This paper presents five principles to guide reading comprehension assessment in the classroom. Based upon an interactive model emerging from the past two decades of reading research and theory, these principles acknowledge a close tie between assessment and instruction; namely, that assessment is part of instruction. The principles suggest that we (1) consider the reader, the text, and the context as we construct and interpret assessments. (2) Focus on orchestrating rather than isolating skills. (3) Regard reading as a dynamic process rather than a static product. (4) Develop techniques that encourage rather than ignore student-teacher interactions. (5) Use a variety of measures of reading comprehension. The paper concludes with several applications of these principles to classroom assessment.
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