A Community-Based Approach for Developing a Critical, Formative Reading Assessment of Multimodal Texts

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Culturally Responsive Sustaining Education and Critical Assessment of Multimodal Texts

Abstract

This proposal presents the first phase of creating the formative Critical Reading Assessment (CRA) designed to assess students’ critical reading of multimodal texts (i.e., written texts with embedded graphical images, videos, etc.). Critical reading here includes making inferences about the positionality and potential biases of text authors. Our goal is to present the rarely documented process of instrument development, particularly the early theorizing about the construct of interest (critical reading). Following a case study design (Stake, 1995), we describe the collaborative development of the CRA that included input from TK-12 students and their parents, undergraduate, graduate, and faculty researchers. Findings from this study may inform the development of more equitable, culturally sustaining literacy assessments.

Authors

• Sabiha Sultana, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Daniel Katz, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Somer Levine, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Diana J. Arya, University of California - Santa Barbara