One of the most fundamental skills that students, even at the high school level, lack is literacy. While most students are functionally literate, meaning they can read and pronounce words, their ability to comprehend the content and context of what they read remains below average.  Because reading comprehension is essential across all subjects, and because no matter what there is going to be something the students have to read, I take it upon myself as an English teacher to explicitly teach reading strategies in addition to content-area knowledge.  I also make sure the students can compare and contrast texts across the curriculum.  Thus, much of what I evaluate, diagnose and prescribe in my class are reading strategies.   One of the most efficient way to do this is through the use of rubrics and checklists.  Teach the students what reading comprehension skills and strategies are and distribute a rubric for them to refer to while they read; then measure their use of those strategies through observations you record in the form of a checklist.  Knowing how the students progress allows me to know which areas need remediation, which students may need the curriculum altered in some way, and what texts might be appropriate to use in future lessons.

One helpful reading checklist, seen in the thumnail image on the right, I came across in Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum, Eighth Edition, by Richard T. Vacca and JoAnne L. Vacca. Published by Allyn and Bacon.Copyright © 2005.