This study has investigated the reader function in drama in education and its potential role in assessment procedures. An overview of how assessment has been approached by drama teachers and theorists in the last two decades has shown that a strong emphasis In experiencing has brought about a concomitant gap in considering the reader dimension in assessment. The claim that the focus on the reader, from the productive role of the audience to the reader stance of the actor, allows for assessing the students' actions and responses without disrupting the on-going drama, is developed alongside the investigation of the literature on production and reception and the philosophical clarification of the main concepts underlying the making and communication of meanings in drama. A reader-oriented model for assessment is developed and illustrated through a diagram of the reader functioning in drama, which represents a guide for teachers' assessment and is the basis of a field experience carried out in a primary and a secondary school. Most of the implications of assessing the reader were made clear when they were observed during the field experience which allowed for re-shaping and expanding the previous chapters. Therefore the field experience represents an illustration of the implications of a readeroriented assessment rather than an empirical trial of it