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assessments to guide adolescent literacy instruction joseph k torgesen debra houston miller florida center for reading research florida state university 2009[close]
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this publication was created for the center on instruction by the florida center for reading research at florida state university the center on instruction is operated by rmc research corporation in partnership with the florida center for reading research at florida state university instructional research group the texas institute for measurement evaluation and statistics at the university of houston and the meadows center for preventing educational risk at the university of texas at austin the contents of this document were developed under cooperative agreement s283b050034 with the u.s department of education however these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the department of education and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government editorial design and production services provided by rmc research corporation citation torgesen j k miller d h 2009 assessments to guide adolescent literacy instruction portsmouth nh rmc research corporation center on instruction extended quotations from formative classroom assessment are reprinted by permission of the publisher from james h mcmillan editor formative classroom assessment theory into practice new york teachers college press © 2007 by teachers college columbia university all rights reserved excerpt from can diagnostic reading assessment enhance general educators instructional differentiation and student learning p 329 by l fuchs and d fuchs in preventing and remediating reading difficulties bringing science to scale b r foorman ed 2003 austin tx pro-ed copyright 2003 by pro-ed inc to download a copy of this document visit www.centeroninstruction.org.[close]
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contents 1 3 5 overview executive summary part i using assessment to improve literacy instruction for adolescents introduction 7 adolescent academic literacy 9 data-based decision making a comprehensive assessment system for adolescent literacy 11 goals for adolescent literacy instruction 11 the role of reading assessments in meeting these goals 13 literacy assessments in a comprehensive assessment plan formative assessments to guide instruction in adolescent literacy 19 current definitions of formative assessment 21 examples of classroom-based formative assessment 24 further examples from high-achieving secondary schools 28 evidence for the impact of classroom-based formative assessments on student achievement 29 two caveats 31 six characteristics of high-quality classroom-based formative assessment 38 curriculum-based measurement cbm a special case of classroom-based formative assessment 42 summary and conclusions about classroom-based formative assessment 43 the role of standards-based benchmark assessments in improving student literacy outcomes 48 the role of screening and diagnostic assessments in a comprehensive assessment plan 53 summary and review assessment types required in a comprehensive assessment plan 5 11 18 v[close]
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57 challenges to the successful use of assessment for instruction with adolescents 57 challenge #1 fundamental changes in attitudes and instructional practices 61 challenge #2 tension between types of formative assessments useful to administrators and types useful to teachers and students 63 challenge #3 lack of teacher buy in and divergence of educators attitudes and beliefs about indicators of student success concluding comments recommendations for further reading references 65 67 68 75 part ii ten examples of assessments or assessment systems in current use or under development to guide instruction in adolescent literacy vi[close]
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overview this document was prepared to assist literacy specialists and other technical assistance providers in their work with states to improve educational policy and practice in adolescent literacy it is a companion volume to two other center on instruction publications that offer guidance in improving literacy outcomes in adolescents academic literacy instruction for adolescents a guidance document from the center on instruction torgesen houston rissman et al 2007 and improving literacy instruction in middle and high schools a guide for principals torgesen houston rissman 2007 both may be downloaded at http www.centeroninstruction.org as in the two other documents adolescent literacy is defined here as covering the range of students from grades four through twelve the present document has two major parts part i using assessment to improve instruction in literacy for adolescents part i describes the key elements of a comprehensive assessment plan to improve literacy instruction for adolescents it details the purposes of assessment and identifies the major types of assessments that can be used to meet each purpose the focus is on formative assessments whose purpose is to guide instruction for individual students or groups of students the information in this part of the document is based on research about the nature of adolescent literacy as well as research on the utility of various types of assessments for learning part ii ten examples of assessments or assessment systems in current use or under development to guide instruction in adolescent literacy part ii contains short summaries of approaches to assessment for instruction in adolescent literacy currently in use or under development in the united states these examples come from individual schools from state-level systems and from both commercial companies and nonprofit organizations they are meant 1[close]
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to convey the wide variety of approaches in addressing some of the challenges in adolescent literacy assessment identified in part i they are not meant as endorsements of either the procedures themselves or of the companies or organizations using them in fact the companies organizations or schools associated with the examples are purposely not identified by name although the examples are real they are identified here only by number they were selected through an internet search and by polling experts in adolescent literacy around the country we also made inquiries to a number of organizations not included here but were unable to obtain sufficient information to summarize their procedures the list is obviously not exhaustive and there may be other even better examples that we were not able to locate 2[close]
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executive summary assessments to guide adolescent literacy instruction addresses the growing national concern about adolescent literacy achievement in a focused examination of literacy assessments and their role in instructional decisionmaking and growth in student learning it provides a research-based overview of the types of literacy assessments that can help direct teaching and learning at all levels with special attention to assessments in the classroom setting part i examines formative assessments or assessments for learning as distinct from assessments of learning placing clear emphasis on formative assessments and their significant direct connection to classroom instruction academic literacy is explicitly defined as the kinds of reading skills students need to be successful both in school and on state-level accountability measures torgesen and miller compare five types of assessments detailing the specific characteristics of each in terms of methods of implementation the frequency with which they are employed and their purpose a discussion of the importance of classroom-based formative assessments in the larger plan to improve adolescent literacy offers examples of formative assessment practices and outlines the research supporting their effective use the authors also draw conclusions about the four other types of assessments that schools can include in a comprehensive assessment plan standards-based benchmark assessments curriculum-based measures cbm screening assessments and diagnostic assessments their review of standards-based benchmark tests looks at both the increased frequency with which they are used and at concerns about the lack of adequate research to support any positive effect they may have on students literacy growth the authors examine curriculum-based measures as a specific kind of formative assessment that can guide instruction and note the differences between and uses of mastery oriented cbm versus general outcome cbm when monitoring adolescents grade-level literacy skills their discussion of screening distinguishes between general screening to identify students who require intervention instruction and targeted screening to determine specific types of interventions that at-risk students might require the authors discussion of the diagnostic information gained through both formal diagnostic tests and informal diagnostic assessments proposes minimal 3[close]
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tactical use of formal measures and highlights the close relationship between informal diagnostic assessments and classroom-based formative assessments the authors identify three challenges educators must address in order for formative assessments to have their full effect on improving student outcomes 1 the need for fundamental change in attitudes and instructional practices 2 the need to resolve tensions between teachers and administrators about the types of formative assessments each prefer and 3 the need to change educators attitudes and beliefs about indicators of student success all will require new thinking about the purposes of assessment student abilities and teaching methods attention to new instructional resources and the development of new assessment and pedagogical skills part i concludes by emphasizing that an effective comprehensive assessment plan is crucial for guiding instruction that will improve overall levels of academic achievement and meet the learning needs of all students part ii profiles ten examples of assessments and assessment systems currently in use or under development in the u.s while evidence is not currently available for the effectiveness of these systems in improving literacy outcomes for adolescents the systems do provide insight into the range of possible approaches to using assessments for improving literacy instruction for students in grades 4 through 12 each profile contains a succinct description and a commentary that links the types of assessments to information presented in part i 4[close]
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part 1 using assessments to improve literacy instruction for adolescents introduction this document presents research-based information on assessment practices to support more effective instruction in academic literacy for students in grades 4 through 12 it assumes more than a beginning level of knowledge of reading and assessment practices and is based on research in two areas 1 the nature of reading and reading comprehension in adolescents and 2 the use of assessments and assessment systems to increase student learning and performance although research on literacy assessments for adolescents is actually less well developed than research on instruction we believe that it provides sufficient basis for several strong recommendations to improve practice in adolescent literacy in any discussion of educational assessments it is important to distinguish between assessment of learning and assessment for learning this distinction centers principally on how the assessment information is used assessments of learning frequently referred to as summative assessments indicate how well students have learned or how well they can meet performance standards in a subject area such as reading or math the best example of these types of assessments currently in wide use in the united states are the end-of-year statelevel accountability assessments required by the no child left behind legislation assessments for learning in contrast are designed to help teachers provide more effective instruction so that individual students can improve their learning or so that more students can reach acceptable performance standards the focus of this document is on assessments for learning 1 because these assessments are intimately connected to instruction and 2 because they are currently much less well developed and less widely used than are assessments of learning a final reason for our focus on assessments for learning or formative assessments is that 3 improvement in their use has significant potential to increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning in adolescent literacy black wiliam 1998 while classroom-based formative assessments are discussed extensively this document also addresses the 5[close]
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formative uses of three other types of assessments benchmark interim screening and diagnostic assessments improving literacy outcomes for adolescents will entail a comprehensive effort that effects changes in state and district-level policies shifts instructional practices in all content areas organizes schools more efficiently provides more powerful interventions for struggling readers develops more involved and effective leadership and offers extensive professional development to all leaders and teachers many of these steps have been outlined in recent documents available on the internet four of the most widely disseminated are · from state policy to classroom practice improving literacy instruction for all students national association of state boards of education 2007 available at www.nasbe.org/index.php/file-repository?func=fileinfo&id=132 · reading at risk how states can respond to the crisis in adolescent literacy national association of state boards of education 2006 available at www.centeroninstruction.org/files/reading_at_risk_full_report.pdf · reading next a vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy alliance for excellent education 2006 available at www.all4ed.org/files/readingnext.pdf · reading to achieve a governor s guide to adolescent literacy national governors association center for best practices 2005 available at www.nga.org/files/pdf/0510govguideliteracy.pdf all four emphasize improvements in the use of various forms of assessment for learning or formative assessment as part of an effective overall strategy for improving adolescent literacy in light of the consistency of these recommendations recent comments by dr richard stiggins an expert in classroom-based formative assessments are sobering in a chapter titled conquering the formative assessment frontier stiggins 2007 acknowledges recent accomplishments in developing high-quality summative assessments but adds behind these considerable accomplishments there is almost complete neglect of assessment where it exerts the greatest influence on pupils academic lives day to day in the classroom where it can be used to help them learn more p 10 he also suggests the principal assessment challenge that we face in schools today is to ensure that sound assessment practices permeate every classroom that assessments are used to benefit pupils this challenge has remained unmet for decades and the time has 6[close]
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come to conquer this final assessment frontier the effective use of formative assessment to support learning p 10 adolescent academic literacy although both practitioners and researchers use the term adolescent literacy to include a very broad range of competencies extending beyond the reading and writing proficiencies required for school success e.g alvermann 2001 moje 2006 this document focuses on assessments to improve instruction in adolescent academic literacy most definitions of literacy include writing as well as reading but our focus is on the assessment of reading skills although writing and reading skills are closely allied in both instruction and assessment as when students make extended written responses in answering questions or discussing text we discuss writing only as a means of assessing reading skills not as an object of assessment itself the description of adolescent literacy used in an earlier document torgesen houston rissman et al 2007 remains relevant to the current document academic literacy is usually defined as the kind of reading proficiency required to construct the meaning of content-area texts and literature encountered in school it also encompasses the kind of reading proficiencies typically assessed on state-level accountability measures such as the ability to make inferences from text to learn new vocabulary from context to link ideas across texts and to identify and summarize the most important ideas or content within a text notice that the definition of academic literacy includes not only the ability to read text for initial understanding but also the ability to think about its meaning in order to answer questions that may require the student to make inferences or draw conclusions p 3 this definition is consistent with the definition of reading in the new framework for the national assessment of educational progress naep proposed by the national assessment governing board nagb 2007 reading is an active and complex process that involves understanding written text developing and interpreting meaning and using meaning as appropriate to type of text purpose and situation p 2 7[close]
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this definition applies to the assessment of reading achievement on the naep and is not intended as an inclusive definition of reading it indicates that the naep assesses reading comprehension and not more basic reading skills i.e decoding reading accuracy and fluency that students are supposed to acquire by the end of third grade assessments such as the naep assume that students have acquired the necessary word-level reading skills to identify the academic literacy is embedded in content domains but assessed as a general skill reading comprehension in adolescents is strongly influenced by the content of the texts being read anderson pearson 1984 hirsch 2006 that is students who have extensive knowledge of the topic they are reading about typically comprehend the material more efficiently than students who have less knowledge in that domain this is one reason our earlier document on academic literacy instruction torgesen houston rissman et al 2007 recommended more powerful teaching of essential content for improving overall levels of adolescents academic literacy however the naep literacy standards like those of most states apply across content areas and the items that assess performance on those literacy standards are frequently written so that correct responses do not depend heavily on prior knowledge except for essential vocabulary in the current document we discuss literacy assessment as it relates to relatively content-free literacy standards e.g being able to identify the main idea and supporting details being able to draw accurate conclusions while at the same time recognizing that a student s ability to meet these standards may vary across content areas the ability to meet standards within specific content domains is influenced by prior knowledge in each domain and prior experience reading texts in each domain in our view academic literacy in adolescents is strongly embedded in content and it is the essential responsibility of all content-area teachers to provide instruction that enhances their students ability to comprehend texts within their content area torgesen et al 2007 as content-area teachers more fully assume these responsibilities their instruction should enable students to comprehend texts more deeply and think about the content students ability to comprehend and think about texts within the standardsbased year-end outcome tests in literacy should also improve although no one may be specifically assigned to help most students meet literacy standards in middle and high school it is actually the responsibility of all teachers to work toward improving adolescents literacy skills not only english/language arts teachers or reading teachers 8[close]
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words in text accurately and fluently and they focus on students ability to understand the meaning and use the information contained in a text this focus is appropriate for reading assessment in grades four and higher but it renders them insensitive to the instructional needs of many struggling readers who continue to have difficulties with word-level skills in middle and high school in its focus on reading comprehension our definition of academic literacy for adolescents is very similar to that which guided the development of the naep however because we are concerned with assessment to guide instruction we discuss assessments for a considerably broader range of reading skills than those that are the focus of the naep and of most statelevel accountability measures for example we discuss the utility of assessments of both word-level skills and reading comprehension because some adolescents still require focused instruction on word-level skills in order to achieve the goal of grade-level reading comprehension we acknowledge that the ultimate outcome of reading instruction should be attainment of welldefined comprehension standards as outlined in the naep framework and in various state literacy standards for adolescents but we also recognize the need for appropriate assessment of more basic reading skills as an aid to instruction for students who continue to struggle at this level data-based decision making it may be helpful to place our current focus on formative literacy assessment within the larger context of data-based decision making the systematic use of empirical data in making management and instructional decisions in districts schools and classrooms encompasses several types of data for example process data obtained from classroom observations or interviews with school leaders can provide information about quality of instruction or intervention support systems input data such as expenditures per pupil number of inservice hours provided for instructional and leadership personnel or characteristics of students when they enter the school can be useful for understanding school performance or identifying possible areas for improvement satisfaction data from student or teacher surveys may also provide information helpful in making good classroom or school-level decisions within this broad context student outcome or performance data are among several sources of information teachers and schools can use to guide their 9[close]
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