Which assessment method is likely to provide anecdotal evidence of a student's development?

Running records are a formative assessment tool used to gather qualitative information about a student’s reading development. This method involves observing and recording a student's reading behavior as they read a text aloud. By doing this, educators can capture specific details about a student's fluency, comprehension, and problem-solving strategies, which collectively create a narrative of the child's reading progress.

This anecdotal evidence is valuable as it provides insights into how a student approaches reading tasks, including their emotional responses, behaviors during reading, and errors or self-corrections they make. It allows educators to understand not just what a student can do in a controlled setting, but also how they navigate reading challenges in real time.

In contrast, other assessment methods like standardized testing, summative assessments, and end-of-book tests typically provide quantitative data or performance scores which may not capture the nuances of a child’s development as effectively as running records do. These methods often focus on comparison to benchmarks or learning objectives rather than providing a holistic view of a child's literacy journey.