In critiquing our paper on "The literacy performance of ex-Reading Recovery students between two and four years following participation in the program: Is this intervention effective for students with early reading difficulties?", Schwartz argues that we have engaged in pursuing political and ideological agendas as part of our ongoing…

This article is a response to "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS): A Tool for Evaluating Student Learning?" by Kamii and Manning (2005). The intent of their study was to evaluate how DIBELS and a writing test predict reading achievement, which was measured by scores on the Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT) as well…

Testing reading by testing the bits and pieces of reading leads to teaching the bits and pieces instead of teaching reading. Reading is a total skill rather than a subject, and a skill can best be tested by performance. Some of the purposes for reading tests include showing test score improvement, diagnosis, satisfying parents, grouping or sorting…

Discusses two facets of the disparity between the way children learn and the way they are tested: the necessity of practice and the importance of prior knowledge. (FL)

Suggests that continually refined and segmented reading assessment measures may be contributing to reading problems. Discusses three solutions to reading difficulties that have become problems themselves and suggests that more holistic, socially interactive teaching methods are a better solution to reading disabilities. (HTH)

This monograph contains seven articles which focus primarily on formative evaluation for the purpose of furthering the learning of pupils. The articles include: an overview of formative evaluation by Peggy Chnupa; a description of the use of measurement and evaluation as an early screening for entering school children, by Sherrel Marginet and…

This article discusses (1) assessment of discourse through listening and reading to evaluate comprehension problems; (2) developmental aspects of the relationship between listening and reading comprehension skills; (3) problems with selecting text passages and methods of testing comprehension; and (4) the development of a set of passages and a…

Principles that should guide reading comprehension assessment include acknowledging the complexity of reading, focusing on orchestrating rather than isolating skills, regarding reading as a dynamic process, developing techniques that encourage student-teacher interactions, and using a variety of reading comprehension measures. The principles are…

Occasionally, differences in test scores seem to indicate that a student performs much better in one reading area than in another when, in reality, the differences may not be statistically significant. The author presents a table in which statistically significant differences between Woodcock test standard scores are identified. (Author)

The paper outlines the rationale and development of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and its empirical support; summarizes two reading models (Chall's stages of reading development and LaBerge and Samuels' model of automaticity); and discusses how CBM, with its use of oral reading rate measures, and the reading models may validate each other.…

Reading readiness is defined, and the assessment of emergent literacy is discussed. An informal Reading Readiness Inventory is proposed to provide a profile of students' specific strengths and weaknesses at the beginning levels. The assessment comprises such subtests as oral cloze, sound/symbol relationships, and instant recognition of high…

Contends that the methods used to measure literacy development of young British children lag behind understanding of how that literacy develops. Argues for new measures to assess children's early literacy, including their ways of responding to environmental print, sharing books and stories, and early writing. Discusses the placement of assessment…

Five essays for reading instructors at two-year colleges are provided in this issue of "Forum for Reading." First, Kent Smith notes the increased recruitment of underprepared students and argues that colleges are responsible for assuring that admissions personnel, administrators, and faculty know the types of students they can and cannot…

Several issues should be considered in selecting assessment instruments and procedures for use in adult literacy programs. Teachers must consider the purpose of the assessment; the appropriateness of the assessment instrument for adults; the reliability, validity, and practicality of the instrument; whether the assessment is culturally sensitive;…

During the last 20 years, the relationship between reading instruction and assessment has been framed by the logic of mastery learning. The ultimate goal of mastery learning is assuring a given achievement outcome across students by varying input characteristics such as the amount and kind of instruction and practice, or the attention paid to…