Reading and writing are complex areas to assess. No single assessment can include all aspects of these complex processes. What's more, there are multiple purposes for literacy assessment, and no single assessment can serve all purposes. Together, these facts make it clear that literacy assessment is much more complicated than many realize. In…

Over the last two decades, there has been renewed interest in formative assessment, in large part due to the increasing pressures and prevalence of "high stakes" summative assessments. As states try to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, teachers and administrators are realizing that formative assessment offers an…

There are numerous benefits of using blogs to discuss reading in the elementary classroom. Teachers can assess reading comprehension for individual students while managing several book clubs in a digital space. The resulting assessment-based data can be used to differentiate instruction. Additionally, students can experience growth as independent,…

Among the types of assessment the closest to daily reading instruction is formative assessment. In contrast to summative assessment, which occurs after instruction, formative assessment involves forming judgments frequently in the flow of instruction. Key features of formative assessment include identifying gaps between where students are and…

A formative design experiment methodology was employed to investigate the acquisition of early reading skills for high school English language learners (ELLs) beginning to read English. A fundamental challenge facing high school ELLs entering schools in the United States for the first time is learning how to read. While there is considerable…

The authors explored the credibility of using informal reading inventories and writing samples for 138 students (K-4) to evaluate the effectiveness of a summer literacy program. Running Records (a measure of a child's reading level) and teacher experience during daily reading instruction were used to estimate the reliability of the more formal…

Formative evaluation emphasizes continuous assessment within a unit of study. There are many ways which may be used by the reading teacher to ascertain pupil achievement: teacher observation, a checklist of important reading behaviors, rating scales, anecdotal statements, teacher written tests, class discussions, self evaluation forms,…

Discusses the practice of parental involvement in the teaching of reading. Questions whether the way this involvement is currently evaluated is as productive as it could be. Suggests alternative kinds of evaluation which might better serve a formative function in helping teachers plan their actions. (KO)

Twenty pairs of students from seven special education resource rooms (elementary and intermediate grades) were assessed on the structure of the instruction they received. Their reading achievement was measured three times during the year. The instructional programs for 10 experimental students were to be based on their teachers' use of continuous…

Monitoring the effectiveness of reading education is central to the appraisal of the productivity of schooling, yet most measures currently being used do not take into account the full range of processes which lead to successful reading education. A model of indicators relevant to reading education (outcome, process, and input) can be used to…

This book provides practical strategies and tools for assessing and teaching even the most hard to reach English language learners across the content areas. Syrja offers educators the latest information on working with ELLs (including using formative assessments) and provides a wealth of classroom-tested models and measures. These tools have…

A year long study involving 38 students in grades 1 to 6 was conducted to assess the degree of implementation of a frequent, curriculum-based measurement and evaluation system in classrooms in which the teachers had received training in the system, and to examine the effectiveness of the measurement and evaluation system in terms of enhancing the…

Discusses an academic reading course for students of business and management in Tunisia. The article describes student reactions to teaching materials, attempts to explain the causes of these reactions, and shows how curriculum developers revised the materials to the satisfaction of students and teachers. (Author/SED)

Dimensions of instruction and assessment were manipulated within a tertiary prevention to examine their effects on word and text reading development. In this article case studies of two children who demonstrated significant and sustained lack of adequate response to treatment are profiled. Results indicated that reducing group size, using…

This evaluation study assessed the effectiveness of an Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) funded Secondary Reading Project (SRP) in aiding secondary students to overcome a lack of developmental skills in reading. General procedures and specific techniques used in the evaluation are outlined and discussed. During the 1973-74 school year ESAA-funded…