Assessment

Assessment is used to determine what level a student is working at. Ongoing assessment of all individual students is essential, as it highlights their strengths and weaknesses, and provides the teacher with appropriate learning materials required to assist the child's progress and development in literacy (Hill 2006). There are several ways to asses children in reading, writing and comprehension.
 * Assessment**

** Assessing emergent and early writing ** When assessing the beginning stages of writing there are three main elements to look for, as outlined below (Hill 2006). Recognisable words score 2 points Two-word phrases score 3 points, and so on || Concept that conveys a message, 2 points, and so on || If the writing 'return sweeps' from top to bottom, 2 points... || (Hill 2006, p289)
 * = Element ||= Main Ideas ||
 * < Written Language || Recognisable letters scores 1 point
 * < Ideas || If the child comments the writing says something (through a sign), it scores 1 point
 * < Text conventions || If the text runs from left to right, they score 1 point

More complex assessment sheets are available for assessing children at the transitional writing stage and beyond.

**Assessing reading** Reading Records are a good way for teachers to determine what level a child is reading at. 'The learning level of a particular text is the place where children benefit from teacher guidance' (Hill 2006, p 158). Using a text selected by the teacher, and a transcript of this text, reading records are taken by:

•choosing a book that is at the child's learning level, yet they have not read it •the child reads the book •the teacher marks down the childs miscues and correct responses on the transcript of the text (Hill 2006, p159)

The childs performance is evaluated and a record is kept. This form of assessment is very important as it provides feedback to the teacher and parents, and gives the student motivation to perform better (Hill 2006).