3 semester credits

The ability to effectively diagnose reading difficulties and determine appropriate interventions is at the heart of what it means to be a reading teacher. Education professionals learn about the purposes, strengths, and limitations of a wide variety of assessment instruments in this course. Education professionals learn how to select and administer appropriate tools for diagnosis and progress monitoring, and they interpret results related to individual students, class/groups, and school. Assessment data are used to plan differentiated instruction for students at different developmental stages and from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Education professionals use assessment data to develop interventions that target specific student needs and select materials, instructional strategies, and other resources needed to implement appropriate interventions. Effective practices for communicating assessment results to students, parents/caregivers, colleagues, and administrators are addressed.