In this article, I focus on three areas of reading assessment that I believe to be crucial for students' reading development: developing comprehensive formative assessments, assessing the wide array of factors that contribute to students' reading development, and fostering student independence by helping students learn to use reading assessment on…

Simulations are an underpinning pedagogy and tradition in some professional fields, such as medicine, yet are seldom used in education. In this study, the author reports on the findings of a reading assessment situation activity that she did with preservice early grade (kindergarten to grade 6) teachers. In addition to giving preservice teachers…

This teaching tip describes an intervention used in a third-grade classroom implemented to help students pass an end-of-grade reading comprehension test. Low scores on a practice end-of-grade comprehension test prompted a re-examination of classroom reading instruction and a plan for intervention. This teaching tip describes the phases implemented…

This column explains three ways that teachers can improve reading test performance. Basically, the idea is that instead of teaching students to respond to particular question types as is typical of test preparation despite the ineffectiveness of this practice, it is better to teach students to read the test passages more effectively. Three…

By viewing standardized reading tests as a unique genre that could be taught, the author designed a two-week genre study for her reading workshop. The article describes how she planned, taught, and reflected on the unit. This genre study resolved some of the dilemmas she faced around preparing students for mandated testing. (Contains 1 table and 2…

Suggests an easy method to check phonic skills and learn what help the child needs to improve his reading ability. (TO)

Demonstrates how a universal taxonomy of reading goals might be related to a taxonomy of reading means. (FL)

What can teachers do in their classrooms to help students prepare for a high-stakes, standardized, multiple-choice reading test without sacrificing what they know to be best practice? Decreasing class sizes or other solutions that require substantial changes in school finance are not usually realistic options. This article outlines five…

Describes research about and teaching techniques for test-taking skills. (MKM)

Concludes that the instrument reviewed is a carefully designed test incorporating a new interpretation of standardization and improved definitions of traditional reading levels. (FL)

Discusses test-taking skills and their application to tests of reading achievement. Presents a rationale for teaching these skills, lists a comprehensive set of skills relevant to standardized reading tests, and offers suggestions for teaching the skills and helping children use them. (FL)

Describes the Group Comprehension Matrix and the Individual Comprehension Matrix, assessment instruments that teachers can use to help them make student placement decisions. (FL)

Discusses informal reading inventories and suggests that teachers adjust the inventories to their own teaching practices to assure reflection of students' ability to perform in the classrooms. (MB)

Researches a basal reading and a language arts method of teaching reading, advancing the possibility of using reading readiness instead of intelligence tests to predict later reading achievement. (RB)