Reading Comprehension Assessments

Reading comprehension assessments generally consist of texts with accompanied questions, tasks, or activities designed to inform educators about a student’s abilities, skills, or level of capacity to make meaning from, or comprehend, [Page 1385]targeted texts. Reading comprehension assessments typically involve individual textual reading (either silently or aloud) with accompanying questions that are used to gauge a student’s ability to recall explicitly stated information and to understand implied ideas or arguments represented in a text. Such information could be used for making decisions about a student’s educational status and learning goals as well as for identifying best instructional supports. These assessments vary in their utility for providing such information, and some assessments are better than others for informing next steps in instructional practice.