ABSTRACT
Assessment information on the performance of individual students was part of a teacher's mental record-keeping system. Recitation teaching has been found to characterize many educational programs for language minority students and low-achieving at-risk students, as well as those for students in general. This instructional approach features highly routinized and/or scripted interaction, teacher domination, and a focus on isolated and discrete skills. Currently, there is a surge of interest in studying teacher belief systems, but there is little information on teacher beliefs related to the assessment of language-minority students, particularly in the area of literacy. Part of the commitment to responsive teaching involved reflection on individual practice and an agreement to implement interactive journals, literature conversations or study, a writer's workshop, thematic teaching, paired readings, and portfolios. In general, teachers held different views about reading and literacy. Some believed that skills and phonics should play an important role in literacy instruction.
