FAQ: What kind of assessments can I use to monitor literacy development?
What are assessments for literacy development?
Literacy development comes at different stages and at different rates for each learner. To develop a learner’s reading and writing ability one must provide a variety of activities to allow learners to grow and develop. To provide different activities appropriate to the learner one must assess literacy development to plan effectively. One way to assess literacy development is by using speaking and writing rubrics such as the one provided by WIDA (www.wida.us/get.aspx?id=6). This rubric allows one to see at what stage the learner is at for speaking and writing and to adjust lessons according. One may also use running records to check for fluency and accuracy; standardized tests, student conferencing, portfolios, observations and the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (Rothenberg & Fisher, 2007, p. 79-80). Using a variety of formal and informal assessments will help build a more comprehensive picture of the learner’s literacy development.
Literacy development comes at different stages and at different rates for each learner. To develop a learner’s reading and writing ability one must provide a variety of activities to allow learners to grow and develop. To provide different activities appropriate to the learner one must assess literacy development to plan effectively. One way to assess literacy development is by using speaking and writing rubrics such as the one provided by WIDA (www.wida.us/get.aspx?id=6). This rubric allows one to see at what stage the learner is at for speaking and writing and to adjust lessons according. One may also use running records to check for fluency and accuracy; standardized tests, student conferencing, portfolios, observations and the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (Rothenberg & Fisher, 2007, p. 79-80). Using a variety of formal and informal assessments will help build a more comprehensive picture of the learner’s literacy development.