If a principal's goal is to improve the overall quality of reading instruction in his school, this guide can help him identify the most critical changes that must be made. It describes the types of instruction and leadership activities necessary to help all children become proficient readers in elementary school. It does not contain all the…

Describes the Lexile Framework(R), which enables teachers to develop personalized instruction based on Lexile measures of reading ability and Lexiled reading lists. The Lexile Framework is based on the entire book, with individual reading ability measured by tests that measure on the same scale on which the books are measured. As an open standard,…

American Indian students tend to lag behind their white and Asian-American peers on National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and mathematics tests in 4th and 8th grade, but they score higher on average than African-American students, according to a first-of-its-kind federal analysis. The U.S. Department of Education says the May 23…

Within the context of standards-based educational systems, states are using large scale reading assessments to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to learn essential knowledge and skills. The challenge for developers of accessible reading assessments is to develop assessments that measure only those student characteristics that are…

Computer-based technologies offer promise as a means to assess students and provide teachers with better understandings of their students' achievement. This article describes recent developments in computer-based and web-based reading and literacy assessment, focusing on assessment administration, information management, and report creation. In…

This article describes a randomized evaluation of The Reading Edge, a reading program for middle school students. The Reading Edge was designed to integrate findings of research on cooperative learning and metacognitive reading strategies into a replicable reading instructional package that could be implemented effectively in Title I middle…

The Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) was administered to all kindergarten students enrolled in two rural elementary schools in the fall of 2004. Eight months later, the reading portion of the Metropolitan Readiness Tests, 6th Edition (MRT-6) was administered. Teachers were asked to indicate whether they had concerns about each student's…

In a more consistent and viable manner than ever before, education in Alabama is moving toward its ultimate goal of providing every student with a quality education, thereby preparing them for work, college, and life after high school. Alabama's graduation rates from 2002 to 2008 increased significantly, tripling the national average increase and…

The journey toward 100% proficiency is most successful when a whole school works as a team. School leaders must focus their school's energy and effort on schoolwide initiatives that will make the changes needed to increase student learning and improve students' scores on state tests. The structure of the school and the collaboration of the faculty…

William S. Gray, first president of the International Reading Association, is the focus of this booklet. Sections are devoted to "The Person," which includes Gray's family background, early schooling and teaching jobs, and his further education at Illinois State University, the University of Chicago, and Teachers College (Columbia…

Noting that the amount of reading students do is related to their reading achievement, this booklet presents an instrument designed to measure the amount and breadth of students' reading in and out of school. The first part of the booklet discusses the Reading Activity Inventory (RAI) and how it differs from other reading activity measures, uses…

The purpose of this study was to survey the present status of reading in Alabama secondary schools. A survey of reading in secondary schools was designed to answer the following questions: What achievement or reading tests are presently administered in Alabama secondary schools? What is the purpose of such testing? What format is presently used in…

States are increasingly turning to standardized testing to hold colleges accountable for student outcomes. Currently, about half of the states require public colleges to conduct some type of assessment or accountability measure. Assessments generally fall into two categories: high-stakes tests, which may affect the progress of individual students,…

Public schools across the United States are educating an increasing number and diversity of immigrant students. Unfortunately, little is known about their performance relative to native-born students and the extent to which the "nativity gap" might be explained by school and demographic characteristics. This article takes a step toward…

In this article, I describe a practical application of the Roussos and Stout (1996) multidimensional analysis framework for interpreting group performance differences on an ESL reading proficiency test. Although a variety of statistical methods have been developed for flagging test items that function differentially for equal ability examinees…