The purpose of this article was to offer guidance to educators in evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, and most effective uses of commercial reading assessment suites. We provide three resources to help educators who are responsible for making instructional decisions in reading using formal screening, benchmark, interim, and progress-monitoring…

Effective teachers use assessment data to make instructional decisions. One of the most informative techniques to assess young learners' reading progress in the primary grades is the running record. Running records provide concrete evidence of students' skills, reading levels, strategies, and progress as readers. The data gathered help teachers…

Twenty-first century literacy requires students to analyze and create images for communication across and within academic disciplines. Thus, literacy teachers are now responsible for supporting students as they engage with visual texts. We must carefully and intentionally choose images for teaching practice and consider the reader, instructional…

Presents a framework for literacy assessment that can be adapted to suit the assessment needs of particular schools and districts. Describes a process of decision making about authentic literacy assessments that schools should emulate to achieve consensus about literacy outcomes and processes. Discusses the Kamehameha Elementary Education Program.…

A carefully coordinated literacy assessment and instruction framework implemented school-wide can support school teams in making sense of various types of data for instructional planning. Instruction that is data based and goal driven sets the stage for continuous reading and writing improvement. (Contains 2 figures.)

Focuses on the selection and evaluation of courseware for use with a reading program. Gives examples of courseware to support the ideas presented, together with a sample checklist for software evaluation. (FL)

Discusses the value of clear objectives in assessing student needs, monitoring teaching procedures, monitoring student growth, and determining mastery. Table and bibliography. (RW)