Summary
Chapter 9 surveys the complex environment of assessment in subject area reading and writing as well as its correlation to the standards movement. The chapter begins with an overview of important concepts and terms, such as testing and measurement, sampling and evaluation, in addition to three forms of assessment: formal (such as national, state, or district assessments), informal (teacher-made or observational), and authentic (a more modern form of assessment that evaluates a student's performance during a task). Ruddell (2008) notes the tense relationship between standards, assessment, and classroom practice with many educators feeling frustrated by the amount of time spent testing and preparing to test as well as the risk of marginalizing learning with
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However, she notes that the educator must grapple with all of these concerns and have a “thorough understanding of assessment issues and the means both for understanding school and districtwide assessment practices” (p. 334). Therefore, she lays out criteria to guide assessment, including: (1) assessment should be focused on learning, (2) should be equitable, (3) should be congruent with the aims of curriculum, (4) should recognize the limitations of assessment methods, (5) should reduce competition and increase cooperation in the classroom, (6) should include participation by students, and should include consistent and meaningful reporting (Ruddell, 2008, 334-336). Additionally, Ruddell (2008) lays out assessment tools for educators to employ to evaluate their subject area reading and writing, as this can provide important data about mastery of content knowledge through an understanding of how the student comprehends and utilizes the literacy behaviors specific to the