P. David Pearson's presentation highlights busy day at World Congress

Nearly 25 years ago, P. David Pearson and Sheila Valencia wrote an article titled "Reading Assessment: Time for a Change," which appeared in the April 1987 issue of The Reading Teacher. In today's general session presentation at IRA's 23rd World Congress on Reading in Auckland, New Zealand, Pearson discussed where we've come since then in a presentation titled "Reading Assessment: Still Time for Change."

His lively and informative presentation offered an insightful history of assessment practices in recent decades and revolved around Pearson's Laws of Assessment. Slides from his presentation, which include these laws and other important information from the speech, will be posted soon on the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading website and this page of the IRA website (where you can also access other handouts from the World Congress).

Pearson closed his speech with what he called his key idea worth remembering: "Never send a test out to do a curriculum's job." He then added another suggestion, which is to use tests "in support of teaching and learning."

Wednesday's activities also included author lunches and a full range of workshops, papers, poster sessions, and symposia. Several attendees commented on the breadth and depth of offerings at the World Congress, as well as the opportunity to interact with colleagues from all over the world.