Idaho Department of Education seeks input on Idaho’s early literacy assessment

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) – The Idaho Department of Education is seeking input from educational stakeholders in preparation for a Request for Proposal (RFP) to overhaul the state’s early literacy assessment, the Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI).

Stakeholders are invited to fill out a short survey to help guide this process. The survey will close on Dec. 22.

Each spring and fall, the IRI is administered to students in grades kindergarten through third grade. Results help instructors better understand the needs of early learners in the areas of phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. Results are also used to identify students who may need additional instruction and interventions to support their learning throughout the school year.

Since 2016, the Idaho Department of Education has contracted with assessment vendor Istation to use the Istation Early Reading Assessment (ISIP) for the IRI. In the next several months, the Department will once again engage in the RFP process to select a product for future IRI implementation.

Survey results will help inform the department on what changes or additions may be needed on future IRI assessments. Feedback is anonymous, and although several questions are geared towards educators and administrators, any member of the public is welcome to take the survey. Not all survey questions must be answered.

Following the survey collection, the department will convene stakeholder groups to review the results. The input will help guide the RFP process and inform the creation of a new scoring rubric.