Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (The Sisters)

Assessing young readers involves more than determining a reading level and moving them onto the next. Gail Boushey and Joan Moser developed the CAFE assessment system to help elementary students understand and master different strategies used by successful readers. CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary, and the system includes goal-setting with students in individual conferences, posting of goals on a whole-class board, developing small group instruction based on clusters of students with similar goals, and targeting whole-class instruction based on emerging student needs.

The Video Workshop Kit includes video of many individual conferences, small group lessons, and whole class instruction in Joan Moser's K-2 multiage classroom. The companion PDF Guide presents workshop suggestions for use of the video in professional development settings, blank assessment forms for use in the teacher's conferring and planning notebook, student work samples, and profiles of students presented in the video to enhance the viewing experience.

Joan Moser and Gail Boushey are known simply as "The Sisters" to the teachers they have worked with in Washington state and throughout the country. They are biological sisters, and elementary teachers with over forty years of teaching experience between them. Gail is currently a literacy specialist and Joan is a grades K-2 multiage teacher. In addition to full-time teaching, they are nationally known consultants specializing in literacy, assessment, and creating lovely spaces for learning in classrooms.