Over the past few decades, reading assessment has been pushed to the forefront of the national discussion about education. The most recent reauthorizations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1994, 2001) made assessment a priority as administrators and teachers are attempting to meet increasing accountability standards, but measuring…

This article is a response to "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS): A Tool for Evaluating Student Learning?" by Kamii and Manning (2005). The intent of their study was to evaluate how DIBELS and a writing test predict reading achievement, which was measured by scores on the Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT) as well…

The FRI and GORT tests are reviewed with attention to test rationales and purposes, test development, test administration, and making the purchase choice. Concludes that the FRI is the preferable test. (JK)

Describes the uses and limitations of the revised Reading Evaluation Adult Diagnosis test. (HOD)

Responds to previous article on validating curriculum-based measurement (Derr-Minneci and Shapiro, this issue). Contends that research reported by Derr-Mennici and Shapiro neither validated curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in reading from behavioral perspective, nor investigated accuracy of CBM. Organizes comments around three points of emphasis…

Responds to previous article on validating curriculum-based measurement (Derr-Minneci and Shapiro, this issue). Contends that, in examining variation in oral reading rate across their three settings, Derr-Mennici and Shapiro's assessment procedures were of unknown accuracy, and that these procedures themselves varied among settings, making it…

Errors in oral reading tests result from inaccuracies that tend to creep in because children are not totally consistent while taking a test and from inaccuracies caused when the examiner does not catch a word recognition error, giving credit for an answer that is more wrong than right or vice versa. Every test contains a standard error of…

Concludes that the test has a well-designed reading booklet and a carefully constructed manual, but that it has a narrow applicability. (FL)

Twenty years of research on the Maze, a classroom-based reading measure for students with learning disabilities, is summarized. Overall, the research is supportive of the Maze. However, the most common version requires revision to obtain minimum construct validity, and additional research is needed on reliability and usefulness of alternate forms.…

The paper outlines the rationale and development of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and its empirical support; summarizes two reading models (Chall's stages of reading development and LaBerge and Samuels' model of automaticity); and discusses how CBM, with its use of oral reading rate measures, and the reading models may validate each other.…

Intended to help dispel several unsupported "myths" about reading instruction, this book analyzes a selected group of teaching practices that have been supported by reading experts but not by research findings. The "myths" discussed in the first 12 chapters of the book are as follows: (1) phonics hinders comprehension; (2) unpredictable spelling…