Understanding, Assessing, and Teaching Reading

Description

A combination of theory, practical applications, and basic knowledge and skills that emphasizes understanding why and how teachers make reading assessment and instruction decisions.

Hallmark features of this title

• The text makes diagnostic assessment accessible. The authors consider the various assessment measures teachers can use to assess and diagnose students’ reading performance, and evaluate each test’s strengths and weaknesses. Readers learn how to:
  • Select, administer and score each measure, and interpret the results.
  • Use the information from the assessments to design appropriate instruction.
  • Choose the most appropriate assessment techniques using 3 guiding questions: what do I want to know, why do I want to know that, and how can I best discover this information?
• From Assessment to Instruction sections provide specific ideas on how to move back and forth between these 2 important principles of teaching.

New and updated features of this title

• NEW: An entirely new chapter on writing (Chapter 13) highlights the importance of writing in literacy growth, and how many students’ strengths and needs in writing relate to their growth as readers.
• UPDATED: The text presents the most up-to-date information on diagnostic assessment, reading engagement, teaching with texts, phonics, the role of teachers and more. The updated research base includes 110 research articles and chapters published since the last edition, with dozens of updated references.
• UPDATED: Updated children’s literature references throughout the text include many recent books that will better match what teachers will find in public and school libraries. A special focus on updated children’s literature characterizes Chapter 7.
• UPDATED: A Reading Inventory in Appendix A enables full implementation of the IRI presented in Chapter 4. This edition streamlines the IRI process of scoring and interpretation to match the text’s diagnostic approach.
• NEW: Bridge features demonstrate how teachers make decisions to transition from understanding reading to assessing readers; from assessing readers to teaching them; and how teaching leads to further understanding. Bridges are found in several locations in each chapter between the Understanding, Assessing, and Teaching subheadings.

Understanding, Assessing, and Teaching Reading is a comprehensive, practical, and easy-to-use text that helps teachers gather assessment data in order to make teaching decisions. The demand is greater than ever for teachers who understand why they do what they do in reading assessment. Good teachers must understand factors that affect reading and also assessment techniques they can use to better understand how these factors affect individual readers. Good teachers also ask questions about each student to help select, administer, and interpret the most appropriate assessments. In addition to building teachers’ understanding of the reading assessment process, this text presents a wide variety of reading skills, strategies, and teaching techniques that are appropriate follow-ups to assessments.

The 8th Edition retains the many powerful assessment instruments and techniques that have made the text so widely used. New content includes: a dedicated chapter on assessing and teaching writing (Ch. 13); “bridge” features that emphasize how teachers connect understanding-assessment-instruction; and updated children’s literature recommendations.

About our authors

James A. Erekson has been teaching and researching in literacy for over 20 years, with experience in elementary and secondary grades. His work emphasizes the vital role of engagement and motivation in literacy achievement. He is the author of practical texts for educators including Engaging Minds in Social Studies Classrooms: The Surprising Power of Joy (ASCD, 2014) and co-author of Accessible Assessment: How 9 Sensible Techniques Can Power Data-driven Reading Instruction (Heinemann, 2011).

Michael F. Opitz is professor emeritus of reading education from the University of Northern Colorado and has investigated reading assessment and other literacy topics for over 2 decades. He is the author of numerous books, articles and reading programs.

Roland K. Schendel is a former elementary classroom teacher. With 20 years of experience in elementary and secondary education and educational research, he has committed his career to understanding and meeting the learning needs of striving readers and providing professional development to their teachers. He is co-author of 25 Essential Language Arts Strategies to Help Striving Readers Succeed (Scholastic, 2011).

Additional information