A great reading conference only takes five minutes, but its impact can last a lifetime. That is because conferences are the critical, one-to-one teaching that forms the backbone of reading instruction. This book shows teachers how to confer well and demonstrates why a few moments with students every week can put them on the path to becoming…

Offers a procedure for keeping a record of the quality and quantity of student responses (both group and individual) to K-W-L informal assessment. (SR)

Describes recommended procedures for assessing reading readiness and the teaching of beginning reading for three- and four-year-old children. (Author/MP)

Describes using book diaries as a way for students to respond in writing to their reading as they practice the comprehension strategies learned in class; also describes using the diaries as an informal means of assessing students' learning and communicating regularly with parents. (MG)

Living in an age of communication, literacy is an extremely integral part of our society. We are impacted by literature during our infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. "Literacy for the New Millennium" includes information from specialists in the field who discuss the influence of popular culture, media, and technology on…

The transition to adult life for students with reading and writing challenges is an area that is not often addressed. The purpose of this article is to relate the informal assessment process to the broader context of high stakes assessment, high school exit exams, diploma options, and transition planning; identify the competencies needed for a…

Divided into four sections, this monograph focuses on effective evaluation in the whole language classroom. The first section discusses the whole language philosophy and classroom, and lists the beliefs that proponents of this approach hold about whole language teaching and teachers, language, and language learners. The second section addresses…

Each of the five sections in this book deals with one of the five major components in a diagnostic/prescriptive model of classroom reading instruction: instructional purpose, evaluation, materials, methods, and classroom management. Articles in the "Instructional Purpose" section discuss the affective component of instruction and the relationship…

This digest is intended to help and inform those teachers who are contemplating using children's literature to teach reading, and provides a brief review of material in the ERIC database on literature-based reading instruction. The digest includes sections on recent research, basic resources, assessing literature based reading, diverse methods…

Classroom teachers frequently need techniques for assessing students' reading comprehension; the retelling technique is a useful tool for this purpose. The technique is divided into two parts, the unaided retelling and the aided or directed retelling. During both parts, open-ended, divergent questioning techniques are used. An excerpt from a…

Describes an informal spelling assessment that teachers can use to understand students' level of orthographic knowledge at the beginning of the school year. Reports that the results of this informal testing allow teachers to group students for word study and directed literacy instruction. (MG)

This article addresses translating phonological awareness research for classroom reading instruction. It presents a practical overview of phonological awareness development and its relationship to beginning reading. Formal and informal assessment methods of children's phonological awareness are presented, and strategies are described for…

Research indicates that engagement with text is critical to becoming a good reader and can be fostered in primary grades by using informal assessments of individual student's reading ability to guide instruction. Describes running record, miscue analysis, and cloze-procedure assessment tools and the assessment task of oral retelling. Sidebars list…

Investigations of both printed professional materials for reading teachers and the interaction of reading authorities across the United States have revealed ten current directions and needs in reading instruction. They are: (1) an emphasis on absolute educational accountability with respect to reading skills of students; (2) renewed and pronounced…

A framework is presented for applying error analysis of oral reading to decisions about placement and instruction. The focus is on assessment practices that rely on the stimulus material of daily instruction and that facilitate decision making on both what and how to teach reading. A case study illustrates application of the procedure. (JDD)