A Commonsense Approach to End-of-Grade Reading Assessment: Implications for Differentiated Instruction

Abstract

Abstract This article asserts that a carefully administered informal reading inventory (IRI) provides important information on low-achieving readers that is not provided by an end-of-grade standardized reading test. Using case studies of students’ IRI performance, we address the concept of instructional level and the necessity of teaching low readers at the appropriate difficulty level—“meeting them where they are”—in the classroom and resource room. In doing so, we note that instructional-level (or below-grade-level) reading can, over time, drive low readers’ print-processing skill (accuracy and rate), eventually enabling them, through purposeful practice, to self-improve their overall reading (including comprehension). While such improvement may not show up on an end-of-year standardized test, it will show up on an end-of-year IRI.