Colin Harrison and Terry Saliger (Ed.). Assessing Reading 1: Theory and Practice

Reviewed by Arifin

Tulungagung, 9 February 2014

Introduction
By: Colin Harrison and Terry Saliger

The scope of the book is broad. Chapters such as those by Harrison, Bailey and Dewar, by Pearson, DeStefano and García, and by Alvermann and Commeyras offer new perspectives on the theories that underlie the development and interpretation of reading assessments. They challenge readers to think about assessment in different ways, to stretch their own paradigms on what aspects of literacy can and should be measured and on how to accomplish this complex goal. For example, Pearson and his colleagues ask what is perhaps the most important question of all: can we really measure reading with these new approaches? Another way of thinking about this question is to wonder what we really are measuring when we think we are assessing students’ interactions with text. Harrison, Bailey and Dewar propose a definition of ‘responsive assessment’ and offer guidelines for this approach that then reappear in numerous other chapters. Alvermann and Commeyras draw upon feminist theory as they ponder new paradigms

for reading assessment. 

Issues of national assessment are considered next. Chapters by Brock, by Horner and by Salinger and Campbell demonstrate the challenges inherent in developing large scale national assessments. Whether or not they are tied to a mandated national curriculum, tests designed to provide a ‘nation’s report card’ take many different forms. These tests are often contentious, always closely scrutinized, and are generally highly politicized. The chapters by Brooks and Vincent aim to problematize the issues surrounding national assessments and to offer opposing views on test content or measurement theory, raising intelligent questions about the Key Stage assessments discussed by Horner.

Classroom-based assessments are the focus in the final four chapters. Hayward and Spencer discuss efforts in Scotland to develop a nation-wide system of classroom-based diagnostic assessments that encourage teachers to ‘take a closer look’ at students’ literacy development. This metaphor of taking a closer look is echoed in chapters by Falk and by Hoffman. Falk describes how teachers in New York City have successfully implemented a British assessment method, the Primary Language Record, in their efforts to take a closer look at students and to teach reading more effectively. Hoffman reports the initial stages of a project in which teachers in Texas collaborated with university faculty to develop an alternative to standardized testing for young learners, and Salinger describes a study of teachers who had been implementing a similar early literacy assessment system for almost ten years. A clear emphasis on teachers as the appropriate agents of assessment pervades

all these chapters.

Contents
What in this book can be seen from the following chapters.

PART I - Theories and assumptions underpinning reading assessment

1. Responsive reading assessment: is postmodern assessment of reading possible?

2. Ten dilemmas of performance assessment

3. Feminist poststructuralist perspectives on the language of reading assessment: authenticity and performance

PART II - What are the new approaches, and what are they attempting to achieve?

4. Australian perspectives on the assessment of reading: can a national approach to literacy assessment be daring and progressive?

5. Assessing reading in the English National Curriculum

6. The national assessment of reading in the USA

7. New emphasis on old principles: the need for clarity of purpose and of assessment method in national testing and for national monitoring

8. Curriculum-based assessment of reading in England and Wales: a national pilot study

9. Taking a closer look: a Scottish perspective on reading assessment

10. Using direct evidence to assess student progress: how the Primary Language Record supports teaching and learning

11. Challenging the assessment context for literacy instruction in first grade: a collaborative study

12. Consequential validity of an early literacy portfolio: the ‘backwash’ of reform


Index

Also, you can check any figures available in the book.

- Excerpts from the CLAS reading rubric
- Level 4 Reading and Viewing
- English National Curriculum: assessment arrangement
- Aspects of the NAEP Reading Assessment
- NAEP Proficiency Levels for Reading
- Reading Objectives 1970–71 Assessment
- Reading and Literature Objectives 1979–80 Assessment
- 1992 Reading Objectives
- Comparisons between 1993 tests in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland
- Area for exploration: awareness of author’s use of language
- Chronology: early literacy portfolio

- Early literacy scale, version in sixth draft

Conclusion
This book tries to give some reading assessment approach as well as views, both in various ways. Since it uses "international perspectives on reading assessment", in certain cases it may not fit to what you're looking for. But, it's always fine to learn somethin' new, isn't it?

Buku ini memberikan penjelasan terkait berbagai macam pendekatan dalam "reading assesment", serta pemaparan dari berbagai macam sudut pandang. Yang perlu digarisbawahi adalah bahwa buku ini ber-atribut "international perspective on reading assessment", sehingga, dalam beberapa hal, bahasan dalam buku ini mungkin tidak sesuai dengan konteks kita. Tapi, kan tidak ada salahnya belajar sesuatu yang baru. Sebagai tambahan, buku ini sebenarnya satu paket dengan seri ke-2nya, yaitu Assessing Reading 2: Changing Practice in Classrooms by Martin Coles and Rhonda Jenkins (Eds.), yang isinya akan saya share di postingan selanjutnya.

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