S E C T I O N T W O

Instructions for Use

This section answers such questions as:

• How is the inventory administered?

• How is the inventory scored and interpreted?

• What are some frequently asked questions about the IR1?

This section also provides two case studies in scoringand interpretation: one interwoven into the explanationof the administration, scoring, and interpretation of theinventory and one in a separate part of the section.

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How Is the InventoryAdministered?

• Overview of Basic Procedures

Figure 2-1 provides an overview of the proce-dures that are followed when a complete inven-tory is administered.

As this figure shows, the administrator of theassessment must first set the stage for the testing,including choosing an appropriate location andestablishing rapport; then decide upon a startinglevel for administration of the inventory, usingthe Graded Word Lists or another method; ad-minister the Graded Passages, alternating oral andsilent passages (or the reverse), asking comprehen-sion questions about each passage administereduntil independent reading, instructional reading,and frustration levels have been located; readhigher-level passages to the student and ask ac-companying comprehension questions until thelistening comprehension level has been located;analyze the findings; and interpret the resultsqualitatively and quantitatively to help make in-structional decisions. If the administrator hasprior knowledge of a level at which the student is

FIGURE 2-1 Basic Procedures

Set the stage for the testing(choose appropriate location, establish rapport,

inform the student about procedures).

Administer Graded Word Lists for placement(or choose starting passage in some

other manner).

Administer Graded Passages(alternating oral and silent passages, starting with

either oral or silent, depending upon thestudent), including comprehension questions for

each passage to discover independent,instructional, and frustration levels.

Administer listening passagesto determine listening comprehension level.

Analyze the findings.

Interpret the results(qualitatively and quantitatively).

13

likely to meet with success, which is likely if theadministrator is the classroom teacher, he or shemay dispense with administration of the wordlists unless a measure of word knowledge in isola-tion is desired. If any administrator feels thatthere is insufficient time available to administerboth the word lists and the graded passages, he orshe may simply start administration of the pas-sages at the level two grades below the student'sgrade placement. This placement procedure hasnot consistently proven to be as accurate as use ofthe word lists, in the author's personal experi-ence, but both procedures are only approxima-tions. Therefore, if the administrator is willing toadjust the passage administration downward ifthe initial passage is too difficult, starting twograde levels below the grade placement is a feasi-ble procedure, and it sometimes does save a sig-nificant amount of time.

Setting the Stage

The place used for testing should be quiet andfree from distractions. A child who can see otherchildren running around on the playground whilehe or she is being tested is unlikely to give the ex-aminer undivided attention.

In each testing situation, time should be pro-vided for establishing rapport before the assess-ment starts, if the administrator has not alreadyestablished rapport with the student. Students re-spond best if they are at ease.

The student should be informed that the ad-ministrator will be taking notes; even so, all note-taking should be done unobtrusively. Some ad-ministrators have found it effective to tapestudents' test performances, replaying them laterto note the word recognition miscues and com-prehension errors. If the session is taped, therewill be less need for the administrator to writewhile the student is reading. Furthermore, replay-ing the tape as needed when the analysis of errorsis done will increase the accuracy of recordingand interpretation.

If the session is to be taped, the administratorshould spend some time desensitizing the studentto the presence of the recorder. For example, theteacher might tape the student reading a para-graph or two unrelated to the test and have himor her listen to the playback. The student alsoshould be told the purpose of the taping andshould indicate a willingness to be taped. Tapingcan make some students nervous enough to affectthe test results.

It is a good idea to laminate both the studentversions of the word lists and passages (so that

they can be used a great many times) and theteacher passages (to facilitate note-taking, clean-ing, and reusing). The lists and passages may bereproduced for classroom or clinic use, but theymay not be reproduced in any form for any otherpurpose without written permission from thecopyright owner.

3 Graded Word Lists

The general procedure for administering the wordlists is shown in Figure 2-2. For students whohave had little reading experience, individualwords printed on index cards may be used insteadof the complete twenty-word lists as they appearin this book. The words should be printed in goodmanuscript handwriting in black ink, and thecards should be numbered and arranged in thesame order as the words on the test sheet. The ex-aminer will have a copy of the test sheet onwhich to keep a record of words missed. Whenthe test sheet is used, the student should have acardboard marker to place under each word as heor she proceeds down the page. Both the pupiland the examiner should have copies of the testsheet. (The teacher's copies may be duplicated forthis purpose.)

Administration of Graded Word Listsfor Placement

Begin by presenting the student with the word listthat is two years below his or her gradeplacement level (grade level in school).

Tell the student to read each word.

Mark correct responses and miscues for each word.

Drop to an easier list if there are any miscues onthis list, and continue to drop to easier lists until one

on which the student makes no errors is located.

Continue to the next higher list until a list is foundon which the student makes at least one error.

Stop after administration of the list on which oneor more errors is found.

The highest level list on which the student had noerrors is the placement level, the level at which theadministration of graded passages should begin.

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14 » SECTION TWO » INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

When administering the word list portion ofthe test, the examiner should follow these steps:

1. Tell the student to read each word, even if itis a difficult one. If the correct response isgiven, the examiner should draw a linethrough the word on his or her test sheet (orplace a checkmark on the line beside theword, if that seems easier).

2. If the student mispronounces a word anddoes not correct the pronunciation, the ex-aminer should record the child's miscue onthe test sheet and should not give credit.

3. If the pupil mispronounces a word but thencorrects it before going on, the examinershould record the miscue on the test sheetand write a C in front of the word to indicatethat the miscue was corrected. Credit is givenfor this word.

4. If the student mispronounces a word andgives more than one mistaken word beforegetting the correct pronunciation, no creditshould be given. The examiner should recordall erroneous responses for later analysis.

5. If the student makes no effort on a word forten seconds, the examiner should point to orpresent the next word. "Don't know" shouldbe written on the test sheet, and no creditshould be given.

6. The student's score is the number of wordslined through (or checkmarked) or markedwith a C.

The teacher should start administering the testwith a list that is at least two years below the stu-dent's grade placement level. If the student mis-pronounces and does not correct any words onthe initial list, the teacher should drop to easierlists until no errors are made. The highest level liston which the student makes no errors is the levelat which the teacher should start administeringgraded passages. These lists are included with theinventory mainly to provide a tool for placementin the graded passages, allowing teachers to by-pass the administration of passages that are muchtoo easy for the students. The word lists are not in-fallible guides to placement, however, since theycontain no measure of comprehension. Therefore,if it becomes clear that administration of the pas-sages has been started too high on the basis of theword list administration, it is important for theadministrator to drop back to a lower level.

The use of word lists is an unreliable means ofdetermining independent, instructional, and frus-tration levels when compared with the use ofgraded passages, in part because word list scoresmay be inflated for children who have good phon-

ics and structural analysis skills and less devel-oped comprehension skills. Nevertheless, wordlists are used by some teachers to get extremelyrough estimates of independent, instructional, andfrustration levels. When using the lists for thispurpose, the teacher should have the student readfrom increasingly difficult lists until at least fivewords are missed. The level at which the studentmisses no more than two out of twenty words isprobably his or her independent reading level;three or four errors on a list indicate the probableinstructional reading level; and five or more er-rors identify the level at which reading material islikely to be too difficult.

The marking of a graded word list is illustratedin Figure 2-3. This sample list was administeredto a fourth-grade student named Jason. Jason wasa boy who changed schools when he went to live

Sample Marking of a Word List

ancient

cemetery Ketn'g'Ter' T

eehtr

fleet:

grvrrrnmnn+

LEVEL 4

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

j&aietrs

feerd"

mechanic

HiDtcriom

parties*.

scarfeT.

signal _

Stater

vicious iTk' US

SECTION TWO » INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE » 15

with a relative in a different town. His previousschool records were slow in arriving at his newschool, and he did not appear comfortable withthe fourth-grade reading material that his newteacher first gave him, so the teacher adminis-tered the oral portion of the informal reading in-ventory to give her some guidance in placing himin an appropriate reading group for instruction andin assigning him homework reading. The teacheradministered the word lists to determine the cor-rect level on which to start the reading passagesand to get an idea of Jason's word recognitionskills for words in isolation. The placement level(level at which the reading passages should bestarted) indicated for Jason by the word lists wassecond grade, because he had no errors on thatlist, but three errors on the third-grade list. Thelist shown in the example is the fourth-grade list.

--.,.; Graded Passages

The general procedure for administering the gradedpassages is shown in Figure 2-4. To obtain maxi-mum information, it is suggested that both anoral and a silent reading passage be administeredat each level. Nevertheless, some teachers may pre-fer to use only one or the other. Although tradi-tionally the oral passages have been administeredfirst, there is often good reason for administeringthe silent passages first. The decision should bemade by the teacher who is administering thetest, based on his or her knowledge of the studentbeing tested.

Oral Reading s The oral reading sequence shouldbegin on the highest level at which the studentachieved a perfect score on the graded word listsection of the inventory. The student should betold what is expected during the assessment pro-cess. For example, the teacher might say, "I wantyou to read some stories for me. Some of themwill be easy for you; others will be hard. You arenot expected to read everything perfectly. Just doyour best. If you don't know a word, try to figureit out instead of just skipping it. After you finisheach story, I'm going to ask you some questionsabout it." Then the teacher may read aloud theintroductory statement preceding the passage.

As the student reads, the examiner shouldnot indicate correctness or incorrectness. If thechild hesitates or looks to the examiner for reas-surance, a response such as "Go on" should beused. If the pupil hesitates for more than five sec-onds, the teacher should supply the problemword and mark TP on the passage (for "teacherpronounced").

As the child reads, the examiner should markall unexpected responses or miscues. Althoughsome of the items marked, such as omitted punc-tuation, will not count in the quantitative countof miscues that is used to determine levels, theymay nevertheless be helpful to the teacher in aqualitative analysis for use in planning future in-struction. Some of the miscues that are markedmay be counted for determination of levels, butmay prove not to be significant in the qualitativeanalysis. It is wise not to make decisions duringthe administration about what to mark; instead,the examiner should mark everything that differsfrom the text and then, after the recording iscomplete, decide how to interpret the markings.

The examiner should mark any reading mis-cues according to the sample system illustrated inTable 2-1. A passage so marked might look likethe one illustrated in Figure 2-5, which is the frus-tration level passage for Jason, the fourth graderwhose word list for this level was examined.

Any standard system for marking miscuesmay be used; the important thing is that it beconsistent and reproducible. A teacher who doesnot know a standard system should not use self-designed markings, the meanings of which maynot be interpretable later. Such a teacher shouldlearn a standard marking system thoroughly be-fore beginning the test administration. The read-ing will seem to go incredibly fast for an inex-perienced examiner in any event, and, if practicewith the system has not taken place, it will beeasy for the student to outdistance the examiner'smarking skills. An examiner who makes up mark-ing symbols as the reading takes place is likely touse more than one way to mark similar miscuesand be confused by this during the analysis stage.

After the oral reading, the selection should beremoved from the student's view, and the teachershould ask questions about its content. The stu-dent's answers may simply be marked correct (+)or incorrect (0), or they may be marked (+) or (0)and simultaneously recorded exactly as given forfurther analysis later. Although teachers must re-cord tentative correctness or incorrectness as thetest is proceeding in order to have an immediateidea of the comprehension level, it is generallywise also to record exact responses, because snapjudgments made about the correctness of answersduring the testing may prove to be inadequatewhen there is time to consider the responses morefully. In addition, qualitative analysis of com-prehension skills is facilitated by having the stu-dent's exact answers. With such information, theteacher can decide, for example, if the child is try-ing to answer strictly from past experience and is

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iFIGURE 2-4 Administration of the Graded Passages

Locate a passage at the student's placement level.Decide whether you are going to administer the oral or the silent reading passages first.

(In this example the oral passages are listed first only because it is the traditional system. Many students maybe more comfortable with doing the silent reading first, and the teacher should use this order with them.)

Tell the student what will be expected during the assessment process.

~)Present the student's copy of the first passage to the student, and read the introductory

statement to him or her.

Ask the student to read the passage orally. Mark all miscues on the teacher'scopy as the student reads.

Remove the passage from the student's view, and ask the accompanying comprehension questions(or, if you prefer, have the student retell the passage and then follow up the retelling

by asking any comprehension questions that were not covered in the retelling).Record incorrect responses for later analysis.

Present the student with a passage from a different form of the inventory at thesame grade level and read the introductory statement to him or her.

,

Ask the student to read the passage silently and look up at you when he or she is finished.

After the student is finished reading the passage, remove it from hisor her view and ask the accompanying comprehension questions

(or have him or her retell the passage with the questions that are left unanswered used as follow-up probes).Record all incorrect responses.

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If the student met both the criteria (word recognition and comprehension) for theindependent level at this level, move on to the next higher level and administer oral

and silent passages from the same two forms in the same manner as before.If he or she did not meet the criteria for the independent level, drop back to the next lower grade level passage

and administer both forms at that level. Continue to drop back until the independent level is located. Then,if the initial passage presented was not at the frustration level, go to the next level above that passage

and continue to administer passages until the frustration level is met.

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When the student reaches frustration level on the oral passage, discontinue havinghim or her read to you, and read aloud the passage at the next higher level to him or her.

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Ask the student the accompanying comprehension questions(or have him or her retell the passage, following up with any unanswered questions).

..-.

Continue to read progressively higher passages until the studentfalls below 75 percent comprehension on a passage.

The last passage on which the student had 75 percent comprehension will be the listening comprehension level.(It may be necessary to read a passage from another form at the same level as the frustration level. It may even be

necessary to drop back and read one at the same level as the instructional level in order to locate the listeningcomprehension level if the student is reading about as well as he or she is capable and is not in need of any

corrective procedures, just good developmental reading instruction at the correct level.)1

SECTION TWO » INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE » 17

STABLE 2-1 Word-Recognition Miscue-Marking System

Miscue

Mispronunciation

Substitution

Refusal to pronounce

Insertion

Omission

Repetition

Reversal

Marking

wert

wantlAront

TPwent

onsent^ to

toltnejkcnool

in jrheHittjg house

thaAh^Q

Comment

The student attempts to pronounce the word but produces anonsense word, rather than a real one.

The student substitutes a real word that is incorrect.

The student neither pronounces the word nor attempts to do so.The teacher pronounces the word so that testing can continue.

The student inserts a word or a series of words that does notappear in the text.

The student omits a word or a continuous sequence of words in thetext but continues to read.

The student repeats one or more words that have been read.Groups of adjacent words that are repeated count as one repetition.

The student reverses the order of words or letters.

Note: If the student makes a miscue and then corrects it without prompting from the teacher, the teacher should place a check (/) beside themiscue to indicate a spontaneous correction and should not include the miscue in the error count.

ignoring the passage content. Once again, as thestudent answers the comprehension questions,the teacher should not communicate feedbackabout correctness or incorrectness. If two re-sponses are needed and the youngster gives onlyone, it is acceptable to ask, "Anything else?", butprompting with specific clues is not acceptable. Ifthe pupil seems to have understood but has notadequately expressed himself or herself, theteacher may ask, "Could you tell me more?"

Although the most likely answers have beenprovided to assist the teacher, there will be somecorrect answers that have not been listed, espe-cially on main idea and vocabulary questions. Ifthe teacher knows that an answer is correct, he orshe should not feel restricted by the fact that it isnot included in the suggested responses, butshould count it as correct. When a main idea ques-tion asks what the story is about, some childrenwill respond with a single word, such as "Buddy,"or a short phrase. It is acceptable to ask, "Whatabout Buddy?" If the child is unable to elaborate,however, he or she should not be prompted fur-ther. If the child gives an entire summary of thestory, the teacher should ask for a shorter way ofsaying what it is about or for one sentence thattells what it is about, assuming that the studentunderstands the concept of sentence. Once again,the student should not be prompted further ifthe additional question does not elicit a correctresponse.

The answers to sequence questions may haveseveral steps. Credit must not be given for these

steps if they are given in incorrect order, but par-tial credit may be given for correct steps given inorder, even if some step has been omitted. Simi-larly, if there are two-part detail questions, halfcredit can be given for getting one of the two parts.

Some questions are accompanied by notes tohelp the examiner decide about the scoring of aparticular answer. The examiner should look forany explanatory notes as the testing progresses.Figure 2-6 shows the marked set of comprehen-sion questions for Jason's frustration level passage(shown in Figure 2-5).

Silent Reading n Next the examiner presents thestudent with a passage at the same level for silentreading. The examiner reads the introductorystatement to the student and then asks the stu-dent to read the passage silently. There is no timelimit for the reading of the selection, but someexaminers time the reading for additional diag-nostic information. The examiner does not offerhelp with unknown words or answer studentquestions. If the student asks for assistance, theexaminer should simply say, "Do the best youcan. I want to find out how well you can read itwithout help." When the student finishes readingthe passage, the selection should be removedfrom view, and the examiner should ask compre-hension questions about the selection.

Monitoring the Administration When a studentfalls below 90 percent in word recognition on theoral passage (or 85 percent for students in first

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18 » SECTION TWO » INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

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SUMMARY OF QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

Student's Name Grade Date Administrator

Forms Used: Word Lists, Form Oral Passages, Form Silent Passages, Form Listening Comprehension, Form

Performance Levels Based on Full Inventory (Oral & Silent): Independent Instructional Frustration Listening Comprehension

Performance Levels Based on Oral Passages: Independent

Performance Levels Based on Silent Passages: Independent

Optional Comparison Levels: Independent Instructional.

Performance Levels Based on Graded Word Lists: Placement

Instructional

Instructional.

Frustration

Independent.

Frustration Listening Comprehension

Frustration Listening Comprehension .

Rate of Reading: High Average _ Low.

Instructional Frustration

Types of Miscues in Context

Refusal to RowMispronunciation Substitution Insertion Omission Reversal Repetition Pronounce Totals

Total

Meaningchanged

Self-corrected

Comprehension Skill Analysis Chart

SkillNumber of Number PercentQuestions of Errors of Errors

Main idea

Detail

Sequence

Cause and effect

Inference

Vocabulary

Summary Table of Percentages

Word Oral Silent Average ListeningLevel Recognition Comprehension Comprehension Comprehension Comprehension

PP

P

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

SUMMARY OF QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

Summary of Strengths and Weaknesses in Word Recognition

(Include all of the important data that have been collected on word recognition skills.)

Summary of Strengths and Weaknesses in Comprehension

(Include all of the important data that have been collected about comprehension.)

Checklist of Reading Behaviors

(Place a [+] by areas that are strong and a [-] by areas that are weak.)

1. Reads in phrases

2. Reads with expression

3. Attends to punctuation

4. Pronounces words correctly

5. Sounds out unfamiliar words

6. Uses structure clues, when available, to recognize unfamiliarwords

7. Uses context clues

8. Makes strategic attempts to recognize unfamiliar words(applies word recognition skills flexibly)

9. Keeps place in material being read

10. Shows few signs of tension when reading

11. Holds book at appropriate distance from face when reading

12. Self-corrects errors without prompting

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WORKSHEET FOR WORD RECOGNITION MISCUE TALLY CHART

Miscue PP 10 11 12 Totals

Mispronunciation

Substitution

Insertion

Omission

Reversal

Repetition

Refusal to pronounce

Totals

A

MC

SC

A

MC

SC

A

MC

SC

A

MC

SC

A

MC

SC

A

A

A

MC

SC

A

MC

SC

A

MC

SC

A

MC

SC

A

MC

SC

A

MC

SC

A

A

A

MC

SC

A = All miscues of that type (excluding ones that were self-corrected)

MC = Miscues that resulted in a meaning change

SC = Self-corrected miscues

Miscue Analysis of Phonic and Structural Analysis Skills

(Tally total miscues on appropriate lines.)

For Wordsin Isolation

For Wordsin Context

Miscue

Single consonants

Consonant blends

Single vowels

Vowel digraphs

Consonant digraphs

Diphthongs

Prefixes

Suffixes

Special combinations

Word beginnings

Word middles

Word endings

Compound words

Inflectional endings

Syllabication

Accent

(Note: In order to fill out the analysis for words in context, it is helpful to make alist of expected reader responses and unexpected responses for easy comparisonas to graphic similarity, syntactic acceptability, and semantic acceptability. Seepage 108 for a good way to record this information.)

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WORKSHEET FOR QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF UNCORRECTED MISCUES IN CONTEXT

(Include mispronunciations, substitutions, insertions, omissions, and reversals.)

Passage Type of Miscue Expected Response Unexpected Response Graphic Similarity Syntactic Acceptability Semantic Acceptability

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.