For Other Professionals
Reading 101
Informal Classroom-Based Assessment
Administering informal assessments on a regular basis throughout the school year provides useful information that can help teachers to identify the individual strengths and weakness of each student.
Specific spelling errors can signal a child's slow progress and the need for extra help. Dr. Louisa Moats shows one Washington, D.C. teacher how to identify the errors and remediate them.
This informal assessment information can help you decide:
- How to plan future instruction so that student needs are met
- How students should be grouped for instruction so that each student receives instruction at the right level of difficulty
- If instruction is being delivered at the right pace
- Which students need individual support
There are different informal assessment tools for assessing various components of reading. It is important to note that no single assessment will provide insight into all reading related components that teachers need to know about. It is important to ask yourself: "What do I want to know about my students? What do I want to assess?" These short articles can get you started:
- Concepts of Print Assessment
- Letter/Sound (Alphabet) Recognition
- Phonemic Awareness Assessment
- Phonological Awareness Assessment
- Phonic Elements
- Word Recognition
- Reading Fluency
- Reading Accuracy
- Informal Reading Inventory (also known as Qualitative Reading Inventory)
For more information about informal assessment, see the "Related articles" listed below.
Reading 101: Educational Literacy Apps | Print Awareness | Sounds of Speech | Phonemic Awareness | Phonics Informal Assessment | Fluency | Vocabulary | Spelling | Writing | Text Comprehension
Related articles
By: National Center on Student Progress Monitoring (2007)
The National Center on Student Progress Monitoring has created a chart of scientifically based tools to measure students' progress. Determine which one best fits your school's needs.
By: Kathleen McLane (2006)
Is your school planning to implement student progress monitoring (SPM)? Are you thinking of using it in your classroom? If so, consider a number of factors to make SPM an integral part of classroom activities, rather than a series of isolated assessments unconnected to other parts of the learning experience. This brief offers some suggestions on how to use SPM in an integrated way.
By: Reading Rockets (2004)
The following are sample charts you can use when assessing students informally in the classroom. Most of the assessments here should be given one-on-one.
By: Reading Rockets (2004)
These six short video clips give you the chance to watch and learn effective classroom-based assessment strategies. The video clips are from Reading Rockets' PBS television series Launching Young Readers. 
See also
- Topics A-Z: Assessment and Evaluation
- Reading Assessment Database for Grades K-2, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL)
- Podcasts & Videos: Assessment
- Webcast: Assessment: On Track for Reading Success
