This paper presents a framework intended to link the following assessment development concepts into a systematic framework: evidence-centered design (ECD), scenario-based assessment (SBA), and assessment of, for, and as learning. The context within which we develop this framework is the English language arts (ELA) for K-12 students, though the…

Explains that if the ability to read in the fullest sense can be fostered from infancy in and out of school, children will grow to be the highly literate society of tomorrow. (DF)

Suggests that reading and writing are not only language competencies displayed in literacy or literature but that they are the sites for analysis in emergent literacies. (DF)

Some children become capable readers and writers before ever attending school and without exposure to formal instruction. This phenomenon--sometimes referred to as natural literacy development--is not, in the strictest sense, natural; as the adult presents much of the literacy environment to the child in a socialized, mediated form, teaching is…

Asserts that in school children are taught to isolate communication systems from each other, such as music, art, language, drama, and mathematics. Uses examples from the lives of two children to explore how children think about time, learning as a social process, and early literacy growth. (BGC)