Assessing Informally to get the Full Picture

Standardized test are not the only assessments that can show children's learning; there are actually a variety of assessments that teachers can use to gain knowledge about children's learning ability. These assessments provide different and more in-depth information about the students than standardizes one do. Certain types are even specifically geared for assessing certain reading skills, and can "pin-point" where a child is on the learning spectrum at that moment. It is a great idea to begin the year with one of these telling assessments (Ex. pictured to the left), so you will know what skills need to be reviewed, retaught or skipped all together.

3 Types of informal assessments that reveal information about one's reading skill(s):

• Cloze Test-

• This form of assessment was unknown to be prior to reading about it in this article. It is used for closure, and to assess final learning. Asks questions (using styles like fill in the blank) that one must have prior about a topic knowledge to answer correctly. (Pictured Right)

• Running Records-
• Observe a child, preferably while being unseen, and take notes of everything the child can be observed doing. However, you should not make judgements or try to explain anything internal; just leave all emotion out!
• I love the idea of keeping these records in a small notebook that you keep in the classroom. I think that I would make copies of the notes written in here, and put them in the child's assessment files to keep them from getting lost, have a spare something happens, to and because they would be easier to accessed and compare to other assessments in this spot.

• Informal Reading Inventories (IRV)-

• These are so handy to use when working with children. Many assessments can not be done in the moment, but an IRV can. Additionally, I realized from this information that if I was looking for something specific, but could not find it that I could create it myself.
• A fabulous idea by Teacher 2 Teacher for the organization of one's classroom IRV assessment materials is to keep all the templates for different IRV assessments in a binder. You could add articles and information from professionals about assessing to reference, too. 

Assessments are an unbelievably important tool for teachers, and informal ones should be conducted routinely throughout the year on every student. By doing this all of the children 's learning growth can be proven, and could be utilized later to show parents, school administrators, etc. how the child has grown as they have been in your care. Adversely, if the child is not showing gains you want to document this to show people as well, since it can indicate something developmentally wrong. These are actually even more important to have in my opinion.

I would love to hear about your thoughts on this topic. Specifically, I am wondering have you heard of any of these informal assessments before, or seen them being used in a classroom environment? And which do you believe to be the most useful form of assessment for educators to use? Least?