Web Watch:
Assessment Resources
At the end of the school year, my son came home with a sheet of paper indicating his scores on a standardized achievement test he had taken a few months earlier. Attached to the report was a note from the principal, stating that the test was a nationally normed measure of general knowledge in certain subject areas that included standards not stressed on the standardized test used in our state. Therefore, it was quite possible that students had not been exposed to some of the material on the national test prior to taking it.
After handing me the paper, my son asked, "Mommy, did I do good?" Having been a teacher in public schools for many years, I am very familiar with this particular test. I remember well my frustration with requiring students to take a test on material to which they had not been exposed and seeing that same frustration and concern reflected in the faces of my students. Now, I had to see that same look on my own son's face.
Standardized testing takes place in schools around the world each year. In the United States, the results are used to identify achievement trends for each school district, comparing them with state and national achievement levels. Some feel that this testing is necessary to guarantee continuous evaluation of student performance. But standardized testing is very costly and time consuming, and many question its value. Valencia, Hiebert, and Afflerbach (1994) state, "Standardized tests have not evolved with our research-based understanding of the reading process, and they are poorly aligned with classroom instruction that reflects this research and promotes the development of higher level thinking and complex literacies" (p. 7) .
Assessment should be about improving instruction. Although standardized test results can be helpful in monitoring a school's overall effectiveness, the tests provide a limited view of readersâ abilities and offer teachers little insight for effecting meaningful program change (Neuman & Roskos, 1998, online chapter). Alternative, authentic assessments, on the other hand, can provide a broader view. Authentic assessments are usually informal, analyze reading using real books, provide natural experiences with text, and carefully consider overall student growth in the reading process. According to Beck (1994), "authenticity in an assessment resides not in its response format, but in its content, the underlying constructs it taps, and the correspondence among the assessment, the instruction from which it samples, and the purposes for which the assessment will be used" (p. v) .
Although many school districts use authentic assessments, it is more than likely that standardized testing will continue to be required. Educators must be informed about the benefits and limitations of both approaches. The purpose of this Web Watch is to inform educators of Internet resources available to assist in this endeavor. I describe first Web sites that provide general information on assessment and then those that offer either printable resources or interactive online resources for assessment.
Information Web Sites
Assessment Terminology: A Glossary of Useful Terms
Many terms associated with assessment are used interchangeably, but they can also have different meanings depending on context. This Web site features a list of terms used to describe current educational assessment practices. This is a great resource for establishing a clear and common understanding of what these terms mean.
The Reading Assessment Database for Grades K-2
The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, one of the partners in the Regional Educational Laboratories network funded by the U.S. Department of Education, has collected information on more than 125 reading assessment tools appropriate for children aged approximately 5 to 7 years. The easy-to-use database includes the following information for each test:
- the skills and abilities measured;
- reliability and validity;
- a description of how the scores are reported (e.g., percentiles, stanines, etc.);
- restrictions (such as time, grades, or ages the test is appropriate for, whether the test can be administered individually or in groups, whether the test can be administered in languages other than English);
- cost;
- and ordering information.
The ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation
The Educational Resources Information Center seeks to provide balanced information concerning educational assessment and resources to encourage responsible test use. This comprehensive Web site features full-text articles, resources and links, and a peer-reviewed electronic journal, Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation.
The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST)
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education and its Office of Educational Research and Improvement, CRESST conducts research on important topics related to educational testing at all grade levels. This thorough site, based at the University of California-Los Angeles, includes reports, newsletters, sample assessments correlated to the California Academic Standards, presentations by CRESST researchers, sample scoring rubrics, and much more.
The National Center for Fair and Open Testing
This advocacy organization works to end the abuses, misuses, and flaws of standardized testing and promotes evaluation of students and workers that is fair, open, and educationally sound. Its comprehensive Web site provides links to resources, newsletters, other organizations, articles, and updates on U.S. legislative action updates.
The International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English
Both of these professional associations are advocates of excellence in the teaching of reading, and participate actively in the process of shaping sound public policy in education. Each has posted research-based positions on critical issues such as assessment--a great source of trustworthy information--and IRA (publisher of this journal) has grouped information on its range of assessment-related sources on one of its site's "Topics in Focus" pages.
Understanding Authentic Classroom-Based Literacy Assessment
Sheila Valencia's outstanding article on the importance of meaningful, useful assessment is available at publisher Houghton Mifflin's Education Place Web site.
This large Web directory provides one page of useful links to several articles on authentic assessment and ideas for rubrics and checklist, and another of links to information on administering, analyzing, and using running records.
The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
Several articles on critical issues in assessment, resources, and links to more information on assessment are available at the site of another partner in the Regional Educational Laboratories network
The Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development hosts several tutorials on its Web site, one of which is on performance assessment. The tutorials are short multimedia lessons that include a definition, brief articles on the topic, video and audio files of experts and practitioners, and a listing of resources that can be used to continue professional development.
This online course is sponsored by the New South Wales (Australia) Department of Education and Training. It provides instruction on how to use authentic assessment and is divided into eight sessions:
Each session provides an overview and instruction on the topic, printable resources, a learning task the reader can complete with a child for practice, and a discussion forum for interaction with other teachers.
Web Sites with Printable or Interactive Resources
Reading Assessment Evaluation Diagnosis: Sample Assessment Tools for Early Reading Evaluation
Created by the California Technology Assistance Project, this site hosts printable resources for assessing concepts of print, phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Sponsored by the Liverpool Central School District in Liverpool, New York, U.S.A., this site hosts the Level Estimator. With this tool, the assessor selects a child's grade level from a pull-down menu, which results in display of a short reading passage with a picture. Messages advise the assessor to print the page so that errors can be marked as the child reads from the screen; a scale for determination of the child's level of comprehension is also provided. After the child has finished reading, the assessor enters the number of errors and an accuracy percentage is calculated, with information provided as to what the rate means. If the rate is 95 percent or above and the comprehension level is good, it is recommended that the child read a more difficult passage. If the rate is within an instructional range, then, with a click of a button, a list of level-appropriate books is displayed. If the accuracy rate is below 90 percent, the assessor is advised to have the child read a less difficult passage. This site also has an assessment calculator that will automatically score running records.
Developed by the University of Texas Computer Writing and Research Lab, the Learning Record integrates research, assessment, and teaching and learning practices for computer-enhanced literacy development. It provides a format for documenting student progress and achievement, based on interviews, observations over time, samples of students' naturally occurring work, and well-supported interpretations of learning across five dimensions. An eight-page print form (The Learning Record) was developed to facilitate the process. This information can now be collected and organized using a Web-to-database application that includes a selection of student work, prepared over the course of a semester or school year.
The Literacy Assessment for Diverse Learners Web
This wonderful site, sponsored by the University of Houston, Texas, U.S.A., hosts an actual literacy portfolio that includes the student's background, Metalinguistic Awareness Assessment in Reading and Writing, an interest inventory, teacher observations, a retelling, criterion-based testing, portfolio development, and modified miscue analysis. A final analysis of the assessments is provided, along with instructional plans for two teaching sessions; parent and teacher letters are also included. The Metalinguistic Awareness Inventory for Reading and Writing, the interest inventory, and the e-lective Language Learning Survey are available for other students to complete online, with results e-mailed to the teacher within 24 hours. By submitting the information, users agree that it can be used for research.
Conclusion
You may wonder how I answered my son when he asked, "Mommy, did I do good?" Of course, my answer was "Yes," an answer I gave without reference to his standardized test results. My knowledge of my son as a reader, writer, and mathematician is based on my observation of him in and out of the school setting. This knowledge mediates my interpretation of the standardized test scores to provide a more comprehensive picture.
Choosing appropriate assessment instruments that match the instructional goals and objectives of a reading program is critical to children's literacy development and to effective teaching. Resources on the Web can provide educators with readily available information on assessment, and even an avenue for administering assessment. It is clear that technology has a promising role to play in facilitating authentic assessment, making administration less time intensive.
References
Beck, M.D. (1994). Foreword. In S. Valencia, E. Heibert, & P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Authentic reading assessment: Practices and possibilities (p. v). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
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Neuman, S., & Roskos, K. (1998). Children achieving: Best practices in early literacy. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
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Valencia, S., Heibert, E., & Afflerbach, P. (1994). Authentic reading assessment: Practices and possibilities. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
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Denise Johnson is an assistant professor of reading education at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virigina, USA. She received her Ed.D. in reading from the University of Memphis, Tennessee. She has worked as an elementary classroom teacher, a middle school reading specialist, and a Reading Recovery teacher. She now teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in literacy education and conducts research on the integration of technology into preservice and inservice education courses and within elementary classrooms. Her articles on literacy and technology have been published in a variety of journals and she is active in several professional organizations. She enjoys traveling with her family and reading to her son, Derek. Contact her by e-mail at cdjohn@wm.edu. |
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Citation: Johnson, D. (2001, September). Web watch: Assessment resources. Reading Online, 5(2). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/elec_index.asp?HREF=webwatch/assessment/index.html
Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted September 2001
© 2001 International Reading Association, Inc. ISSN 1096-1232