Ensure the right placement for every student
Matching student needs to targeted resources can mean the difference between literacy success and a lifetime of struggle—in and out of the classroom. How can you ensure students are placed into the right type of intervention for the right amount of time?
The Phonics Inventory empowers educators to quickly identify which students are in need of intensive foundational skills intervention and which would be better served with resources focused on comprehension and fluency.
Fast, accurate, and scalable—Phonics Inventory takes the guesswork out of accurately placing students into appropriate reading intervention programs.

Phonics Screener
Reliably screen all students across your class, school, or district for an accurate and easy-to-interpret representation of proficiency levels, intervention needs, and resource allocation needs.

Placement Test
Place students into targeted intervention programs designed to deliver personalized instruction to close proficiency gaps and set them on the path to success.

Progress Monitor
Monitor each student's progress in decoding, sight word recognition, and comprehension to ensure the effectiveness of intervention programs and provide additional resources where needed.
Identify, Assess, Instruct
Phonics Inventory takes the guesswork out of process by providing a reliable tool for pinpointing the exact nature of your students' intervention needs with a foundational reading assessment designed to measure fluency of phonological decoding and sight word recognition in older, struggling students.
Who Is a Candidate?
Which of your students are best served by Phonics Inventory?
- Students in Grades 3-12
- Students at or below an established percentile on state or national assessments
- Students at or below an established Lexile® measure on the Reading Inventory®
- Students who tend to use visual memory and sight word recall for reading and/or cannot work with new words independently

- Practice Tests
Administer Practice Tests ahead of time to warm students up by allowing them to get comfortable with the testing interface.
- Letter Recognition Test
Measure students’ ability to identify lowercase letters and read aloud.
- Sight Word Recognition Test
Assess students’ knowledge of high-frequency sight words by asking them to overlook orthographically similar words that appear as distractions.
- Nonword Decoding Test
Determine students’ pure decoding skills in a decontextualized environment by asking them to decode nonsense words that follow the structural conventions of the English language but have no meanings.

Full-Scale Reports Ensure Effective Feedback Loops
Screening and Placement Report:
Reports on accuracy and fluency scores to determine if a decoding problem is impacting reading comprehension.

Student Progress Report:
Reports on growth over time to inform grouping for differentiated instruction.

District/School Status Report:
Reports on school and district proficiency levels to inform curriculum planning and resource allocation.

District/School Growth Report:
Informs administrators about the effectiveness of their intervention strategies to determine if additional resources are needed.


Reading Inventory® (Grades K–12)
Ensure effective instruction and personalization with quick access to performance data.

Literacy Solutions
Literacy Solutions provides professional learning and coaching that help teachers inspire lifelong learners.
Authors & Advisors
Developed in partnership with nation's leading literacy authors and experts, Phonics Inventory was built on decades of experience and scientifically based research.

Dr. Richard Wagner
Professor, Florida State University

Dr. Ted Hasselbring
Emeritus Professor, Vanderbilt University; HMH Learning Sciences & Research Advisory Board
News & Events
Stay Connected with the Literacy Community.

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Reading Is More Than Fundamental
HMH’s Kristi James shares what ideal literacy engagement in an early childhood classroom would look like and how teachers can realize this goal and promote it outside of their classrooms as well.

A Guide to Engaging, Effective Instruction in Phonics, Spelling, and Vocabulary
In advance of the final fall 2017 Leadership Talk, literacy thought leader Dr. Shane Templeton previews his presentation on differentiating word study instruction.
Discover How Phonics Inventory Sets Every Student on the Path to Success.
Discover How Phonics Inventory Sets Every Student on the Path to Success.
AP & ELECTIVES