Can dynamic assessment predict growth in reading skills and risk status for reading difficulties?

In contrast to traditional ‘static’ tests, dynamic assessment (DA) focuses on the process rather than the product of learning by measuring response to teaching. As such, DA is better able to distinguish between underlying learning difficulties and lack of opportunity to learn, making it a less biased form of assessment for culturally and linguistically diverse children. Previous work from the United States and Denmark has shown DA to be a unique and sensitive predictor of future reading difficulties, though such work has not been carried out within the diverse context of UK schools. This symposium will discuss work from the Dynamic Assessment of Reading Test (DART) project at the University of Leeds.