2. According to The Access Center (2005),
assessment is a critical component of education
used to inform instruction.
A classroom is comprised of students with diverse
backgrounds and varying literacy skills.
Due to diverse student levels, it is essential to
design literacy instruction to meet the individual
needs of each student.
An effective reading program includes four types of
assessments: screening, diagnostic, progress
monitoring, and outcome measures.
3.
Screening assessments are used to identify
students who may be at risk for reading difficulties
and in need of further diagnostic testing of their
needs.
EXAMPLE:
The Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) is an
example of a universal screening assessment.
This computer based assessment can be used to
measure reading comprehension on the Lexile
Framework for Reading. The results from SRI help
to inform instruction and make placement
recommendations.
4.
Diagnostic assessments help to determine both a
student’s strengths and areas of weakness. The
results allow the teacher to modify instruction to meet
each student’s unique needs.
EXAMPLE:
The Core Phonics Survey is an example of a
diagnostic assessment. It is used to indicate whether
or not a student needs instruction in specific phonics
areas, or if further assessment is required. Each
survey contains a number of lists of letters and words
for the student to identify or decode. This assessment
should be administered individually.
5.
Through repeated testing, progress monitoring assessments are
used to determine if students are making adequate progress or need
more intense instruction to achieve grade-level reading goals.
EXAMPLE:
EasyCBM, an enhanced district assessment system, provides
teachers with various assessment options, allowing teachers to
monitor students’ progress at every tier of the RTI process. Teachers
select the grade level difficulty of the measure and area they want to
access. Assessment areas include word reading fluency, passage
reading fluency, and multiple choice reading comprehension.
To understand student performance on the easyCBM measures, the
teacher compares a student’s raw score on a specific measure to the
percentile rank associated with that score.
6.
Outcome measures, also known as summative
assessments, are used to evaluate the
effectiveness of a reading program in relation to
established performance levels. This assessment
is usually administered at the end of the year.
EXAMPLE:
Standardized tests, such as the FCAT, accurately
reflect state performance and content area
standards and provide an indication of how many
students are meeting predetermined grade-level
expectations (Johnson & Jenkins, 2009).
7. Johnson, E. & Jenkins, J. (2009). Formative
and summative assessment. Retrieved from
http://www.education.com/reference/ar
ticle/formative-and-summativeassessment/
The Access Center. (2005). Early reading
assessment: A guiding tool for instruction.
Retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/1
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