The strong presence of culturally relevant materials in classrooms is seen as an indicator of good teaching but the development and use of these materials is under-investigated. Similarly, the actual

construction and use of culturally relevant materials for literacy assessment purposes is under- reported. This paper examines the development and field-testing of culturally appropriate reading

assessment materials for primary-school children in the Bahamas. The construction of culturally relevant assessment materials relies on the deep and intimate knowledge of the context and the use of the materials involves analyses from several perspectives: estimation of readability levels, creation of a range of question and activity types, analyses of students’ performance and comparison with other literacy performance indicators. This paper describes the development and field-testing of culturally relevant materials in the Bahamas.