yes it is the ideal, real Truth. If I were to summarize the IRA/NCTE Standards for Reading and Writing Assessment, I would have to say that those from IRA/NCTE want assessment to be focused on the learner. The assessment should be fair to all learners capture the learners interests, promote skills that writing and reading will be used for, stimulate questions and critical thinking, and reflect the method of teaching in the classroom. There have been many assessments that I have participated in that do not adhere closely to these standards. Teachers have often used very in authentic assessments to evaluate my fellow classmates and me. These took the form of standardized, norm-referenced tests. The environment for these tests was usually different from the environment that I learned the information in and there was no room for interaction or discussion. Granted, some people only care about students test scores, but if the IRA/NCTE Standards of Reading and Writing Assessment are followed, inauthentic assessments do not have to be the only way we can evaluate a child. Performance samples, literacy collections, observations and interviews are four methods of alternative assessment that can be an options for teachers instead of traditional tests. Some of these methods of assessment (RMI, CRMA, Running Record) ask the teacher to set time aside in the class to work one on one with a student. While the student reads, the teacher listens for miscues and mistakes that the child makes and documents them. The draw back to doing an assessment like this is that it takes time away from the class in order to work with each student. Assessments like interviews are more informal and are basically a conversation between the teacher and reader about how he reads, what problems arise he reads, any other issues that may come up about strengths and weaknesses of reading. Literacy collections allow for teachers to collect pieces of writing so that they may cha...
