The Importance of Assessment

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Why should we assess?

There are two general purposes for assessment:
1) to provide more effective instruction, and
2) to evaluate achievement or learning.

What's a Reading Physical?
Watch this Phyllis Hunter video to learn about the importance of giving your students routing "Reading Check-Ups".

This video clip is from Scholastic Red, Improving Reading Comprehension, Grades 3-5. Learn more about Scholastic Red Professional Development in Product Information.

Brenda Weaver is the K-5 Language Arts/Social Studies Coordinator for Skaneateles Central Schools in Skaneateles, New York. She has been a classroom teacher, reading teacher, assistant principal, principal, curriculum coordinator, and college instructor. She has published articles and books on the topic of literacy and leveling books. The Skaneateles Language Arts Program, which was developed under her supervision, has won two International Reading Association Exemplary Reading Awards and is a top scorer on the new New York State Grade 4 English/Language Arts Test. Her first book for Scholastic, Ready-To-Use Reading Assessments & Intervention Strategies for K-2, is available in the Teacher Store.

Performance Assessment for Reading
Ways to measure reading comprehension that support the natural act of reading and responding to a story, and allow for diverse interpretations.

Write About a Character
One way to assess students� understanding of characterization in a story is to have them write their own stories about a character. The reproducible activities here include a planning guide to help students brainstorm character traits, a self-assessment checklist to keep students on track as they write their stories, and a rubric for scoring the finished stories.

Standardized Tests: Help Your Child Prepare for High-Stakes Exams
What you should know about standardized tests. What these high-stakes tests measure. How to prepare you child and calm his test anxiety.

LESSON PLAN	Big Idea Worksheet Provide students with opportunities to articulate understanding of the ��big idea�� about a concept using targeted vocabulary. This formative...
UNIT PLAN	Getting Down to Business Use this exciting writing prompt to get kids to voice their opinion, and to provide a means of reading and writing assessment. Students write...