The fourth and fifth grade students are given two tests, the Burns and Roe Informal Reading Inventory and a standardized computer test.  The following is a description of each:

Informal Reading Inventory:  This test looks at a student’s oral reading and comprehension.  While the student is reading aloud, the Reading Specialist records any oral reading miscues (insertions, omissions, substitutions, repetitions, mispronunciations, etc.).  After reading the selection, the child answers comprehension questions about what he/she just read.  These questions note if the child is able to understand the main idea, note details, understand age appropriate vocabulary, sequence events, understand cause and effect relationships, and infer information.  The Reading Specialist is looking for the student’s instructional reading level.  Every child has three reading levels as described below:

1.  Independent Reading Level:  The independent reading level is the level at which a student can read with understanding and ease, without assistance.  The reader has 99 percent or better word recognition (misses no more than one word in a hundred) and 90 percent or better comprehension (misses no more than one question in ten).  Material at a student’s independent level  is appropriate for homework assignments, recreational reading, and  independent class work.

2.  Instructional Reading Level:  The instructional reading level is the level at which a student can read with understanding with the teacher’s assistance.  The reader has 85 percent or better word recognition (misses no more than fifteen words in a hundred) and has 75 percent or better comprehension (misses no more than two questions out of eight).  This is the level the student should be placed for reading class.  If a student’s instructional reading level is one grade level or more below his/her actual grade level, the student qualifies for reading support. 

3.  Frustration Level:  The frustration level is the level at which a student is unable to function adequately because the reading material is too difficult.  The reader has either less than 85 percent word recognition (misses more than fifteen words in a hundred) and/or has less than 50 percent comprehension (misses five or more comprehension questions).  Attempts to read at this level may be accompanied by squirming, facial tics, and other inappropriate habits and signs of nervous tension.  No student should be asked to read material at his/her frustration level.  Nothing can be learned from this material, and the experience can lead to negative attitudes.

Standardized Reading Test:  This test is taken on a computer and assesses a child’s overall reading ability.  This reading score represents how a student performed on the test compared with that of other students in the nation. 

Burns, Paul C. and Roe, Betty D.

Burns/Roe Informal Reading Inventory Pre-primer to Twelfth Grade.  Houghton Mifflin Company, New Jersey, 1993.