Discusses different types of reading program evaluation. (FL)

Discusses materials for middle grade and high school learners. Explains useful resources for teaching struggling writers. Details a publishing tool, a reading comprehension assessment, and a Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT) preparation text. (PM)

Examines six challenges that face teachers interested in developing alternative assessments of literacy: (1) clarifying goals; (2) clarifying audiences; (3) selecting and developing assessment techniques; (4) setting performance standards; (5) establishing methods of management; and (6) integrating assessment and instruction. (SR)

Contends that high stakes tests provide no useful or timely information to help teachers accomplish assessment goals, and they encourage an interactional climate that can undermine them. Outlines how assessments can improve learning. Concludes that since assessments of children, as enacted in classrooms, are part of the intellectual environment…

Argues for a more complex view of literate activity guiding curricular and assessment practices. Suggests beginning by counting as basic both a critical literacy and a social imagination--the ability to imagine what it is like to be someone else. (RS)

Discusses five ways to determine the amount and quality of prior knowledge children bring to a topic: (1) free recall tasks, (2) word association tasks, (3) structured questions, (4) recognition tasks, and (5) unstructured discussion. (FL)

Identifies and analyzes seven threats to authentic evaluation, and predicts implications. Warns educators to beware of the term "standards"; norm-referencing; aggregation; credibility, comparability, and calibration; multiple measures; schemes that rule out varieties of excellence; and "untests." (SR)

Reviews three texts (published in 1991 or 1992) dealing with portfolio assessment in the reading and writing classroom. Notes that portfolios are powerful agents of change and need to be approached cautiously. (RS)

Describes an English teacher educator's changing views on assessment. Discusses four recent books that offer assessment strategies teachers can use to improve their instructional practice, to increase their own learning, and to enhance their programs. (RS)

Argues that process-oriented evaluation of children's literacy by the classroom teacher is more efficient and more instructionally valid than current test-driven evaluation procedures. (FL)

Notes that classroom assessment of literacy is dominated by methods more appropriate to external mandates. Suggests an alternative method grounded in the teacher's professional judgment and in the relations between curriculum, instruction, and assessment. (FL)

Points out that children's growth in response to literature is not assessed by existing standardized tests or by progress from one textbook to another. Suggests guidelines for teacher observation of children's responses and provides a checklist for assessing oral and written reactions. (FL)

Points out that sound assessment programs should (1) be a part of instruction, (2) use varied methods and instruments, (3) focus on a broad range of skills and knowledge, (4) occur continuously, (5) occur in a variety of contexts, and (6) be appropriate for age and level of development. Offers examples of practices based on these points. (FL)

Presents 12 points about experimentation all teachers concerned with evidence-based reading instruction should keep in mind as they evaluate assertions about literacy education. Reflects on how responsible experimenters who wish to inform literacy instruction should communicate research results to classroom practitioners. Concludes that educators…

Encourages teachers to evaluate the strategies used by their students in comprehension. Argues that this will provide information that will help in planning instruction. (FL)