Assessment

Assessments are designed to determine the student's abilities and needs in relevant aspects of the curriculum and instruction. Educators need this essential tool to guide day-to-day instruction. The range of assessments may range from classroom assessment practices all the way to district and statewide assessment programs. Regular progress monitoring provides valuable information on teaching effectiveness, and is the basis for informed instructional decisions.

Assessment information is used to identify students who may be at risk of reading difficulty, and to make informed decisions about appropriate reading interventions. Schools must develop comprehensive assessment systems that address all five critical components of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Proficiency toward the Pennsylvania standards is measured through the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Schools should select and administer comprehensive screening, outcome, diagnostic and progress monitoring assessments to provide information for instructional planning and program evaluation. Rigorous reading assessments include assessments that are valid, reliable, and scientifically based.

Effective instruction is driven by the reading assessment.  The assessment identifies the student's instructional level (baseline), places him or her on the appropriate scope and sequence, identifies areas of greatest need, assists in developing instructional strategies, and tips us to the need for instructional change. Effectively analyzed assessment datalinked to the curriculum and daily instructionwill greatly enhance student success, and is a critical element in improving reading achievement.

A detailed analysis of various reading assessments can be found at http://www.fcrr.org/assessment.htm (Florida's Center for Reading Research) and http://IDEA.uoregon.edu. Assessment Kits are available through PaTTAN's Short Term Loan Program.

• Outcome Assessments: These assessments are used to determine whether students have achieved grade-level or proficiency standard performance.
• Screening Assessment: These quick, easily administered assessments are used to identify those students who are at-risk for reading difficulties.
• Progress Monitoring Assessments: These assessments are used to ensure that students are making adequate reading progress. They must be easily administered and sensitive to growth over short instructional intervals. These assessments quickly determine the need for instructional change when progress is not at the expected level.
• Diagnostic Assessments: These in-depth assessments determine a student's specific instructional needs and what and how much intervention may be required. They measure the component skills of reading, and determine where in the scope and sequence of those skills the student falls.