No. 150       Institute for Learning

The Analytical Reading Inventory (ARI) by Woods and Moe is a teacher-administered reading assessment that is given one-on-one and is to be used with students in Grades 4-8. The Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) by Burns and Roe is similar to the ARI and is to be used at Grades 9 and 10. Both the ARI and the IRI are valuable tools to diagnose student reading skills and strategies, and to inform classroom instruction. Each also serves as an additional measure to confirm students’ reading levels and determine placement in literacy coursework and Blueprint support programs.

The classroom teacher (elementary) or the literacy/English teacher (secondary) administers the ARI/IRI to individual students. The assessment results determine a student’s instructional and independent reading levels, and tell the teacher which reading strategies a student is able to use and which reading strategies and skills need improvement. Both tests take approximately 30 minutes per student to administer. They both require teacher training. Information about training sessions will be provided by the Literacy Department in the very near future.

The ARI/IRI must be administered during the last month of the school year to students in the categories indicated below. This includes Fluent English students, and English Learners enrolled in the district three or more years. The results will be used to confirm each student’s reading level and determine appropriate placement in summer and fall literacy coursework and support programs.

• Grade 6 students at middle schools who scored significantly below grade level on the SDRT and are at risk of retention.
• Grade 7 students at junior high schools who scored significantly below grade level on the SDRT and are at risk of retention.

• Grade 8 students at all schools who scored significantly below grade level on the SDRT and are candidates for the ninth grade three-period accelerated literacy core course.

• Students in Grades 4-10 whose parent(s)/guardian(s) waived them out of taking the SDRT.

The ARI/IRI may also be administered to any student in Grades 4-10 for whom the teacher believes that the SDRT score is not an accurate measure of the student’s reading level. This may include students for whom there appears to have been an administration or scoring problem with the SDRT, students who have made substantial progress since administration of the SDRT, students for whom the Scanning subtest alone resulted in a total reading score below or significantly below grade level, etc. These results will inform placement of students in summer school and fall literacy coursework.

ARI testing materials have been distributed to schools. Materials for testing with the IRI will be distributed at Literacy Department training sessions. Information about IRI training sessions will be provided by the Literacy Department shortly. For information on ARI and IRI training sessions, contact Wendy Ranck-Buhr, Program Specialist, Literacy Department, at (619) 725-7260.

The teacher record worksheet included with the ARI/IRI testing materials should be used to inform student placement in summer school. At traditional schedule schools, it is suggested that teachers turn in their teacher record worksheets to the counselor before leaving for the summer in order to facilitate placement in summer school classes. Results from the central scanning at the end of the school year and the end of summer school will be accessible via the district data system (AERIES and/or SIS Data Query) to inform student placement in first semester literacy coursework.