A teacher uses independent projects, a circle group, oral reading sections, and a brief written quiz to assess students' abilities. What kind of assessment is this?

• A. Formative assessment
• B. Standardized test
• C. Informal reading inventory
• D. Diagnostic assessment

Answer: (C)

The main idea is using flexible, ongoing checks of reading ability rather than one formal test. When a teacher combines independent projects, a circle group discussion, oral reading sections, and a short written quiz, they’re gathering multiple kinds of information about how a student reads in different contexts.

Oral reading sections reveal decoding accuracy and reading fluency, showing how smoothly a student can read aloud and where they stumble. A circle group gives insights into not just what a student reads but how they think about it—their ability to discuss, interpret, and infer from what they’ve read. A brief written quiz checks comprehension and recall of the material, while independent projects demonstrate applying reading skills to real tasks and syntheses of ideas. Taken together, these varied, informal checks provide a picture of a student’s reading strengths and needs over time, which is the essence of an informal reading inventory.

This isn’t a standardized test with uniform administration and scoring, and it’s not aimed at diagnosing a specific learning disorder. It’s about informal, classroom-based progress monitoring through multiple lenses.