Assessment

Assessment is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about students' learning. A teacher must gather evidence of student achievement, analyse this evidence and then use the information for planning for teaching which will promote further learning. You will read about the purposes of assessment, the process for assessing and some of the many types of reading assessment. You will particularly focus on Running Records which were devised by Marie Clay in 1991 where a teacher takes a record of the actual reading by a student and determines the reading errors. Interpretation of the results of a running record influences what a teacher does to support the early reader to improve.

Successfully completing a running record of a child reading hinges on your understanding of the cueing systems. When we read we get "cues" or hints from the reading

• Semantic or meaning cues

• Visual or graphophonic cues and

• Syntactic or grammatical cues

Semantic relates to "does this make sense?" Visual or graphophonic cues are about the letters on the page or "does this letter look right?" and syntax is about "does this sound right?"

Levelled reading uses small-group instruction and developmentally appropriate books called levelled books. This approach recognizes that a wide range of reading ability exists within any grade level or age group, and that reading at the appropriate levels ensures success. Each session, 15 to 25 minutes, begins with introducing a book, eliciting prior knowledge, and building background. A child is placed in a small group with other children of similar ability and given a developmentally appropriate book to read. The teacher monitors and guides the reading of each child as needed. Discussion of the book follows, and the child keeps the book to read repeatedly.

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