Using Assessment to Guide Instruction

The video Using Assessment to Guide Instruction had some very helpful points in guiding us to becoming assessment based literacy instructors.  Truth be told, my computer was being a bit funky so I was unable to actually view the video, but I could listen to the entire thing clearly.
The video was an excellent summary of all that we have been talking about in class:  assessment will lay the groundwork for our literacy programs.  The use of only one assessment only gives us one perspective of the progress of a student.  It may tell us that "Bobby" has word identification troubles, but how is his meaning-making skills, written skills, oral communication skills, motivation?  When we use multiple assessments or gather a variety of evidence of student progress (or lack of progress) we have a better understanding of the whole picture.  In the video, teachers were asked what they considered evidence to student progress.  Many things were addressed including the following:  running records, word games, retellings, conferencing with student themselves, conferencing with parents, conferencing with colleagues who have contact with student, anecdotal evaluations (notes observing student behavior, comments, interactions, etc.).  The video also stressed that we not only need to evaluate student strengths and needs skill wise, but also within what context.  Most students read narratives better than expository pieces, but sometimes, especially with boys, expository pieces could be motivating or more interesting to the student.
I felt that this video was an appropriate review to what we have been discussing in class.  I found most of it helpful.  There was one phrase that was used that I found to be obvious and silly, though, "Struggling readers tend not to read".  Of course they don't!  If someone is struggling with something, it usually means they are going to avoid the thing from which they struggle unless they are motivated to try harder to succeed.  I've seen this occur in the 4th grade classroom I observed last year when a student became severely frustrated with stumbling through a text he was reading with his teacher that he completely shut down.  He stopped reading and when prompted by the teacher, he snapped back.  He didn't mean to snap so the teacher was pretty understanding.  Later, the teacher told me that she was considering more small group or individual instruction for the student.  A student needs to be exposed to a well-structured literacy program where they have the opportunity to read a variety of different texts within both their instructional and independent levels in order to keep them motivated and keep them "hanging in there" so they can be successful life-long readers.