QRI5

What is the QRI5?

The QRI is an informal reading assessment tool that is administered individually.  The QRI5 can be used with children in the primary grades through 12th grade.  The QRI5 can be used by classroom teachers and literacy specialists to collect a variety of information about a child’s reading skills including:  word identification, reading level (instructional, independent, frustration), comprehension abilities, reading fluency, reading rate, reading behaviors/feelings, attitudes, concepts about print, listening comprehension, language skills, and prior knowledge.  The QRI5 is a good tool for assessing student reading abilities in order to determine instruction in a classroom, or to plan and implement intervention for a particular student or group of students. It is also a good tool for monitoring student progress over time.  

What is the purpose of using QRI5?

The purpose of using the QRI5 is to collect comprehensive, foundational information about a child’s reading skills in order to plan instruction to meet student needs and help a child grow as a reader.  The QRI5 can be used to monitor and track student growth over time.  The QRI5 can be used to assess regularly developing readers and children who show signs of learning issues.  The QRI5 can help you to begin to tease apart areas of concern for a student.  For the classroom teacher, the QRI5 can help you determine the independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels for your students.  This can allow you to match students to appropriate book levels for independent and guided reading, which is very important. The QRI5 is also a good tool to have if you get a new student to your school for whom you don't have any previous information, or if you get a new student in the middle of the year. It is probably also a good tool for use with ELLs.

Have you seen similar assessments?  What are they?

Yes, the QRI 5 is similar to the Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) Fountas and Pinnell program I have most recently used.  It is also similar to some of the running records we used to use from the Teacher’s College assessment program, and the former ECLAS assessment tool kit used by the DOE.

What is your impression of QRI5?

My impression of QRI5 is that it is comprehensive and informative.  I think it is likely a very good tool to use regularly with students who are having difficulty with learning to read, as it allows the teacher to collect information about all areas of a child’s reading development.  This can help the teacher to continually target areas of need in intervention.  The QRI5 may be used simply to identify a starting point in reading instruction for some children and to assess their reading level over time. On the other hand, it can also be used as an ongoing assessment tool for children who need more attention, instruction, and intervention. I see this as its greater purpose/strength as an assessment tool.