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IDENTIFYING NEEDS - the key to a successful reading programme
If our reading programmes are going to make a difference we must have a clear picture of what our students can do and what are the next learning steps.
The Informal Prose Inventory procedure not only provides a comprehensive check on the all important decoding strategies that our readers are using, but most importantly, it exposes those readers who are reading fluently but not actively processing the text and who need to be taught comprehension strategies.
Listening to and analysing a student's reading behaviour will always be the most effective method of observing and understanding the decoding strategies that a reader is using. The cognitive process of comprehension is much more difficult to measure. Getting the reader to retell the content read and then respond to questions provides you with valuable information about whether the text has been processed and understood or whether the reader is relying on word recognition.
Informal Prose Inventories (IPI's) are tests of a person's reading ability. They take about 20 minutes to conduct and give you information about a student's reading ability and use of strategies to decode and comprehend text. They provide a benchmark against which you can measure progress and allow you to plan lessons with confidence knowing your student's strengths and weaknesses and the correct instructional level for reading material.
Each Informal Prose Inventory is a stand alone testing package with tests at Reading Age 6-15 years. Purchasing all three gives you greater choice of tests at each level. The three packages are:
The three criteria included in these Informal Prose Inventories, Accuracy, Retelling, and Comprehension, provide a reliable indicator of the instructional reading age that a student should be working on, and establish a benchmark against which progress can be measured.
The Progressive Achievement Tests (PATs) are a series of standardised tests developed for use in New Zealand schools. You don’t need to use the Reading Comprehension and Reading Vocabulary PAT to use the Informal Prose Inventory, but you can find more information on the PAT's here.
