Literacy Assessment and Instructional Strategies

Literacy Assessment and Instructional Strategies prepares literacy educators to conduct reading and writing assessments and develop appropriate corrective literacy strategies for use with their grade K–5 students. Connecting Common Core Literacy Learning Standards to effective strategies and creative activities, the book includes authentic literacy assessments and formal evaluations to support reading teaching in the elementary classroom. Initial chapters discuss literacy assessment and evaluation, data-driven instruction, high-stakes testing, and instructional shifts in teaching reading, while later chapters focus on the latest instructional and assessment shifts, including pre-assessing literacy knowledge bases, using informational texts for vocabulary development, and close reading of text. Written by reading practitioners and researchers, this book is a must-have for novices as well as for veteran classroom teachers who want to stay on top of changing literacy trends.

Kathy B. Grant, EdD, is an associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction at SUNY Plattsburgh’s School of Education. She taught undergraduate courses in family involvement, as well as graduate courses in educational psychology and child development. She also worked as a home-school coordinator through Title 1 in the Missoula School District in Missoula, Montana. During her six years in this position, she oversaw the development of family resource centers at the elementary and middle school levels, worked with family outreach specialists and social workers, established parent libraries, and conducted home visits. As home-school coordinator, she helped develop an Even Start program serving children and parents. Having taught second, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, as well as high school, she has worked collaboratively with families for more than 30 years. In 2014 in collaboration with two rural upstate New York school districts, she consulted on establishment of two elementary family resource centers. These two centers will be part of a larger SUNY clinical field experience effort to prepare teacher candidates to authentically work with families. Dr. Sandra Golden – Dr. Golden has been in higher education since 1988 and her involvement in community development and engagement spans 20 years. Prior to joining the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland as Associate Director of Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood she taught for seven years at Defiance College. She also provided administrative leadership as the Associate Provost of Graduate Studies and Professional Development. While at Defiance College, Dr. Golden earned tenure and was promoted to Full Professor of Education. Prior to joining the faculty of Defiance College, she also taught for seven years at Notre Dame College of Ohio in their teacher education program and provided administrative leadership for the graduate programs. Dr. Golden has 15 years of experience as a teacher educator and literacy educator. Her research interest includes culturally relevant pedagogy, reading and literacy development, and teacher education.  She has written several book chapters and articles and is the co-editor of Connecting the literacy puzzle: Linking the professional, personal, and social literacies, 2012, Hampton Press. Currently, she is the managing editor of the American Reading Forum Annual Yearbook. She is also the co-founder and director of T-RUTH Academy for Young Adolescent Girls, a reading and writing program to support young girls in developing and enhancing reading and writing skills, promoting self-awareness and self-esteem, and engaging in service learning and project development.