Madge Ennis
LITC 524
Barrentine, S. (1999). Reading assessment principles and practices for elementary teachers. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association.
What is the book about?
This book is a collection of articles dealing with assessment. The book is aimed at equipping elementary teachers with different forms of assessment. It goes into detail about anecdotal records, portfolios, self-evaluations, miscue analysis, and formal assessment instruments. Throughout the book you will find examples of children’s work and how they found it beneficial. You will also find tables, checklists, prompts, and examples of each form of authentic assessment. This book not only tells you the importance of these assessments but it talks in length on how to implement them in your classroom.
There is also a couple articles dealing with report cards. They deal with the issue of who is the audience and what is the purpose for report cards, and give examples of different types of report cards.
This book serves, “as an aim to supply elementary classroom teachers with foundation information on which to build solid explanations about why particular assessment practices make a difference in teaching children” (6). This book is nicely organized, so that a teacher could go immediately to a particular form of assessment and become quite knowledgeable in that area. It could also be helpful if you needed to inform an inquisitive parent on the reasons and importance of authentic assessment.
v All of the articles have an underlying belief that authentic assessment will give you a clear picture of your students needs, weaknesses, and growth.
v The students should have an active participation in their portfolios.
v Self-evaluation is imperative in helping students notice their strengths and weaknesses in their reading.
v Authentic assessment is appreciated by parents and gives them a clearer picture on their child’s progress.
v “Assessment is fundamental to the improvement of education; it provides measures of success for students’ learning, for educators’ leadership, and for continuous evaluations of instructional programs” (30).
v “ The bottom line in selecting and using any assessment should be whether it helps students” (46).
v “Assessment teaches us not only what our students have learned and are learning, but what they are ready to learn” (68).
v “A portfolio approach to reading assessment has great intuitive appeal: It resonates with our desire to capture and capitalize on the best each student has to offer, it encourages us to use many different ways to evaluate learning…” (113)