State Literacy Standards, Practice, and Testing

Résumé du livre

Literacy is a term that has been defined many ways, with definitions ranging from those that are very narrow to those that are very broad. Among the more wide sweeping was that of the 1991 National Literacy Act, which defined literacy as a wide range of language tasks associated with everyday life, including those "necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential." Most often, however, literacy definitions have focused on the skill of decoding print and on specific reading skills. Definitions that emphasize only visual interaction with print or on specific reading skills has serious implications for students who have challenged ability to access print, creating barriers to their learning and educational growth despite the fact that there now exists a range of other ways to access the printed word. The purpose of this paper is to explore these topics by first determining how broad or limiting states' reading standards are in coverage and whether they limit options for students to use multiple methods of interaction with print. Part I reports on this study of state standards in reading. Part II addresses alternative modes of interaction with print. Part III analyzes the correspondence between the reading standard requirements and the modes of interaction with print. Part IV identifies implications for instruction, assessment, and related issues. (Contains 15 tables.).