White Level Inventory for Beginning Readers and Writers

Young writers change quickly in the ways that they represent the sounds of the English spelling system.  If you sample the children’s spelling of words that are representative of the outcomes you desire, you can easily document growth over time.  The White Level Inventory is designed to serve that purpose as an assessment instrument.

The inventory words are a sampling of words from the White Level Word Lists.  There are 5 CVC words, 5 CCVC words, 3 CVCe words, 3 CCVCe words. 7 High Frequency words, and 7 Short Vowel words with consonant endings (CVCC and CCVCC).  The White Level Inventory can be used before you start your work and again at the end of the year.  Many children will need to complete the initial inventory over two sessions. 

Use this inventory to gather information about how childrenencode basic word patterns (CVC, CVCe), use beginning blends and digraphs (CCVC and CCVCe), develop memory for high frequency words with irregular spellings, and use blends and digraphs at the ends of words with short vowels (CVCC and CCVCC).  

White Level Inventory