National Council of Teachers of English

Literacy Assessment: Definitions, Principles, and Practices

This statement, formerly known as Framing Statements on Assessment, was updated in October 2018 with the new title, Literacy Assessment: Definitions, Principles, and Practices.

Originally developed as a Revised Report of the Assessment and Testing Study Group of the NCTE Executive Committee, November 2004, revised October 2018

OVERVIEW 

An NCTE working committee was charged with reviewing the 2004 position statement “Framing Statements on Assessment.” The 2018 NCTE Executive Committee Subcommittee on Position Statement Review observed that “The language feels dated in this statement, and assessment challenges have increased since 2004. Recommend revision.”

We agreed that the 2004 position statement needed revision, and for three reasons: (1) it included information and advocacy on issues other than literacy assessment, so it wasn’t fully focused on literacy assessment; (2) it needed to be updated to include practices like machine scoring of student work; and (3) it wasn’t designed for multiple audiences.

The dominant points in the new statement, as the preface articulates, include:

The National Council of Teachers of English believes that literacy assessment is an integral part of literacy teaching and learning; that literacy assessment contributes to the conditions for literacy teaching and learning; and that professional knowledge about literacy assessment is a critical component of a literacy teacher’s development and practice.

They also include a set of principles:

 

THE STATEMENT

The National Council of Teachers of English believes that literacy assessment is an integral part of literacy teaching and learning; that literacy assessment contributes to the conditions for literacy teaching and learning; and that professional knowledge about literacy assessment is a critical component of a literacy teacher’s development and practice.

 

DEFINITIONS

 

PRINCIPLES OF LITERACY ASSESSMENT

 

TEACHER KNOWLEDGE AS FUNDAMENTAL TO LITERACY ASSESSMENT

 

IMPLICATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT PRACTICES

 

LARGE-SCALE, STANDARDIZED, HIGH-STAKES LITERACY ASSESSMENT

 

STATEMENT AUTHORS

This document was revised by an NCTE working committee comprising the following:

 

This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from NCTE.