Todd Ruecker

Linking Assignments to Assessments is designed for teachers in training in TESOL programs, future preK–12 teachers, and practicing instructors who need to integrate assessment into classrooms. Educators seeking fair and accessible assessment practices for English learners will find helpful information on language acquisition and differentiated instruction. The book shares foundational information on the importance of assessment literacy and on how language acquisition, student backgrounds, and language standards need to be considered. Linking Assignments to Assessments offers step-by-step instructions on creating effective assessments for listening and reading, speaking and writing, grammar and vocabulary. Teachers are provided context for understanding standardized assessments and strategies to advocate for and prepare English learners in high-stakes assessment contexts. Each chapter includes activities, discussion questions, and strategies for developing an assessment philosophy to help educators link their theory and practice.

"Transiciones" is a thorough ethnography of seven Latino students in transition between high school and community college or university. Data gathered over two years of interviews with the students, their high school English teachers, and their writing teachers and administrators at postsecondary institutions reveal a rich picture of the conflicted experience of these students as they attempted to balance the demands of schooling with a variety of personal responsibilities. Todd Ruecker explores the disconnect between students writing experiences in high school and higher education and examines the integral role that writing plays in college. Considering the almost universal requirement that students take a writing class in their critical first year of college, he contends that it is essential for composition researchers and teachers to gain a fuller understanding of the role they play in supporting and hindering Latina and Latino students transition to college. Arguing for situating writing programs in larger discussions of high school/college alignment, student engagement, and retention, "Transiciones" raises the profile of what writing programs can do while calling composition teachers, administrators, and scholars to engage in more collaboration across the institution, across institutions, and across disciplines to make the transition from high school to college writing more successful for this important group of students."