Considerable research indicates that high-stakes accountability policies have the capacity to influence language arts instruction, particularly in urban, high-needs schools where pressure to increase test scores tends to be most acute. This article utilizes Cultural Historical Activity Theory to critically examine the constraints and affordances…

Explores educational possibilities and discusses how classroom practice might be related to one's communal and national future. Defines pedagogy as the integration in practice of particular curriculum content and design, classroom strategies and techniques, a time and space for the practice of those strategies and techniques, and evaluation…

Contributors discuss (1) the role of teacher explanation, (2) packaged teaching programs, and (3) motivating children to write poetry. (FL)

Argues for a change from the artificial and irrelevant evaluation activities found in so many special education programs. Provides examples of school districts in the United States that are developing new ways of assessing, ways that are less artificial and more appropriate to children's modes of thinking and learning. (RS)

Describes a large-scale model of portfolio assessment that used papers collected from 27 fifth grade students throughout a school district in Durham, New Hampshire. Highlights information that can be gleaned from this approach to assessment, and notes that instruction should be adapted to respond to the results of the assessment. (MM)

Review New Zealand's language arts assessment practices at all grade levels. Suggests alternative approaches to student evaluation. (MM)

Presents an in-depth look at the design and development of a portfolio-based writing assessment tool intended for use on a daily basis in the classroom. Helps teachers think about the role of assessment in guiding students' narrative writing, with particular emphasis on the connections among curriculum, instruction, and assessment. (RS)

An examination of how the use of descriptive analysis of children's work such as the Modified Descriptive Review process supported professional inquiry and growth for educators and for children they serve, is presented. The Modified Descriptive Review process fed immediate actions as well as the posing and exploring of large questions about…

Considers a reading assessment procedure that offers teachers a way of using miscue analysis in the course of a busy classroom day. Presents "Over the Shoulder Miscue Analysis" as a foundation for reflection, the opportunity to revisit and make meaning of a literacy event. Explores how Over the Shoulder has helped teachers as researchers…

A continuous reading program is presented that has developed basic skill sequences in all areas of reading and set forth behavioral statements for each skill.

Describes a "focused holistic" method of writing evaluation, which considers a total piece of writing, but in terms of predefined criteria. Provides sample evaluations. (HTH)

Discusses the current state of alternative assessment programs, focusing on results of studies the authors conducted in two school districts. Shares implications for policy and for curriculum and instruction. (MG)

Discusses several observation-based methods of student assessment that are recommended in the "Primary Language Record," a book developed by schools in the Inner London Educational Authority. (MM)

Describes a teacher's journey toward creating authentic assessment and how it matches the instruction in her classroom. Suggests that the process of documenting the students' stories about learning and reflecting upon them has the potential to solve some of the difficulties with testing, evaluation, and assessment. (RS)