When I think about using formal and informal assessment to be able to meet the needs of my learners, I really think about where does each assessment fit into the larger picture and what am I trying to address with that assessment? I think that's really the key beginning step is thinking through what is it that I need to know? What am I going to do with that information? How am I going to share it with students?

- Francesca Aultman, Oregon Literacy Specialist

In a balanced system of assessments, there are a number of different assessment tools that can help you understand the development of language arts skills, including end-of-year state summative assessments, interim or benchmark assessments and classroom assessments like essays and quizzes. Within this system of assessments, research strongly supports the use of reading assessments that can inform reading instruction for individual learners. These include universal screeners, diagnostic and progress monitoring assessments. When you gather data from these assessments on a frequent basis, it can help provide a window into how your students’ reading skills are developing and guide your next steps in instruction.

In literacy learning, like other areas of study, there are common progressions of learning. These often include discrete skills that later cluster into more complex ones. For example, phonemic awareness and letter/sound knowledge interweave with others to enable word and text passage reading. Literacy assessments can help determine which discrete skills and processes students need additional support in, for example, to overcome reading challenges, or alternatively, to uncover which skills students are already adept in and ready to move on.

Step 1: Activate Your Prior Knowledge

Consider what you already know about uses and purposes of universal screeners, diagnostic and progress monitoring assessments. Review the flip cards below to check your understanding, or select the accessible table alternative.

Universal Screeners

Universal screeners help identify areas of student learning that require more information from diagnostic evaluation processes to inform acceleration.

Diagnostic Assessments

Diagnostic assessments provide information about specific skills or components of reading, such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary that individual students may need more support with.

Progress Monitoring Assessments

Progress monitoring assessments are short, targeted assessment approaches that are aligned to a specific skill and can be given at regular intervals to track student change over time.

Step 2: Watch

Take a few minutes to hear how one Oregon educator uses these assessment tools to support her students.

Using Assessment to Differentiate Instruction

(3:35 min, CC) - Transcript

(Oregon Department of Education, 2024)

Research shows that while it is critical to attend to concrete aspects of reading, other related skills and knowledge such as self-regulation, engagement and content knowledge are also important factors in reading development. It can take some trial and error to know when to assess students, on which skills, and what may trigger the need to learn more. Using tools such as the Foundational Reading Standards and Skill Progressions (PDF) (Oregon Department of Education, 2021) can support you in this effort.

Step 3: Reflect

Read the example scenario and reflect on the questions that follow.

Select the arrow to the left of "Example Scenario" to expand the section.

Example Scenario

A first grade teacher assesses a student on a reading passage by having her read aloud. The student demonstrates a need for additional support in reading accuracy. The teacher decides to assess her on decoding and sight word reading to check if either of them are influencing her reading accuracy. To get fine grain information, the teacher chooses a decodable word reading assessment that is organized by spelling pattern (e.g., by consonant-vowel-consonant, consonant blends and long vowel with silent ‘e’). Through this assessment, the teacher determines that the student needs more practice with consonant blends. The two of them then work together to decide what the student’s next steps should be to further develop her skill at blending consonants. They decide that along with specific practice in reading and writing consonant blends, she should pick out some familiar books that she has really enjoyed in the past to support her reading with accuracy.

An important side note is that reading does not develop exactly linearly; that is, one skill does not necessarily need to be mastered before gaining proficiency in more complex skills. For example, early literacy learners may have emergent alphabetic knowledge (e.g., know about half of the letters) when they begin to show proficiency in word recognition. In fact, many emergent literacy learners gain alphabetic knowledge slowly over a few years while quickly moving forward in other literacy skills. This can influence how you interpret assessment data and plan future instruction.

When assessing students, educators have the opportunity to uplift a child’s sense of self and agency as a learner by highlighting what they can do well and what they are ready to learn next. - Oregon Early Literacy Framework, p. 56

Based on the scenario above, what is a literacy assessment you can use now to advance your students’ literacy skills?
Where have you seen assessment practices “uplift a child’s sense of self and agency” in your own experience?