Mid-year reading assessments are just around the corner. Whether it’s DIBELS, MAP, i-READY or another assessment, this means countless teachers and leaders will soon be huddled around screens trying to make meaning from endless rows of color-coded data. 

We know reading requires a set of complex and interconnected skills. It’s probably unsurprising that the landscape of reading assessment can feel equally complex. We’ve completed more than 40 Lit Quality Reviews in recent years, studying how systems big and small select assessments and use the data to drive improvement. We coach literacy leaders every week; sitting side-by-side as they look at dashboards and spreadsheets to decide where to focus next. 

It’s shown us nine ways that high-performing leaders level up their reading assessment strategy. 

1. Invest in strategy, not just selection. 

It’s true. The first step to an impactful reading assessment strategy is to have one. In reading, that means a strategic plan to identify students at risk for reading difficulties and who might need additional support; monitor student progress toward grade-level standards; evaluate student learning and instructional practice; and respond to student needs.  

An assessment strategy is not simply a timeline of the assessments you’ll deliver. Your assessment strategy should answer: 

• What assessments will we use and when will they be administered?

• Why these assessments, and at this frequency? (ie. How does this align to what we know about how children learn to read? Are they valid and reliable? How do they align to our community’s needs and values?) 

• How will different members of our community (teachers, students, families, and leaders) use the data?

• What supports will our team need for effective implementation?

2. Know each assessment’s unique purpose and its limitations. 

In reading, more testing doesn’t necessarily mean better insights.  High-performing leaders carefully select assessments that will answer specific questions about student reading progress aligned to the research about how children learn to read and the phases of reading development. Doing this well starts with deeply understanding each type of reading assessment and how it should be used. A universal screener might help identify students needing intervention, for example, but it might not provide enough detail to inform specific gaps for instructional groupings week over week. Avoid the temptation to have a single assessment “do it all” and avoid overloading the calendar with duplicative assessments. 

3. Look for evidence and alignment. 

Understanding the specific skills that drive reading—and how they develop over time—helps leaders create a balanced strategy that captures students’ progress holistically. Look for assessments aligned to the science of reading and vet each assessment’s validity (how well it measures what it intends to measure) and reliability (how consistent and dependable its results are). 

4. Widen the table. 

High-impact leaders bring a broad group into the assessment conversation, from teachers and coaches to experts in Special Education and Multilingual Learners. Bring these stakeholders together regularly to review the data so you can leverage multiple streams of data and expertise. 

5. Fall in love with curriculum-embedded assessments.   

Curriculum-embedded assessments (CEA) are ongoing evaluations that are built into the teaching and learning process and aligned to curricular materials. (They include exit tickets, end-of-unit reviews, and embedded performance tasks.) In this way, they provide immediate, context-specific data that aligns closely with daily instruction and allows teachers to catch classwide problems early before they become entrenched achievement gaps. Create a strategy that includes training, support, and tools to administer and analyze CEAs for ongoing monitoring. 

6. Get close to student work. 

Written responses provide a vital window into an individual student’s language skills and depth of understanding. They can also be time-consuming to score and analyze. Make space for teachers to engage deeply with student work, particularly written responses, and set the expectation that teachers should have text in hand during analysis, ensuring they can make informed, nuanced instructional decisions.

7. Triangulate, triangulate, triangulate.

Learning to read is complex, and analyzing reading data should reflect that complexity. Teachers and leaders should review both comprehension and foundational skills data together to see how gaps in one area might affect results in another. This holistic approach can help pinpoint specific skills that are at the root of reading challenges. 

At the school and system level, data analysis should triangulate student achievement data with trends in instruction and coaching to help prioritize skills and systems to strengthen across schools to help drive outcomes and alignment.

8. Invest in systems and support. 

It’s structures, routines, and expectations that move an assessment strategy from paper to action. Make time to set up and regularly audit systems and structures for assessment administration, storage, and analysis. This includes regular shared time for data review and accessible tools that make data interpretation simple and actionable. Teachers and leaders must also have regular, high-quality professional learning and coaching to understand the assessment strategy and their role in it. 

9. Remember, mindsets matter. 

Calendars, dashboards, and expectations are some of the most tangible pieces of an assessment strategy but mindsets matter too. Your assessment strategy should be rooted in your mission and values. The way you approach data analysis should reflect your team’s collective beliefs about education, equity, and children. Creating and revising a set of shared data mindsets helps make these beliefs transparent and sticky for teachers and leaders. 

Want to dig deeper? Our next Knowledge List on reading assessments lands next week. Until then, here are two resources we’re loving right now: 

• A Comprehensive K-3 Reading Assessment Plan: Guidance for School Leaders (Joseph K. Torgesen, Florida State University) 
• Uses and Misuses of Commercial Reading Assessment: An Applied Framework for Decision Making in Grades K through 6 (Adrea J. Truckenmiller, Eunsoo Cho, Samantha Bourgeois & Ellie Friedman, The Reading Teacher) 

SAVE THE DATE! On January 15, Lit’s Chief Program Officer, Jesse Rector, will host “From Assessment to Action: The Leader’s Guide to Leveling Up Your Assessment Strategy,” showcasing examples of how leaders are using these strategies to create real impact for students. Save your seat here.