The Adequacy of Tools for Assessing Reading Competence: A Framework and Review

Assessment of student performance is critical for developing effective instructional policy and designing programs responsive to individual students' needs. To gauge the adequacy of available assessment tools for achieving these ends, the Reading First Assessment Committee (RFAC) developed criteria for evaluating the adequacy of reading measures for use in kindergarten through Grade 3 and applied those criteria to a sample of prominently used assessments (Kame'enui et al., 2002). The authors describe the RFAC's framework, outline its process for judging the technical merits of reading measures, and comment on the current state of assessment tools available to practitioners for supporting effective reading instruction in the primary grades.