ABSTRACT
This chapter examines specific assessment areas and issues in Language Arts classrooms, focusing on a series of promises and challenges. The chapter begins with a discussion of societal forces that shape—or force—certain assessment choices and documents the insidious influence of testing. Ahn and Afflerbach examine the consequences of assessment and describe the nature of formative and summative assessment. They also examine advances in assessing students’ digital literacy and consider the assessment of powerful influences on reading development and achievement, including motivation and engagement, self-efficacy, and metacognition. The authors conclude with an examination of students’ self-assessment and how teachers can foster this essential strategy set.
