The Department of Education’s (DepEd) Bureau of Learning Delivery launched the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) to ensure all Filipino children can read. This initiative abides by DepEd’s flagship program called the “Every Child A Reader Program.” It aims to make every Filipino child a reader and a writer at an early age by assessing their performance in listening comprehension, silent reading, and oral reading.
Also Read: DepEd Reading Program: Catch-Up Friday
Phil-IRI applies within the class or individually to assess each learner’s independent, instructional, and frustration levels. Filipino and English subject teachers can opt to use this tool within the classroom, a group of students, or individualized instruction tailored to each learner’s abilities and needs. While it’s not an exclusive assessment tool to determine students’ performance levels, Phil-IRI Reading Materials can provide approximate evaluation.
What is Phil-IRI Reading Materials
The Philippine Informal Reading Inventor (Phil-IRI) Reading or Graded Passages is an informal class or individualized assessment tool. It helps evaluate and record students’ performance in various areas, including oral reading, silent reading, and listening comprehension. Phil-IRI assists the Every Child A Reader Program (ECARP). This diagnostic tool is designed to help classroom teachers determine the reading level and abilities of individual students and the whole class, allowing them to create suitable instructions.
Each test below has different objects and is applicable based on the student’s levels:
- Phil-IRI Oral Reading Test – Test administrators utilized this tool to determine the student’s errors in oral reading. It also helps administrators calculate the number of words a student can read per minute and how well the student comprehends a passage.
- Phil-IRI Listening Comprehension – This assessment tool is for students discovered as nonreaders. It helps identify how well a student can comprehend the selection read out by the test administrator. The test administrators will read multiple-choice questions, and students should answer orally.
- Phil-IRI Silent Reading Test – For additional verification, test administrators may use this tool after conducting the Oral Reading to determine the student’s comprehension skill. Nonetheless, the Phil-IRI Silent Reading Test is an optional activity.
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Coverage
The Phil-IRI Filipino Group Screening Test (GST) covers all Grades 3 to 6 students, and the English GST is for Grades 4 to 6 learners. Further individual assessment is necessary if the student’s performance is lower than the level of expectation or with a total Raw Score below 14 in the Phil-IRI GST. Thus, students with lower performance scores must undergo the Phil-IRI Graded Passages.
Phil-IRI Reading Materials
Phil-IRI Reading Materials or Graded Passages come in Filipino and English form. These reading materials have different Readability levels. The English Graded Passages range from Grade 2 to Grade 7 Readability levels, while the Filipino Graded Passages have Grades 1 to Grade 7. The Reading Materials for Grades 2 to Grade 4 are in narrative texts, and Grades 5 to 7 are in expository texts. Under Filipino Graded Passages, Social Studies concepts are in expository texts. On the contrary, English Graded Passages deal with Science concepts.
Revised Phil-IRI Manual 2018
On March 28, 2018, the Department of Education issued the DepEd Order (DO) 14, series (s.) 2018, titled the “Revised Guidelines on the Administration of the Revised Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI).” Created in early 2013 before the launch of the K-12 Curriculum, the former Phil-IRI selections are designed based on the old Filipino and English curricula where Grade 1 students learned how to read in Filipino and English. However, the K-12 curriculum led to the upgrade of the Phil-IRI Reading Materials.
Adjustments on Phil-IRI
Under the K-12 curriculum, during the first semester, Grade 2 students are taught how to Read in Filipino. During the second semester, Grade 2 students will learn to Read in English. For instance, the Phonics and Word Recognition curriculum is for Grade 2 students in English during the second semester, where they will learn how to read short e, a, and i words using the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern. Meanwhile, the following applies to Grade 3 students under word recognition:
- First Quarter – Students will read words with short “o” and “u” sounds in common sight words and CVC patterns. They will also read 2-syllable words, which consist of short “e” to “u” sounds, such as hotdog, sunset, and basket.
- Second Quarter – Students will read words with initial consonant blend, like l, r, and s, and short vowel sounds. It also involves reading words with initial and final consonants digraphs “ch” and “sh.”
- Third Quarter – Students will read words with long “a,” “i,” “o,” and “u” sounds ending in e with only one syllable and two syllables.
- Fourth Quarter – Students will read with vowel digraphs, like ai (pail), ay (bay), ea (lead), and ee (seed). During this quarter, students will also learn how to read words with diphthongs, such as oy (boy), oi (boil), ou (out), and ow (bow), and involves reading irregularly spelled words, like through, beautiful, and enough.
Implementation Schedule
Activities
- Uploading of Phil-IRI to the Learning Resource Management Development System (LRMDS) portal on DepEd’s website – Before the start of the school year (SY)
- Orientation-training to Teachers on the Administration of tools – Before the SY commences during summer break as part of the In-Service Education and Training (INSET)
Administration
A. Phil-IRI Group Screening Test (GST) – administered within class hours
1. Filipino (for Grade 3 to Grade 6)
- Pretest – Within the first or second month of the school year
- Posttest – From January to February of the school year
2. English (for Grade 4 to Grade 6)
- Pretest – Within the first or second month of the school year
- Posttest – From January to February of the school year
B. Individualized Phil-IRI – Assessment for pupils who failed the GST and administered outside class hours
1. Filipino (for Grade 3 to Grade 6)
- Pretest – Within a month after the administering GST
- Posttest – From January to February of the school year
2. English (for Grade 4 to Grade 6)
- Pretest – Within a month after the administering GST
- Posttest – From January to February of the school year
Video: AUTOMATED PHIL-IRI FREE TO DOWNLOAD
To learn more about Phil-IRI Reading Materials, watch the video below:
As discussed in the video, an Automated Phil-IRI template makes it easier for teachers to compute students’ performance. With this automated template, teachers no longer need manual computation since it automatically generates learner’s reading and comprehension levels. Hence, this template can help teachers to effectively and efficiently produce a Phil-IRI.
Summary
Due to the high ratio of student-to-teacher and budget restrictions, the Department of Education requires an effective and systematic solution to address the severe shortage of teachers in the Philippines. That’s why the Phil-IRI Reading Materials will benefit teachers as it streamlines the assessment of students’ performance. This tool will also help teachers determine and provide suitable learning instructions, benefiting all Filipino learners from Grades 2 to 6.