Chapter Eight: Assessment

Summary by Ashlyne Noll

The term assessment and tests are often confused. The term assessment is the task of gathering data on which to base evaluative or judgment-oriented decisions. Assessment measures are necessary for a number of reasons, and they are relevant to many different audiences. Diagnostic assessments assist teachers in making decisions about instruction and pinpointing areas if a student is having difficulties. Diagnostic measures are monitoring measures to determine if a student in making progress. There are also initial screening tools that assist the teacher in planning curriculum.

Principals of Assessment

Facilitate a match between instruction and assessment. Tests need to be selected that match the objectives and curriculum of the school. There is strong evidence that the closer the overlap between curriculum and test items, the better the student swill perform.
Develop or select assessment measures for major components of literacy K-12. In the primary grades, assessment measures should focus more on basic skills as well as comprehension and writing. In upper grades, more emphasis is placed on comprehensions, vocabulary, and writing.
Develop a system of literacy assessment that reflects the goals of the school and use assessment tools that are reliable, valid, and practical to administer. Assessment tools should be usable by the reading specialist or classroom teachers. If teachers see these assessments as a burden that only take time away from the instructional program, and if they are not provided with the training they need to see the value of thee measures, there will be little value in administering them.

Teachers need assistance in applying data to instructional decision making. Teachers use data to make instructional decisions but typically these decisions reflect in the “activity” or materials on what happens next in the book. One important role of he reading specialist is to help teachers make decisions about their instruction, based on their students in the classroom.
Opportunity for student self-assessment and reflection should be built into the program. Students should be involved in the process of evaluating their own work. Such self-assessment should enable students to make some decisions about their own learning. Portfolio assessment also can be used as a means f promoting ownership of work.

Issues in Assessment

Who Should Be Involved in Developing the Assessment Plan?

Although assessment plans van be developed by individual or small group administrators, it is best that such a plan be developed by a team or committee, including teachers, reading specialists, department chairs, principals, and parent representatives. School personnel should be familiar with the assessment tools being used by the district and able to discuss and communicate the results of such assessments to parents and others in the community interested in the work of the school. The emphasis by the federal government on assessment results and accountability certainly makes it imperative that schools be able to explain not only what they are doing but how well they are doing.

How Are Assessment Results Reported?

The reading specialist should be available to assist the teacher in interpreting and using the results for instructional decision making. The reading specialist may also assist the teacher in deciding how scores of individual students can best be reported and explained to parents or students themselves.

Building principals need to receive reports in many different forms: by class, grade level, and domain or area. They may wish to have data disaggregated by ethnic group, socioeconomic status, or special education eligibility.

Although not all reading specialist will have the responsibility for interpreting assessment results it is essential that the district should be proactive in sharing assessment results.

What Are the Limitations of Standardized Test?

Reading specialists need to be especially aware of limitations of tests especially those that are high stakes or have the potential to label of affect students’ lives in a detrimental way. A test is a sample of all questions that can be asked about a subject and it is a sample of a students’ performance at a single point in time. Changes in the school’s scores can also be caused by changes in student population. Kane and Staiger in Kober (2002) estimated that more than 70% of the year-to-year variations in average test scores for a given school or grade could be attributed to external factors rather than educational factors.

Assessment should be closely related to instruction, and there should be sequential, comprehensive assessment system, K-12. In addition, various stakeholders, including teachers and community representatives, should be involved in making decisions about the assessment of literacy. Multiple assessment measures that display established technical adequacy should be used. Reading specialist may have responsibility for working with teachers, administrators, and he community interpreting and applying the results of assessment.