A popular approach for improving students' literacy skills is school-based literacy or reading coaches--specially trained master teachers who provide leadership for the school's literacy program and offer on-site and ongoing professional development support for teachers so they can improve the literacy skills of their students. To understand the…

Argues that New Hampshire high-stakes test administered at the end of the third grade is flawed and thus should be discontinued because the questions are not only too abstract, but beyond the knowledge and experience of most third graders. (Contains 23 references.) (PKP)

In Bangor, Maine, a seamless, continuous-progress performance assessment in reading is evolving--all because 24 first-grade teachers objected to using standardized achievement tests. Teachers have developed the Bangor Assessment of Reading (BAR), a triennial process of assessing fluency, meaning construction, comprehension, reading strategies, and…