Reflecting advances in the understanding of language, learning, and the complex literacy demands of a rapidly changing democratic and technological society, this booklet provides a set of standards to guide decisions about assessing the teaching and learning of reading and writing. After an introduction that presents an overview of what is meant…

Informal assessment ties evaluation and teaching together. Through systematic observation, teachers gather useful, instructional information as learners engage in the processes of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Informal assessment measures suggested by researchers and language arts teachers include anecdotal records, informal…

A rural Ohio elementary school monitored the relationship of its restructuring efforts to students' reading achievement and self-perceived motivation to learn. Restructuring efforts involved multiage grouping, cooperative structures, community groups, full inclusion of children with mild learning handicaps, integrated curricula with thematic…

A study replicated a study done in 1986: both studies determined the relationship among cognitive laterality, gender, and reading comprehension for African-American students, and the relationship between hemispheric preference and reading comprehension or gender. A standardized reading test to measure reading comprehension and the Cognitive…

Discussing results of the third Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) survey of attainment in English language of a representative sample of pupils throughout Scotland, this leaflet highlights areas where improvement in the performance could be made. The leaflet covers the four outcomes--listening, talking, reading, writing--in four columns.…

"Success for All" is a compensatory education program that significantly increased the reading performance of disadvantaged primary grade students in a Baltimore (Maryland) elementary school while also reducing retentions and special education placements. The program concentrates resources in kindergarten through grade three and uses…

A study investigated whether significant differences existed in reading achievement and self-concept among samples of above grade level readers, developmental readers, and below grade level readers. Forty children in two heterogeneously grouped fourth grade classes in a private school completed measures of reading achievement and self-concept. The…

In an effort to evaluate comprehension skills with a "real world" task, students were asked to summarize and respond to an excerpt from a college freshman textbook. The written responses of a group of both high school students (n=100) and college students (n=51) were analyzed through a checklist developed to assess students'…

Two experiments were conducted to determine the emergent reading levels of elementary school students. In the first experiment, 27 third grade and 27 sixth grade students of average reading ability from rural schools in central Florida were given pretest and posttest cloze passages on science materials two readability levels above their grade…

Students in grades 3 to 8, who participated in the Follow Through program in Portland, Oregon, were tested for their reading and mathematics achievement during Fall 1979, Spring and Fall 1980, and Spring 1981. The measuring instrument used was the Portland Basic Skills Achievement Levels Testing Program. Test results were reported as RIT (Rasch…

The responses of first-grade students to seatwork assignments were studied through detailed narrative records, copies of seatwork performance, and informal conversations with the students about their work. Two distinct groups of students were identified for comparisons: those whose responses to seatwork were frequently poor (low attention and low…

This paper examines the major influences of state minimum standards of pupil proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics; state curriculum guides; basic skills testing; and a state-funded compensatory/remedial program on public schools in Louisiana since 1980. The state testing program is described in some detail. Its influence in the home is…

Two parallel studies were conducted to determine whether students' achievement in reading and/or mathematics would be affected by the use of Education Systems Corporation (ESC) Software for Chapter 1 students. Students in the experimental groups used the software twice a week during a period of one school year, with 561 Chapter 1 students in…

This study determined how children develop reading ability in first and second grade. Subjects, approximately 315 children from 3 school districts in the midwest, were given a series of standardized and customized measures of reading comprehension. Linear structural models were developed at both grade levels using LISREL to explain variance in…

A study conducted during a training program, in which students were learning to find main ideas, investigated how different kinds of strategy value information influenced children's reading comprehension. Subjects, 15 fourth-grade and 15 fifth-grade students who regularly received remedial reading comprehension instruction, were divided into three…