The individual reading assessments are situated in an original and comprehensive framework of assessment and instruction that addresses the specific, critical skills, identified in the reading literature (e.g., Adams, 1990; Dickinson & Tabor, 2001; Gunn, Simmons, & Kameenui, 1998; Lyon, 1998; National Reading Panel, 2000; Scarborough, 2001; Snow, Burns & Griffin, 1998; Whitehurst, & Lonigan, 1998) that children need to acquire in the early grades of schooling in order to become proficient readers. These include assessments of phonological awareness and phonic knowledge, word identification, oral and written language comprehension, accuracy and rate in reading text. To maximize the instructional utility of the assessments, the framework was developed in collaboration with a group of expert reading teachers and guided by three essential questions: Are the assessments embedded in an instructional framework so that the results can be used to plan instruction? What is the instructional value of the information – will it help teachers decide what to do next? How can we minimize the time of the teacher and child while maximizing the informational benefits of the assessments? These guiding questions privilege a hierarchical rather than a uniform approach to assessment. All students take benchmark assessments as a check on progress, and particular students take ‘drill down’ assessments related to specific skills on an as-needed basis. Using the information from the core assessments, teachers make determinations about whether sufficient information has been gained to plan the next instructional steps, or whether certain ‘drill down’ assessments are necessary for diagnostic purposes. An important feature of the framework is that assessments are organized around teacher decision points. This organization enables teachers to know what assessments they need to target for diagnostic purposes and when instructional interventions may be necessary.