This section of Assessment and Diagnostic Teaching calls for demonstrating your knowledge of the materials available to you for assessment and screening. In preparing to meet this criterion, begin by considering the formal and informal assessments at their base. Formal assessments can be norm-referenced or criterion-referenced, while informal assessments include informal reading inventories. What are the other types of formal and informal assessments? Begin by considering the different primary types of assessments, the differences among them, their relative strengths and weaknesses, and optimal times for employing each. What are the characteristics of each assessment type? Which characteristics make each assessment type different from the others? Consider also their particulars and where each type is best employed. For example, what types of information can you get from an informal reading inventory?

Subsection one asks you to demonstrate your knowledge of both formal and informal assessments as well as tools for screening students for the purpose of assessing oral and written language proficiency. In preparing for this subsection, consider the formal tools best used for these purposes. Also, which informal assessments best reflect a student’s oral and written language proficiency?