Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) Test & Software

The SRI Scholastic Reading Inventory test scores (Lexile scores) seem to be extremely important at my daughter's school. She is in 1st grade. I'm not sure if the teacher is administering the SRI "test" itself (which I understand doesn't usually begin until 2nd or 3rd grade) or if the teacher is having the kids work online with SRI Scholastic Reading Inventory software practice reading passages which are generating a Lexile score without the actual SRI test. The SRI Lexile Scores (whether from the SRI test itself or just from the SRI practice software) seem to drive a lot of important decisions regarding academics at my school. Is anyone aware of how to purchase this software for home use? My daughter's score dropped from end of K to her recent scores in the fall of 1st grade. We do not have screen time at home (although I'm willing to change this so we can practice this test!), so I suspect that some of the drop is attributable to lack of ability to correct errors, distractions (they are doing the SRI during class time which can be noisy), and putting time limits on the testing (it's my understanding that the testing shouldn't be timed, but my daughter says that when they do SRI in class, they are always time boxed).

With such an emphasis on this particular test, I'd love for my daughter to do the SRI practice "tests" at home like she does during computer lab at school. The only purchasing opportunities that I saw online were district-wide licenses for $3K. I saw that it seemed like many school districts offered this software to families at home via a "Virtual Machine" type setup.

Thanks in advance for any guidance that you may have on how my daughter can practice this test format. Her reading levels have remain strong and only grown during the time between her prior test and now and she reads voraciously, so having the ability to nail down some of the technical issues would allow her score to better represent her reading ability.

I'm only starting to learn what unusual things are high priorities at my school, so it's now helpful to focus on these things to allow for the greatest opportunities for her education.

Welcome!

Until you know how the Lexile scores are being derived, there is probably limited value in investing time and thought into practicing the SRI. And even if the school is using the SRI itself, I would tend not to advocate for practicing the test. Practice may make it unclear what the student's true score is, due to prior exposure to specific test items, in which case the numbers become meaningless. An appropriate practice test is only for the purpose of developing familiarity with the test format. As she has already taken the test (apparently) at least twice, there is nothing to be gained from further practice, and possibly something to be lost. It's also possible to generate Lexile estimates based simply on the reading selections that students make (e.g., by using the Lexile of the text, rather than that of the reader).

The latest version of the SRI (now HMH Reading Assessment, since the purchase), has a 30 minute time expectation for the group-administered condition, so the time limit may be appropriate.

And most importantly, the meaning of the change in scores must be weighed in the context of standard error of measurement. The SEM of the Lexile is fairly large when compared to the range of scores expected in primary age learners (SEM = 93L, or Lexile points), so any change within that range is already sufficiently explained by normal measurement error intrinsic to the instrument, without invoking any other factors. If the school is interpreting data appropriately, then they know this already.

Oh, and one more thing, I notice that the previous Lexile was obtained in kindergarten. The kindergarten (K-2) version of the test is quite different from the 1-12 version, as it focuses on foundational decoding skills, predicting, rather than measuring, reading comprehension. So in addition to the issue of SEM, the two administrations don't necessarily compare apples to apples.