The Philippine

Informal
Reading
Inventory
(Phil-IRI)
 The Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) is a
program first implemented in school year 2011-2012 by
then Bureau of Elementary Education (now Bureau of
Learning Delivery) of the Department of Education, that
aims to determine reading skills and difficulties of Filipino
school children from Grades 3 to 5. The Inventory
consists of sixteen texts, eight in Filipino and eight in
English, designed in keeping with the use of Filipino as
medium of instruction from Grade 3 onwards, and
English from Grade 4 onwards. The Phil-IRI Filipino Oral
Reading tests are conducted starting Grade 3 since in
the new Language and Literacy Curriculum, Filipino
literacy is introduced in the first semester of Grade 2; the
Reading tests in English are carried out starting Grade 4
as English literacy is initiated in the second semester of
Grade 2.
A. ESSENTIAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE
PHIL-IRI
1. What is the Phil-IRI?
The Philippine Informal Reading Inventory
(Phil-IRI) was created to provide classroom
teachers a tool for measuring and describing
reading performance. It is an assessment
tool composed of graded passages
designed to determine a student’s reading
level. It is important to note that the Phil-IRI
only provides an approximation of the
learner’s abilities and may be used in
combination with other reliable tools of
assessment.
 2. Why was the Phil-IRI developed?
The development of the Phil-IRI is one of the
initiatives put in place in support of the Every Child
A Reader Program (ECARP). Before teachers can
design and provide appropriate reading instruction
for their students, they should be armed with
information about their students’ current reading
levels and abilities. This diagnostic approach to
describing how children read embraces
inclusionary principles that emphasize the need
for education that is learner-oriented, responsive
and culturally sensitive. The Phil-IRI is one of the
diagnostic tools that teachers can use to
determine students’ abilities and needs in reading.
3. What adjustments were made in the Phil-IRI
selections?
The Revised Phil-IRI was prepared in early 2013,
prior to the introduction of the K-12 Curriculum.
The readability level of the selections for oral and
silent reading were based on the old English and
Filipino curricula and were validated to pupils who
were products of these old curricula; they were
taught to read in Filipino and in English starting in
Grade 1.
Under the K-12 curriculum, the pupils are
introduced to Reading in Filipino during the first
semester of Grade 2 while Reading in English is
introduced during the second semester.
For example, the curriculum in Phonics
and Word Recognition for Grade 2
English during the second semester is
reading short e, a and i words in
consonant-vowel-consonant pattern. By
Grade 3, the curricular offering under
word recognition is as follows:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th

quarter quarter quarter quarter

Read words Read words Read words Read words with
with short o with initial vowel digraphs
with long a, ai (pail), ay
and u sounds consonant i, o and u (bay), ea (lead),
in CVC blends (l, r ee (seed; read
and s blends)
sound
pattern and words with vowel
common followed by (ending in e) diphthongs oy
sight words; short vowel one syllable (boy), oi (boil),
sounds, read and 2- ou (out) and ow
read 2- (bow); read
syllable words with syllables. some irregularly
words initial and Anal spelled words
consisting of consonant (e.g. such as
short e to u digraph ch enough, through,
sound (e. g.: and sh. beautiful).
basket,
4. What can Phil-IRI tell the teachers?
The Phil-IRI Group Screening Test
(GST) can tell teachers whether
students are reading at, above, or below
their grade levels. The individually
administered Phil-IRI Graded Passages
can be used to assess students’ Oral
Reading, Silent Reading
Comprehension and/or Listening
Comprehension levels.
5. What are flexible ways to use Phil-
IRI?
The Phil-IRI may be used to:
a. Group Reading Level
The Phil-IRI GST can be used to
determine a whole class’ reading level,
and identify particular students who may
need more assistance in performing
reading tasks.
 The individually administered Phil-IRI
Graded Passages can be used to determine
a student’s independent, instructional and
frustration levels for three types of literacy
tasks: Oral Reading, Silent Reading, and
Listening Comprehension.
c. Monitor Growth and Response to
Intervention
Pretest and Posttest results of the Phil-IRI
can be compared to monitor growth in
students’ reading skills, as well as determine
the efficacy of the program or reading
interventions conducted by the school and/or
 d. Describe Reading Behaviors
The recording of the student’s oral reading
behaviors during the conduct of the
individually administered Phil-IRI Graded
Passages can help the teacher describe a
student’s reading performance and behavior.
It specifies the number of words read per
minute, the cues used for identifying or
recognizing words, manner of reading, etc.
Types of miscues as well as types of
comprehension questions answered
correctly can also be analyzed by the
teacher to help him/her design appropriate
reading lessons or interventions.
 6. Who needs to take the Phil-IRI?
All students in Grades 3 to 6 will
undergo the Phil-IRI Group Screening
Test (GST) in Filipino, while students in
Grades 4 to 6 will undergo the GST in
English. Students identified to be
performing below level of expectation
(those with a total Raw Score below 14
in the Phil-IRI GST) should undergo
further assessment through the
individually administered Phil-IRI graded
passages.
 7. When should the Phil-IRI be
administered?
The following table below shows the
administration schedule of Group Screening
Test and the Individualized Phil-IRI
assessments. Group assessments must be
conducted within class time while Individual
assessments may be conducted outside
class hours.
Table 1. Schedule of Phil-IRI
Administration
 8. How long does it take to
administer the Phil-IRI?
The administration of the Phil-IRI GST
for a whole class takes approximately
30 minutes. The time it takes to
administer the Phil-IRI Graded
Passages would vary for each student.
 9. Who can administer the Phil-IRI?
All Filipino subject teachers for Grades 3 to 6 and
English subject teachers for Grades 4 to 6 can
administer the Phil-IRI Group Screening Tests in
their respective classes. ELLN-trained teachers
can administer the Phil-IRI Graded Passages to
individual students who need further
assessment.The region and/or division can also
conduct training programs to teachers on the
conduct of the Phil-IRI. Teachers who will
administer the Phil-IRI should read the manual
thoroughly and prepare all the necessary
materials and forms prior to the scheduled date of
test administration.
10. How do we get a copy of the Phil-
IRI materials?
The Phil-IRI materials will be uploaded
to the Learning Resource Management
Development System (LRMDS) portal of
the DepEd website which can be
downloaded by the teachers, school
heads and education supervisors.
Schools are advised to use the MOOE
funds for the reproduction and
distribution of the materials to teachers.
 B. DESCRIPTION OF THE PHIL-IRI
TESTING KIT
The Phil-IRI Testing Kit consists of the
Manual of Administration; Group
Screening Tests for both Filipino and
English; Graded Passages with
Comprehension Questions; and the
Phil-IRI Forms.
 1. Manual of Administration
The manual includes information about the Phil-
IRI, the directions for the administration of the test,
and instructions for recording and reporting
results. It serves as a guide to teachers, principals
and supervisors in administering the tests as well
as in recording results.
The manual should be studied carefully before
administering the Phil-IRI Tests. The mechanics of
administration are the same for both Filipino and
English. Thus, only one manual will be printed for
both languages. The manual also contains the
Keys to Correction for both the Group Screening
Tests and the Phil-IRI Graded Passages in Filipino
and English.
 2. The Phil-IRI Group Screening Test
The Phil-IRI Group Screening Test (GST) is a
silently-administered test in both Filipino and
English. Each tool is composed of a 20-item
comprehension test based on a set of leveled
passages for each grade level covering Grades 3
to 6 in Filipino and Grades 4 to 6 in English. The
passages were written and selected based on
concept load, level of vocabulary used, sentence
complexity, nature of themes and cohesion.
In consideration of Abadzi’s1 (2014)
recommendations on the kind and size of font and
spacing options in between letters used in
textbooks, the font features in Table 2 were
followed in the design of the tools.
Table 2: Font Size Used for the Passages
for each Grade Level
 The objective of the GST is to identify
students who need further testing.
Appendix A1 to A4 presents the titles of
passages, kinds of text, and number of
questions per passage, as well as the
Keys to Correction for the GST for
Grades 3 to 6 in Filipino and Grades 4
to 6 in English respectively
 3. The Phil-IRI Graded Passages
(Sets A, B, C and D)
The Phil-IRI Graded Passages is an
informal individualized assessment tool
used to record the student’s
performance in oral reading, silent
reading and/or listening comprehension.
 The Phil-IRI Oral Reading Test is
administered in order to:
# identify the student’s miscues in oral
reading;
# record the number of words that a student
reads per minute; and
# And out how well a student understands
the passage read.
 The Phil-IRI Listening Comprehension is administered
when the student is identified as a nonreader. The
purpose is to And out how well a student understands the
selection which will be read by the test
administrator.Then the test administrator reads the
multiple choice questions and the student answers them
orally.
The Phil-IRI Silent Reading Test may be administered
after the Oral Reading Test is conducted to further check
the student’s comprehension skill. This is an optional
activity.
The Graded Passages range from Grade 2 to Grade 7
Readability levels for English and Grade 1 to Grade 7
Readability levels for Filipino. The selections for Grade 2
to Grade 4 are narrative texts, while those from Grades 5
to 7 are expository texts. The expository texts in Filipino
deal with Social Studies concepts, while those in English
focus on Science concepts.
 4. The Phil-IRI Forms
a. Phil-IRI Forms for Group Screening Test
1) Phil-IRI Form 1A: Talaan ng Pangkatang Pagtatasa ng
Klase (PPK) sa Phil-IRI
The Phil-IRI Form 1A is to be used for the GST in
Filipino. The objectives of completing and submitting this
form include the following: a) to identify the types of
questions (literal, inferential or critical) that each child can
answer; b) to classify the students to be recommended
for administration of the Phil-IRI tests, c) to capture the
reading performance of the class, thus design
appropriate classroom instruction. This form includes the
class list, the itemized scores of the students according
to the types of questions answered, and their total score.
A sample of this form is shown in Appendix B1.
 2) Phil-IRI Form 1B: Summary of the Phil-IRI Group
Screening Test Class Reading Record (CRR)
This form has the same content and objectives as the
Phil-IRI Form 1A. Phil-IRI Form 1B is to be used for the
GST in English. A sample of this form is shown in
Appendix B2.
3) Phil-IRI Form 2: Talaan ng Paaralan sa Pagbabasa /
School Reading Profile (SRP)
This form presents a summary of a school’s performance
in the GST. Furthermore, it shows the school’s reading
profile, which includes the number of students who are
reading at their level (test scores > 14 out of 20 items),
and those who are in need of further Phil-IRI
administration (test scores < 14). A sample of this form is
shown in Appendix C.
 b. Phil-IRI Forms for Graded Passages
1) Phil-IRI Form 3A: Markahang Papel ng
Panggradong Lebel na Teksto / Phil-IRI Form 3B:
Grade Level Passage Rating Sheet
This form is the rating sheet with the passage to
be read (either orally or silently by the student, or
orally by the teacher). The teacher indicates the
time spent by the student in reading the passage.
Likewise, the student’s miscues are marked and
summarized, and the comprehension responses
are recorded in this form. This form will yield the
speed and rate in reading, and the reading level
for the passage in both word reading and
comprehension. A sample of these forms are
shown in Appendix D1 and D2.
 2) Phil-IRI Form 4: Talaan ng Indibidwal na
Pagbabasa / Individual Summary Record
(ISR)
This form summarizes the performance and
level of each learner in word reading and
comprehension in all the administered Phil-
IRI. It also indicates the oral reading
behaviors exhibited by the student. A sample
of this form is shown in Appendix E.
C. General Directions for Administration: The Four
Stages
There are four stages in the administration of the
Phil-IRI. Figure 1 on the next page presents the
four stages, namely:
Stage 1: Initial Screening Using the Phil-IRI
Group Screening Test Stage
2: Administration of the Phil-IRI Graded
Passages (Pre-test)
Stage 3: Provision of Specialized
Instruction/Intervention
Stage 4: Administration of the Phil-IRI Graded
Passages (Post Test)
 DISCUSSANTS:

ALLAN C. QUISTORIO
MARIALYN ROSALES