Focusing on better assessing the thinking, or meaning-making, aspects of reading that are emphasized in current views of the reading process, this book presents the Informal Reading-Thinking Inventory (IR-TI) which offers options to enhance assessment beyond assessing students' listening level, oral reading of words, and basic comprehension. The inventory in the book offers a separate means of assessing student reading and thinking "beyond the lines" and an option to measure students' metacognition. The first part of the book is the manual for administering and interpreting the IR-TI, including a discussion of purposes and components, how the IR-TI was developed, preparation to use the IR-TI, administration of the word lists and passages, completion of the cumulative record form, and determination of reading and listening levels. The second part of the book presents teacher's recording forms for the word lists, and two different forms of the passages for each of the grade levels from one to nine, inclusive. The third part of the book presents materials for the student, including word lists, both passage forms, and rating cards. Contains 70 references. Appendixes present a 31-item list of no-charge inventories and lists, and an informal writing inventory. (RS)