1. Assessment Vs. Diagnosis Assessment: The act or process of gathering information in order to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of student learning, as by observation, testing, interviews, ext. (Vogt & Shearer, 2011, p. 91). Diagnosis: A diagnosis is the process of identifying and labeling a disability or disorder. 2. Screening Instruments These assessments should be administered to all students. The purpose of this assessment is to identify student needs through the assessment of critical needs. While this assessment will not give data to guide instruction, it will provide baseline data on student performance. 3. Diagnostic Instruments This assessment is used as a follow-up to screening assessments. Diagnostic instruments are usually administered to students individually and thus, are more time consuming. These assessments are either norm-referenced or criterion based. The Just Read, Florida website provides a chart of primary and secondary diagnostic instruments. http://www.justreadflorida.com/educators/PrimSecDi agChart.asp 4. Progress Monitoring Progress monitoring is a scientifically based, formative assessment. It is used to assess students performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. This assessment is given weekly, biweekly, or monthly. It can be administered to individual students who are receiving differentiated instruction or to an entire class class of students. Progress monitoring can be used to determine a specific type of instruction that a student may need. The following website has resources for progress monitoring: www.studentprogress.org 5. Outcome Measurements Outcome measures are designed to indicate whether the goals of a program have been met (Gunning, 2010, p. 65). They are summative and standardized assessments that are given to groups of students. The data from these assessments is used to determine if students have made adequate yearly progress, identify global trends, and compare data between schools, districts, and states. An example of an outcome measurement assessment is the FCAT test. 6. References Gunning, T. G. (2010). Assessing and correcting reading and writing difficulties (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.Just Read, Florida! (2013). Retrieved November 19, 2013, fromhttp://www.justreadflorida.comStudent Progress Monitoring: The National Center on Student Progress Monitoring. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2013, from http://www.studentprogress.orgVogt, M. E., & Shearer, B. A. (2011). Reading specialists and literacy coaches in the real world (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.