Showcasing assessment practices that can help teachers plan effective instruction, this book addresses the real-world complexities of teaching literacy in grades K-8. Leading contributors present trustworthy approaches that examine learning processes as well as learning products, that yield information on how the learning environment can be improved, and that are conducted in the context of authentic reading and writing activities. The volume provides workable, nuts-and-bolts ideas for incorporating assessment into instruction in all major literacy domains and with diverse learners, including students in high-poverty schools and those with special learning needs. It is illustrated throughout with helpful concrete examples.

Jeanne R. Paratore, EdD, is Associate Professor of Education at Boston University, where she teaches courses in literacy, language, and cultural studies. From 1989 to 1997 she was an integral member of the Boston University/Chelsea, Massachusetts, Public School Partnership, a comprehensive urban school reform effort, in which she focused her efforts on improving classroom literacy instruction and building strong home-school partnerships. She was a core advisor to Teaching Reading, K-2, A Video Library of Effective Classroom Practices, a project funded by the Annenberg Foundation and produced by WGBH television. At present, Dr. Paratore works with school-based literacy leaders in Lowell, Massachusetts, to support effective instruction in classrooms throughout the city. She has written articles and book chapters about family literacy, classroom grouping practices, and classroom assessment.

Rachel McCormack, EdD, is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. Her research interests include effective strategies for teaching comprehension using flexible grouping. Recent investigations have focused on finding ways to prepare preservice teachers to teach in diverse urban settings. A frequent presenter at national conferences, Rachel has coauthored and coedited several publications with Jeanne Paratore.

I. Foundations for Trustworthy Classroom Assessment of Children's Literacy Knowledge
1. Inquiry-Oriented Assessment, Sheila W. Valencia
2. A Pathway for Connecting Standards with Assessment: Backward Mapping of Assessment Tasks, Mark W. Conley and Kristine Gritter
3. Promoting and Assessing Effective Literacy Learning Classroom Environments, D. Ray Reutzel and Lesley Mandel Morrow
4. Assessing Children's Motivation for Reading and Writing, Linda B. Gambrell and Victoria Ridgeway Gillis
II. Assessing Word Knowledge and Reading Fluency
5. Language and Literacy Assessment in Preschool, Lea M. McGee
6. Assessing Word Recognition, David Chard, Sara McDonagh, Sangeun Lee, and Virginia Reece
7. Effective Oral Reading Assessment (or Why Round Robin Reading Doesn't Cut It), Melanie R. Kuhn
8. Assessing Students' Spelling Knowledge: Relationships to Reading and Writing, Shane Templeton, Donald R. Bear, and Sandra Madura
III. Assessing Comprehension and Composition
9. Assessing Vocabulary: Examining Knowledge about Words and about Word Learning, Janis M. Harmon, Wanda B. Hedrick, Lina Soares, and Michelle Gress
10. Assessing Literacy Understanding through Book Talk, Nancy L. Roser with Charles Fuhrken and Peggy Semingson
11. Assessing Strategic Reading, Peter Afflerbach, Heather Ruetschlin, and Sharon Russell
12. Assessing Students' Understanding of Informational Text in Intermediate- and Middle-Level Classrooms, Karen D. Wood, D. Bruce Taylor, Brenda Drye, and M. Joyce Brigman
13. Assessing Student Writing, Karen Bromley
IV. Broadening the Context: Looking across Assessments, Classrooms, and Schools
14. A Classroom Portfolio System: Assessment Is Instruction, Susan Mandel Glazer
15. Formative Uses of Assessment: Cases from the Primary Grades, Camille L. Z. Blachowicz, Roberta Buhle, Sharon Frost, and Ann Bates
16. Authentic Assessment of Authentic Student Work in Urban Classrooms, Kathryn Glasswell and William H. Teale
17. Putting CIA System to Work: Linking Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment to Improve Student Achievement, Douglas Fisher, Diane Lapp, Nancy Frey, James Flood, and Kelly Moore
18. Developing an Individualized Education Plan: What Counts as Evidence?, Rachel L. McCormack, P. David Pearson, and Jeanne R. Paratore
19. Classroom Assessment and Standards-Based Change, Kathryn Au and Taffy Raphael