EARLY CHILDHOOD

ASSESSMENT

 A desire to know how well children are learning , if they are making
progress and making proficiency benchmarks, and if they are being
taught effectively.
Data from assessment provide valuable information for planning
whole group and individualized instruction, for determining program
quality and for communicating with others.
Assessment practices encompass a range of instruments and
techniques including structured one on one child assessments ,
standardized assessments, portfolio, rating scales , and observation.

National standards
Refers to the principles that guide practice to promote
quality in education.
In early childhood standards are outlined by two key
organization the National Association for the Education
of Young Children ( NAEYC ) and the Division for Early
Childhood (DEC).

NAEYC
Recommends that the assessment be used for decission making
regarding teaching and learning , identifying childrens needs and
improving education and intervenvtion program.
Teachers are expected to use assessment result to adapt and
individualized curricula and teaching approaches and to communicate
with families.
It is recommended that teachers use both formal and informal screening
and assessment approaches to systematically evaluate childrens
growth across all domains of development and learning within natural
contexts, including the early childhood classroom.
A variety of assessment tools and approaches, including rating scales,
checklist, norm-referenced tests, prtfolios, and observations can be used
to learn about the childs strenght and needs .
Recommends that the assessment process take into account factors that
may influence childrens performance such as hunger or lack of sleep.

DEC
Recommends that assessment provide information that is
useful for intervention.
Recommends that professional and families collaborate
topalan and implement assessment
Screening plays an important role in the assessment
process, as it can be used to determine which children
need further assessment and in what domains of
development and learning.

Universal Screening
A emerging practice in early childhood settings .
Involves using low-cost tools that can be administered quickly
and used repeatedly to gather data on each child in the
classroom.
Universal screening with all children is not yet reality in most
early education programs, early childhood teachers are
moving in this direction.
A good place for teachers to begin is to consider all of the
assessment information that is already being gathered in the
classrooms.
Formal and informal measurement activities are linked to the
curriculum and to early learning learning standards and

Progress Monitoring
A term used to describe any of a number of activities or
approaches to data collection that focus on a childs learning
over time and help to document and provide meaningful
feedback on learning outcomes.
Progress monitoring measures ( e.g Individual Growth and
Development indicators (IGDIs) ) provide information about
the rate nd levelmof childrens growth in key skills, which
helps to determine the intensity of support and services each
child needs to be successful.
The majority of progress monitoring tools target language and
early literacy skills rather than all domains of development
and learning.

Observation in Naturalistic Settings

Teachers and parents are uniquely positioned to obtain
information about how children function within different
natural ( e.g classroom, community) environments or
settings.
One way teachers can understand childrens
development , interests, and needs within the context of
the pre-kindergarten or child care classroom is through
observation and documentation.
Through systematic observation overtime , teachers are
able to routinely observe children engaging in regular
classroom routines and activities and reflect on the
meaning of what they see.

 Sucessful observation allow teachers , parents and

other adults to capture and record meaningful details
while children are engage in a variety of activities and
take into account childrens development, interests, and
needs across domains of development and learning
allowing for a more complete view of the whole child.
When conducting observations teachers must take
particular care to avoid allowing any preconceptions or
biases color their impressions.
When conducting systematic observations teachers
should be using their understanding of child
development as a filter to identify expected behavior as
well as pick up on red flags that indicate a child might
be struggling with learning.

Systematic observation should :

Occur multiple times over a period of time
Collect information from multiple sources
Collect information from multiple contexts

Use of Teacher Rating to Identify

Children at Risk
Observation puts minimal constraints on childrens behavior
and activities allowing them to behave naturally and exhibit
their full range of skills and abilities while engaging in
activities that hold meaning for them such as dramatic play
activities or block construction.
With the use of systematic observations , teachers can
become very familiar with the interests, needs and strenghts
of all of the children in their classrooms.
With a tool to target their observations, teachers can use
systematic observation as a quick and cost effective way to
determine which children might be struggling with learning
and benefit from addition support.

 Teacher ratings have been useful for assessing and predicting

childrens skills and abilities in a number of areas including
communication, kindergarten readiness, literacy, and social
emotional.
Studies have showed that through informal methods teachers
can accurately identify the majority of children who are also
identified by formal assessments as needing additional
support.
It is also important to consider the timely and ongoing manner
in which screening and observation data will be shared among
school personel and with families.
Teachers should provide regular child progress updates to
families, hold periodic family teacher conference and share
general information about learning goals and expectations for
children, by phone or in person during one- to one
conference or at school open house meetings.