Classroom Literacy Assessment Making Sense of What Students Know and Do

by Paratore, Jeanne R.; McCormack, Rachel L.

• ISBN13: 9781593854386
• ISBN10: 1593854382
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-04-05
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

Showcasing assessment practices that can help teachers plan effective instruction, this book addresses the real-world complexities of teaching literacy in grades K-8. Leading contributors present trustworthy approaches that examine learning processes as well as learning products, that yield information on how the learning environment can be improved, and that are conducted in the context of authentic reading and writing activities. The volume provides workable, nuts-and-bolts ideas for incorporating assessment into instruction in all major literacy domains and with diverse learners, including students in high-poverty schools and those with special learning needs. It is illustrated throughout with helpful concrete examples.

Author Biography

Jeanne R. Paratore, EdD, is Associate Professor of Education at Boston University, where she teaches courses in literacy, language, and cultural studies. From 1989 to 1997 she was an integral member of the Boston University/Chelsea, Massachusetts, Public School Partnership, a comprehensive urban school reform effort, in which she focused her efforts on improving classroom literacy instruction and building strong home-school partnerships. She was a core advisor to Teaching Reading, K-2, A Video Library of Effective Classroom Practices, a project funded by the Annenberg Foundation and produced by WGBH television. At present, Dr. Paratore works with school-based literacy leaders in Lowell, Massachusetts, to support effective instruction in classrooms throughout the city. She has written articles and book chapters about family literacy, classroom grouping practices, and classroom assessment.
 
Rachel McCormack, EdD, is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. Her research interests include effective strategies for teaching comprehension using flexible grouping. Recent investigations have focused on finding ways to prepare preservice teachers to teach in diverse urban settings. A frequent presenter at national conferences, Rachel has coauthored and coedited several publications with Jeanne Paratore.

Table of Contents

Foundations for Trustworthy Classroom Assessment of Children's Literacy Knowledge
Inquiry-Oriented Assessment	p. 3
A Pathway for Connecting Standards with Assessment: Backward Mapping of Assessment Tasks	p. 21
Promoting and Assessing Effective Literacy Learning Classroom Environments	p. 33
Assessing Children's Motivation for Reading and Writing	p. 50
Assessing Word Knowledge and Reading Fluency
Language and Literacy Assessment in Preschool	p. 65
Assessing Word Recognition	p. 85
Effective Oral Reading Assessment (or Why Round Robin Reading Doesn't Cut It)	p. 101
Assessing Students' Spelling Knowledge: Relationships to Reading and Writing	p. 113
Assessing Comprehension and Composition
Assessing Vocabulary: Examining Knowledge about Words and about Word Learning	p. 135
Assessing Literary Understandings through Book Talk	p. 154
Assessing Strategic Reading	p. 177
Assessing Students' Understanding of Informational Text in Intermediate- and Middle-Level Classrooms	p. 195
Assessing Student Writing	p. 210
Broadening the Context: Looking across Assessments, Classrooms, and Schools
A Classroom Portfolio System: Assessment Is Instruction	p. 227
Formative Uses of Assessment: Cases from the Primary Grades	p. 246
Authentic Assessment of Authentic Student Work in Urban Classrooms	p. 262
Putting the CIA System to Work: Linking Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment to Improve Student Achievement	p. 280
Developing an Individualized Education Plan: What Counts as Evidence?	p. 294
Classroom Assessment and Standards-Based Change	p. 306
Index	p. 323
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