle and
(Response: 3) end of Grade K.

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Reading component What it measures Examples of assessment Age or grade When should component
measured questions typically mastered be assessed?

2. Recognizes a rhyme
Ability to identify words that have “Do these words rhyme?” Big, Fig Age 4 Assess 3 times per year. At
the same endine sound (Response: yes) the beginning, middle and
“What about Key, Tree?” end of Grade K.
(Response: yes)

3. Recognizes a syllable
Ability to separate or blend words Syllable Blending: “I am going to Age 4 Assess 3 times per year. At
the way that they are pronounced say a word in parts. the beginning, mid-year and
Listen: o. ...pen end of Grade K.
What word did I say?”
(response: open)

Syllable Segmentation: Kindergarten Assess 3 times per year. At

“Can you tell me the two word the beginning, middle and
parts in open?” end of Grade K.
(response: o. .. pen)

Syllable Deletion: Kindergarten Assess 3 times per year. At

“Say open without the —pen” the beginning, middle and
(response: o) end of Grade K.

4. Understands onset-
rime Ability to blend the first sound in “What word do these sounds The middle of Kindergarten Assess 3 times per year. At
the word (onset) and the rest of make? /s/---/ee/” the beginning, middle and
the word (rime) (Response: see) end of Grade K.

“How about: /h/ --- /op/?”

(Response: hop)
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Reading component What it measures Examples of assessment Age or grade When should component
measured questions typically mastered be assessed?

Phonemic Awareness Phonemic awareness

Assessment assessments should be
performed three times a
year Grades K, 1, and 2

1. Phoneme Matching
Ability to identify words that begin “Which words start with the same The middle of Kindergarten Phonemic awareness
with the same sound sound: man, sat, sip? assessments should be
(Response: sat, sip) performed three times a
year Grades K, 1, and 2

2. Phoneme Isolation
Ability to isolate a single sound Phoneme Isolation: Initial (first) The middle of Kindergarten Phonemic awareness
from within a word Sound: assessments should be
“What’s the first sound in sat?” performed three times
(Response: /s/) year Grades K, 1, and 2

Phoneme Isolation Final (Last) Late Kindergarten or Early in Phonemic awareness

Sound: Grade 1 assessments should be
“What’s the last sound in sat?” performed three times a
(Response: /t/) year Grades K, 1, and 2

Phoneme Isolation Medial Late Kindergarten or Early in Phonemic awareness

(Middle) Sound: Grade 1 assessments should be
“What’s the middIe sound in sat?” performed three times a
(Response: /a/) year Grades K, 1, and 2

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Reading component What it measures Examples of assessment Age or grade When should component
measured questions typically mastered be assessed?

3. Phoneme Blending Ability to blend individual sounds “What word do these sounds make Late Kindergarten or Early in Phonemic awareness
into a word /h/-/o/-/t/?” Grade 1 assessments should be
(Response: hot) performed three times a
year Grades K, 1, and 2

4. Phoneme
Segmentation Ability to break a word into “What sounds do you hear in the Grade 1 Phonemic awareness
individual sounds word hot?” assessments should be
(Response : /h/-/o/-/tfi performed three times
“Let’s try another one.” year Grades K, 1, and 2
“How many sounds do you hear in
hot?”
(Response: 3)

5. Phoneme Ability to modify, change, or move Phoneme Manipulation: Initial Grade 1 Phonemic awareness
Manipulation the individual sounds in a word (first) Sound: assessments should be
“Say mat without the /m/ sound.” performed three times
(Response: at) year Grades K, 1, and 2

Phoneme Manipulation: Final (last) Grade 1 Phonemic awareness

Sound: assessments should be
“Say date without the /t/ sound.” performed three times a
(Response: day) year Grades K, 1, and 2

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Reading component What it measures Examples of assessment Age or grade When should component
measured questions typically mastered be assessed?

Phoneme Manipulation Middle to End of Grade 1- Phonemic awareness

Substitution: Grade 2 assessments should be
“Say pig.” performed three times a
(Response: Pig) year Grades K, 1, and 2
Now change the /p/ in pig to /f/
(Response: Fig)

Informal Reading
Inventory • Grade level reading Teacher chooses a grade level The Informal Reading
(also known as) passage for student to read. As Inventory is an on-going
• Fluency child is reading teacher completes: assessment, and should be
Qualitative Reading
completed several times
Inventory
• Comprehension • A running record throughout the child's
1'* — 12*h schooling. In kindergarten,
• Vocabulary • A measure of fluency rate perform the Informal
Reading Inventory twice per
• Oral reading accuracy • After student reads, teacher year, at mid-year and at the
checks for understanding end of school. In first and
through explicit and implicit second grades, it should be
questions. done three times, at the
beginning of the school
year, at mid-year, and at the
end of the year. If a child is
struggling, the inventory
should be done more often
in order to have an accurate
picture of the child's
progress.

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Reading component What it measures
measured
Reading Accuracy
Oral reading accuracy (provides
insight into the student’s ability to
decode unfamiliar words)
Reading Fluency
How many words a child reads
correctly in one minute
Word Recognition
Sight word vocabulary at a given
grade level
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Examples of assessment
questions
Teacher chooses a passage for a
child to read. Child reads aloud.
As a child reads aloud teacher takes
notes on words read correctly and
incorrectly.
Teacher assigns an appropriate
reading passage for student to read
aloud.
Teacher completes a running
record (taking note of words read
correctly and incorrectly). Teacher
completes this running record for
one minute.
Teacher asks child to read from a
list of words
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Age or grade When should component
typically mastered be assessed?
Running records should be
assessed several times
throughout the year to help
1" — 3rd in teaching further
strategies for students
Fluency assessments should
be completed throughout
the year
1°' — 3rd
Kindergarten —2nd Three times during the year
in grades Kindergarten — 2nd
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Phonic Elements Phonic elements at a given grade “What sound do the letters ‘sh’ 1st - 3rd Several times
level make?” throughout the year to
(Response: /shfi help guide instruction

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