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Spelling inventories are specifically designed to identify a student's developmental spelling stages. These assessments provide insights into how a student formulates and applies spelling rules, which are closely tied to their understanding of language structure, sound-letter relationships, and vocabulary. By analyzing the errors and successes in a child's spelling during an inventory, educators can determine which stage of spelling development the student is in. This knowledge allows teachers to tailor instruction to meet the specific needs of the student, whether that involves focusing on basic phonemic awareness, spelling patterns, or more advanced orthographic patterns.

Understanding the developmental stages is crucial for driving instruction that helps students progress in their spelling abilities. Other options, while related to literacy, do not specifically pertain to the purpose of spelling inventories. For instance, comprehension and fluency are broader reading skills not directly assessed by spelling inventories, and phonics knowledge, while important, is just one aspect of the overall picture that spelling inventories help to clarify regarding developmental spelling stages.