Suggests that both portfolio and performance-based assessment can be implemented in ways that retain vestiges of standardized testing. Compares aspects of standardized testing to aspects of portfolio and performance-based evaluation. Discusses responsibility to those assessed. (RS)

Critically reviews an earlier published study that assessed the sensitivity of the cloze procedure to intersentential integration. (AEA)

In conjunction with testing mandates, some states have developed new measures intended to reflect changes in thinking about reading. Discusses, in dialogue form, whether these new measures support educational improvement or limit them. (BJV)

Argues that giving students a reading test that is above or below their levels of achievement will yield inaccurate information. (FL)

Offers an argument against increased emphasis on testing, claiming that reading and writing can never be tested because the conception of reading and writing inherent in tests is faulty. Suggests alternatives that are congruent with a more adequate conception of reading and writing. (SR)

Discusses whether high levels of skill in one's second language (L2) leads to loss of performance in one's first language (L1). Data are reviewed indicating that a high level of reading skill in L2 may indeed be associated with slower reading in L1. (21 references) (Author/VWL)

Reviews research dealing with test wiseness and concludes that teachers and others who administer tests and those who review results should consider the degree to which test wiseness characteristics might have been operative had a planned effort been undertaken to provide special instruction. (FL)

Describes the complex and sometimes conflicting components involved in reading assessment issues and proposes a solution that involves linkages among assessment audiences and approaches. Concludes with remarks about how school districts might pull together all the pieces and solve the assessment puzzle for themselves. (PRA)

Discusses what the term "High-Stakes Testing" means; concerns about high-stakes testing; whether testing is an important part of good educational design; why using tests for high-stakes decisions causes problems; whether test scores improve when high-stakes assessment is mandated; and ways to help states monitor student success in the curriculum.…

Discusses what the term "High-Stakes Testing" means; concerns about high-stakes testing; whether testing is an important part of good educational design; why using tests for high-stakes decisions causes problems; whether test scores improve when high-stakes assessment is mandated; and ways to help states monitor student success in the curriculum.…

Much of what has developed in the testing of reading harkens back to the days of the "Cult of Efficiency" movement in education that can be largely attributed to Frederick Winslow Taylor. Taylor spent most of his productive years studying time and motion in an attempt to streamline industrial production so that people could work as…

Although informal reading inventories are widely used, they are not without their shortcomings, regardless of whether they have been published commercially or have been constructed by the teacher. There are at least two significant weaknesses in inventories developed by the teacher: (1) passages selected randomly from the graded basal readers that…

Examines the evolution of reading comprehension in English classrooms and examination rooms and considers active and collaborative approaches to teaching reading comprehension. (HOD)

This paper reviews literacy and literacy assessment in America, in relation to the various National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessments. Literacy can be defined and assessed only in relation to literacy demands. A current concept of literacy distinguishes between reading comprehension as an outcome of lexical access and…

Examines the relationship between a journey and a destination in terms of the educational experience, where learning is the journey but test scores have become the destination. Focuses on the loss of curriculum areas that are untested in favor of the destination of math and reading scores. Asserts that middle school students deserve both measured…