ELA

What is the IRLA Assessment? 

American Reading Company’s Independent Reading Level Assessment is a formative assessment for reading. The IRLA works with every student, at every reading level, K–5, in English and Spanish. The IRLA delivers specific and actionable data that tells the teacher where a student is, why, and the sequence of skills and reading behaviors needed to learn next to accelerate a student’s reading growth. The IRLA’s reading taxonomy simplifies the complexity of the reading process, allowing teachers to support every reader, with whatever books that reader chooses. 

How does IRLA support Independent reading? 

The IRLA approach asks teachers to start with what each child can do. Teachers identify the one essential skill and standard that students need to increase reading levels, help them learn, and repeat toward grade level and beyond. Teachers know their students, students know themselves, and teachers and students are partners in the learning process. American Reading Company, the IRLA publisher, has spent the last 20 years evaluating books in print from every publisher. To determine reading levels, every book is leveled on our developmental taxonomy of reading acquisition. Books in every collection wear a brightly colored sticker identifying their placement within the IRLA’s color-coded leveling system. 

How does IRLA support Independent reading? 

The IRLA approach asks teachers to start with what each child can do. Teachers identify the one essential skill and standard that students need to increase reading levels, help them learn, and repeat toward grade level and beyond. Teachers know their students, students know themselves, and teachers and students are partners in the learning process. American Reading Company, the IRLA publisher, has spent the last 20 years evaluating books in print from every publisher. To determine reading levels, every book is leveled on our developmental taxonomy of reading acquisition. Books in every collection wear a brightly colored sticker identifying their placement within the IRLA’s color-coded leveling system. 

What is the goal for my student? 

Your child will be doing lots of reading in school and at home. The reason for this program is simple: Research shows that students who read for one hour every day, from books that they can read and want to read, have a much better chance for success in school and beyond. The more time your child spends reading at his or her independent level, the better reader he or she will become. We need your help! Your child should read for at least 30 minutes per night. Use this time to sit with your child as the Home Reading Coach. The reading should be easy and fun for your child. 

Students DO NOT move onto the next IRLA level until they master these three areas of reading at the current IRLA level they are working on:

1. Mastery of the power words at that level. 

2. Mastery of the phonics skills at that level.

3. Can read a passage at that level with 98%-100% accuracy AND excellent comprehension or understanding of the story.