Commitment to Professionalism
CHAPTER 11
Child Assessment: An Essential Component of Quality Early ChildhoodProgramming
NAEYC Administrator Competencies Addressed in This Chapter:
Management Knowledge and Skills
4. Educational Programming
· Knowledge and application of different curriculum models, standards for high-quality programming, and child assessment practices
Early Childhood Knowledge and Skills
3. Child Observation and Assessment
· Knowledge and application of developmentally appropriate child observation and assessment methods
· Knowledge of the purposes, characteristics, and limitations of different assessment tools and techniques
· Ability to use different observation techniques, including formal and informal observation, behavior sampling, and developmentalchecklists
· Knowledge of ethical practice as it relates to the use of assessment information
· The ability to apply child observation and assessment data to planning and structuring developmentally appropriate instructionalstrategies
4. Curriculum and Instructional Methods
· Ability to evaluate outcomes of different curricular approaches
Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Contrast the characteristics of appropriate and inappropriate approaches to assessing young children.
2. Identify performance assessment strategies that are appropriate for documenting what children know and are able to do.
3. Describe some ways teachers of young children share their insights about what they know and are able to do with their families.
4. Discuss the origins of kindergarten readiness assessments, the challenges faced by those tasked with their development, and factorsthat make it difficult to compare states’ results.
Grace’s Experience
Grace’s many years as a classroom teacher gave her a great deal of experience observing and documenting children’s learning, growth, anddevelopment. She used what she learned through this process to inform her teaching and was able to develop portfolios based on her observationsand documentation to describe children’s accomplishments to their families. Since becoming the program director, Grace has observed that someteachers collect very little documentation, mostly in the form of checklists and rating scales, to describe their children’s learning, growth, anddevelopment. She realizes she must use what she learned in the classroom to lead her teachers in the implementation of authentic,developmentally, and culturally appropriate assessment strategies that align with the program’s core values, mission, and vision. She is hopingthis chapter will help her develop an assessment plan that will serve children, families, and staff well.
Child Assessment is the process that early childhood educators use to understand a child’s current development, what he knows, or whathe is able to do. They use this information to describe children’s progress to their families and as the basis for decisions that they make atthe classroom or programmatic level. As the program director, you are responsible for taking the lead by developing a “clearly written, well-organized, complete, [and] comprehensive assessment plan” that teachers and families can understand (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p.178). Programs receiving public funds are typically accountable for enhancing children’s learning, growth, and development in measurableways. They are usually required to administer specified assessments to demonstrate how children have benefited from those investments. Chapter 2 addresses child assessments that are measures of program outputs. In this chapter, we will focus on assessments that are used tokeep families informed about their children’s learning and development and to support children’s learning by informing instruction. Referto Figure 11.1 Common Assessment Terms for definitions of words and phrases commonly used when discussing assessment of youngchildren. It will be a useful resource as we apply the principles of appropriate child assessment practices to programs of early care andeducation.
Figure 11.1
Common Assessment Terms
11.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT
The first of the influential National Education Goals adopted by the first President Bush and the nation’s governors in 1990 created theexpectation that “by the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn.” It soon became clear that a definitive definitionof “ready to learn” was elusive, and existing assessments were ill suited to accurately describe what diverse populations of young childrenknow and are able to do. To prevent the widespread use of existing, on-demand tests and the adoption of potentially harmful assessmentpractices to measure school readiness, a workgroup made up of leading early childhood educators was asked to create guidelinesidentifying appropriate approaches to assessment in early childhood. They stressed the importance of using assessments only for theirintended purpose and avoiding subjecting young children to frequent assessments. What’s more, they identified four legitimate purposes ofassessment: (a) to promote children’s learning and development; (b) to identify children for health and special learning services; (c) tomonitor trends, evaluate programs, and services; and (d) to assess academic achievement and hold individual students, teachers, andschools accountable (Shepard, Kagan, & Wurtz, 1998).
During this period as many as seven professional associations, whose members include teachers and caregivers, program administrators,policy makers at both the state and national levels, and researchers, issued position statements that expressed their concerns about therisks to children’s well-being posed by inappropriate assessment practices. They warned, in particular, about the damage that can be causedby on-demand high-stakes pencil-and-paper tests that are stressful and frustrating for children and fail to provide an accurate picture oftheir knowledge and skills because they violate what we know about how children demonstrate what they know and are able to do (Walker& Feeney, 2014). These position statements advocate for alternative approaches to assessing young children’s knowledge and skills.Concern about the potential for harm that can come from inappropriate assessment practices is also evident in the Code of Ethical Conductof the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which has nine items addressing issues related to appropriate assessmentof young children. At the heart of the National Education Goals Panel guidelines, these professional organizations’ position statements, andthe NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct is the mandate that assessments used in early childhood be “ethical, appropriate, valid and reliable …developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically responsive, tied to children’s daily activities, supported by professionaldevelopment, [and] inclusive of families” (NAEYC & NAECS/SDE, 2003). Additionally, appropriate assessments:
· benefit children and families.
· must be used for their intended purpose.
· assess meaningful and significant skills and knowledge.
· collect information from a variety of sources.
· must be embedded in classroom activities and consistent with curricular goals.
· help teachers make informed decisions about teaching.
· must be the focus of professional development designed to enhance teachers’ knowledge and skill.
· must be shared with families to help them understand their children’s learning, growth, and development. (Copple & Bredekamp,2009; NAEYC, 2014; NAEYC & NAECS/SDE, 2003)
As noted above, the National Education Goals Panel workgroup advised that developmental screenings and assessments based onteachers’ observations should be essential features of quality programs of early care and education. Directors of early childhood programsand their teaching team play an essential role by administering developmental screenings to all children to identify those who might benefitfrom further evaluation to identify developmental disabilities or delays that would require specialized interventions. They have theopportunity to serve as a bridge connecting families to available services to meet identified children’s special needs. Descriptions ofdevelopmental screenings and their use are addressed in more depth in Chapter 9 of this text as part of the discussion of how to meet eachchild’s individual needs. This chapter will focus, in particular, on performance or observational assessments,1 the process of observing,documenting, and interpreting children’s behavior to inform instruction and to share information about children’s learning, growth, anddevelopment with their families.
11.2 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
Performance assessments involve observing and documenting children’s behavior. Performance assessments are considered to be authentic when children demonstrate their knowledge and skills in the context of ordinary classroom interactions and events (Meyer,1992). High-quality performance assessments of young children are closely aligned with applicable learning standards, such as states’ earlylearning guidelines or the Common Core, as well as families’ and the program’s values and goals for children. They reflect an understandingof typical development, taking into account the variations likely to be found in culturally and linguistically diverse communities and amongchildren who have developmental delays or disabilities; use multiple observation and documentation strategies; and involve multiplestakeholders, including children’s families and other early childhood professionals (NAEYC & NAECS/SDE, 2003; Riley-Ayers, 2014).
Performance assessment requires teachers to collect, over time, evidence of children’s approaches to learning as well as their cognitive,language, social, emotional, and physical development; and to interpret this information to gain insights into individual children’s interests,strengths, and needs to make meaningful adaptations to their instruction (NAEYC, 2014; Riley-Ayers, 2014). These are some of the manybenefits of performance assessment that should be a routine part of every classroom serving young children.
· Teachers who document and interpret children’s behavior and learning are able to individualize instruction.
· Systematic documentation of what children know and are able to do can help teachers identify children who may have adevelopmental or learning delay. Early intervention can sometimes keep a small problem from becoming a larger concern.
· Teachers’ documentation communicates to children that their learning is important. They can appreciate what they have accomplishedwhen they see samples of their work that has been collected over time.
· Documentation of what children know and are able to do is an important starting point for teachers’ work with families and givesthem an opportunity to seek families’ perspectives on their children’s learning, growth, and development (Seitz, 2008).
Performance assessment requires teachers to plan, to be organized, to devote time and effort to the process, and to reflect. It is theprogram administrator’s responsibility to provide them with the structural supports as well as the professional development and coachingthey need to collect, organize, interpret, and use assessment information to inform instruction.
Structural supports that teachers need to implement performance assessment strategies include digital cameras and audio and videorecorders to document children’s activities; equipment and materials such as a printer, filing cabinet, file folders, binders, highlighting pens,and Post-It® notes to help them organize their data; resources to help them interpret their data; and time to reflect on that they havelearned.
Many teachers of young children report that they are not knowledgeable about effective strategies for documenting their observations ofchildren’s behaviors; identifying children’s strengths and needs; and using that data to adapt and adjust instruction (Banerjee & Luckner,2013; Heritage, Kim, Vendlinski & Herman, 2009; Roderick, 2012; Turner & Coburn, 2012). These findings indicate that teachers needprofessional development opportunities that:
· ensure that they have a firm grasp of child development.
· give them practice documenting their observations.
· provide them with opportunities to practice assessing children’s knowledge and competencies.
· inform them about commercially available tools that can help them collect and interpret documentation.
· give them opportunities to practice using the results of their assessments to inform instruction.
These trainings can take the form of both in-person, hands-on instruction and coaching as well online videos and training tools (Banerjee &Luckner, 2013; Riley-Ayers, 2014).
When directors ensure that teachers have the professional development, materials and equipment, and time they need, teachers are morelikely to be motivated to continually monitor children’s development and learning, to reflect on their teaching and success meetingchildren’s needs, and to adjust their instruction to support children’s learning and development (Carter, 2008). Directors have found thatencouraging teachers to create study groups that give them opportunities to hone their data-collection skills, to discuss their data analysis,and to support each other in applying these findings to their teaching can be an effective extension to the coaching they are able to provide(Riley-Ayers, 2014).
Teachers can use a variety of strategies to document and assesses children’s knowledge and skills. Several are illustrated in Figure 11.2. AnAnticipatory Web Showing Appropriate Ways to Document and Assess Children’s Learning. It shows the many ways teachers can asseswhat children have learned about wind.
Performance Assessments
Performance assessments involve systematically focusing on a child or small group of children to document their behavior, which will beused as the basis of assessments of what individual children know and can do and can inform teachers’ efforts to support their learning,growth, and development. Observations can be of short duration or can take extended periods of time. They can be used to assess alldevelopmental domains, and even multiple domains simultaneously. Some performance assessment techniques are open-endedobservations that require observers to record and then interpret what they have seen and heard, and others are focused observationsthat require the observer to describe or tally specific behaviors.
Open-Ended Observations:
Open-ended authentic observational assessment techniques are very flexible and are popular ways for teachers and caregivers to assessyoung children’s development and learning because they allow them to carefully observe and analyze their rich descriptions of whatchildren do as they play and interact with their peers. They also help teachers get to know each child well and help strengthen theirrelationships with individual children—an important part of quality programming because strong relationships provide children afoundation for their exploration and learning (Jablon, Dombro, & Dichtelmiller, 2007). Some disadvantages to these approaches toassessment are that they are time-consuming to record and interpret. It is also difficult to assess some domains, such as cognitivedevelopment. In addition, the validity of the observation depends on the skill of the observer, and teachers need a significant amount ofprofessional development and practice to record observations objectively and analyze them insightfully so that they can meet individualchildren’s needs. As the program’s director, you can support teachers’ efforts to conduct these observational assessments by coaching themto avoid the temptation to draw any conclusions by recording just what they see and hear; by reviewing their records with them; and byhelping them interpret their observations to assess children’s learning, growth, and development and to inform their teaching.
Figure 11.2
Anticipatory Web Showing Appropriate Ways to Document and Assess Children’s Learning
Two forms of open-ended authentic observational assessments are anecdotal records and running records. An anecdotal record is abrief, objective, accurate description of a significant incident in one child’s day that:
· includes the child’s and observer’s names and indicates that date, time, context (where and when the incident took place).
· describes what the child did, the reactions of anyone else involved, and the child’s response to those reactions.
Figure 11.3
Example of an Anecdotal Record
· includes the child’s exact words, and those of others involved.2
· describes the child’s nonverbal communication—the posture, gestures, voice quality, and facial expressions that indicate the child’sfeelings. It does not label the child’s feelings but provides cues that allow the reader to interpret what his feelings might be.
In addition to these facts, in a separate section, an anecdotal record includes the observer’s interpretation of what this episode illustratesabout the child’s learning, growth, or development and/or his professional opinion about what he can do to support the child’s progress.See Figure 11.3. This Example of an Anecdotal Record illustrates how to describe a significant classroom event and interpret its meaning.
Application Activity
Keeping anecdotal notes is an everyday, routine way that teachers document what children know and are able to do.
Suzanne Clouzeau/Pearson Education
A running record is a narrative report that records what one child or a small group of children do and say. As when completing ananecdotal record, the observer records what he sees and hears without interpretation, and describes the context; however, a runningrecord adds an extra dimension by noting the time of each entry. This form of documentation was popularized by Piaget (1952). See Figure11.4, an Example of a Running Record. Note that this is the same incident that is presented as an example of an anecdotal record in Figure11.3.
Figure 11.4
Example of a Running Record
Focused Observations:
Focused observations describe what happens before and after a specific, usually challenging, behavior or describe children’s behaviors in aparticular setting. Two types of focused observations are event sampling and time sampling. The program’s director plays a particularlyimportant role by conducting these kinds of observations because teachers who are responsible for the entire classroom cannot focus theirattention on one child or one area of the classroom for the extended period that these forms of data collection require. You can also helpclassroom teachers interpret the data to gain insights into what causes (and how to prevent) negative behaviors, and how to encouragepositive interactions. An advantage of these structured observations is that they are less time-consuming than open-ended observationsand can record the behaviors of several children at one time; however, a disadvantage is that they lack the detail and richness of anecdotaland running records.
Event sampling is a description of events preceding and immediately following a specified target behavior during a particular classroomroutine or event (e.g., Sarah had biting episodes on Monday and Tuesday as the class was transitioning into circle time, and you want to findout what might trigger this behavior). For these observations, the target behavior and a particular classroom routine or event are carefullydefined. To conduct an event sampling observation, the observer must describe the target behavior along with what was happening beforeand after its occurrence (see Figure 11.5 an Example of an Event Sampling Record). Notice how it describes what happened before,during, and after Jamie hit his classmates.
Figure 11.5
Example of an Event Sampling Record
Time sampling is a tally of observations in a specified classroom area or center at pre-determined time intervals (e.g., every 5 minutes,every 10 minutes). Expected behaviors are identified in advance and then observed and recorded at specified intervals (Mindes & Jung,2015). Because less writing is required than when completing an event sampling, the observer can record her observations of severalchildren in one session by recording the actions of each of the children in a predetermined, consistent order (e.g., record what Jerome isdoing, then Alice, Victoria, Ralph, and back to Jerome, etc.). A time sample record like the example in Figure 11.6 is likely to show trends,such as which children engage in play for a sustained time and which are apt to wander or mainly observe, as well as which areas oractivities are the most appealing. It is helpful for the observer to include a summary of the trends he identifies.
This Example of a Time Sampling Record shows what four children chose to do while in the housekeeping center during a 15-minuteobservation. It includes an interpretation/reflection highlighting the trends that the observer noticed.
Structured Observations:
A third category of performance assessments includes checklists and rating scales. Checklists are structured observations that provide alist of behaviors or traits with a system for recording if or when they are observed. They can be an effective way to keep track of children’sattainment of developmental milestones or their mastery of specific skills. Rating scales are similar to checklists, but in addition to listingexpected behaviors, they also provide a way to indicate how well, how often, or how independently a child exhibits the identified behaviorsor traits. Checklists and rating scales can be formatted to track an individual child’s achievements over time or to record observations of anentire group of children’s mastery or behaviors (Feeney, Moravcik, & Nolte, 2016). Teachers often create them to meet their particularneeds.
Figure 11.6
Example of a Time Sampling Record
Figure 11.7, an Example of a Developmental Checklist for One Young Infant. It illustrates how a caregiver can quickly and easilydocument when one infant attains specific developmental milestones.
Figure 11.8 is an Example of a Developmental Checklist Used for Several Young Infants. It illustrates how a primary caregiver can useone checklist to record the attainment of several development milestones of all her assigned infants.
Rating scales describe children’s abilities along a continuum. They can collect data about individuals or a group of children. Sometimes theyuse terms such as “independently,” “with a little help,” or “with a lot of help,” or “not yet,” “sometimes,” and “always.” In other instances, theyuse a numerical continuum to describe children’s skills or competencies.
Figure 11.7
Example of a Developmental Checklist for One Young Infant
Figure 11.8
Example of a Developmental Checklist Used for Several Young Infants
Figure 11.9
Example of a Rating Scale for a Group of Children
Figure 11.9 is an Example of a Rating Scale for a Group of Children that uses symbols to show children’s competence mastering specificself-help skills.
Figure 11.10 is an Example of a Rating Scale Using Words to describe one child’s mastery of these same self-help skills, and Figure 11.11is an Example of a Numerical Rating Scale that uses numbers to describe one child’s large motor skills.
Some commercial checklists and rating scales have been shown to be reliable and valid (Mindes & Jung, 2015). Two examples are The EarlyLearning Observation Rating Scale (ELORS) (Coleman, West, & Gillis, 2010) and the Work Sampling System (WSS) (Meisels, Marsden, Jablon,& Dichtelmiller, 2013). The ELORS is meant to be used with 4-year-olds preparing to enter kindergarten and is designed to identify childrenwho may have learning disabilities, while the WSS includes checklists based on Common Core State Standards and states’ early learningguidelines. They give teachers a quick and efficient way to track if children’s performance of expected skills and abilities is “proficient”, “inprocess”, or has “not yet” been demonstrated.
Figure 11.10
Example of a Rating Scale Using Words
Figure 11.11
Example of a Numerical Rating Scale
Many kinds of ordinary classroom activities give teachers opportunities to assess children’s skills.
David Kostelnik/Pearson Education
Interviews
Teachers can also gain valuable insights into what children understand, are interested in, and are curious about by interviewing them.Teachers conduct informal interviews when they ask children about their block structure or what they did over the weekend. Theseinterviews are likely to be spontaneous and grow out of teachers’ observations and classroom events. Some of the insights they can provideare into children’s language development as well as their interests, friends, relationships, and fears. A good way to document theseconversations is to record them as anecdotal records.
In formal interviews, teachers ask each child the same questions. They need to plan for these interviews by identifying a focus, such aswhat children learned from a recent trip to the fire station. For interviews to serve as useful documentation of children’s learning anddevelopment, teachers must keep complete and accurate notes of what they say as well as their nonverbal communication. When usedintentionally, interviews can become part of effective teachers’ efforts to identify children’s interests, strengths, and needs (Feeney,Moravcik, & Nolte, 2016).
Collecting Work Samples
Collecting samples of children’s work is a particularly effective way to document their learning, growth, and development; it also givesteachers opportunities to clearly illustrate children’s progress to their families (McAfee, Leong, & Bodrova, 2004). The samples of children’swork used as a form of performance assessment can include:
· video or audio recordings of child dictating stories, singing, reading (or “reading” favorite books from memory), and other classroomevents.
· drawings, paintings, and other two-dimensional art projects—children might prefer that you take photographs so that they can taketheir artwork home.
· photographs of three-dimensional artifacts, such as art projects, block constructions, and science experiments.
Work samples that effectively illustrate what children know and are able to do should be collected on a regular basis and organizedlogically. They must be dated with notes describing their creation and interpreted to indicate what learning, growth, and development theydemonstrate.
It is important to remember that teachers must be intentional and strategic in saving work samples that accurately demonstrate children’sknowledge and skills. Program directors have a responsibility to coach teachers in effective data collection strategies, to provide them withthe resources they need to collect and organize data, and guide them as they learn to interpret their collected work samples in terms ofappropriate developmental guidelines, standards, and program goals.
Portfolios
A portfolio is a performance-based assessment that is a compilation of evidence demonstrating children’s competencies while celebratingtheir learning, growth, and development. It can be organized to show growth across social, emotional, cognitive, and/or physicaldevelopmental domains; to address applicable learning standards; or to showcase how the child has met the particular program’s goals.Portfolio assessment is an important feature of programs accredited by NAEYC (NAEYC, 2014). Portfolios provide much more informationthan any checklist or rating scale alone possibly can and are a particularly effective approach to assessment when working with childrenwith developmental delays and children who are learning English as a second language because they are based on real-life examples ofwhat each child can do. The process of developing a portfolio begins by making a decision about its purpose.
Teachers of young children most often use portfolios as a formative assessment. When used in this way, they are designed to demonstrateto children, their families, and their teachers their progress over time and to identify their strengths as well target areas for improvement toinform instruction. Formative portfolios are particularly useful when conducting parent conferences. They can be shared as “works inprogress” several times throughout the year and can be presented to parents and passed on to the child’s new teachers when shetransitions from one classroom to the next or moves on from preschool into kindergarten. When portfolios are used as a summativeassessment, they document for families and next year’s teacher what the child knows and can do at the end of the year.
Both formative and summative portfolios begin as working portfolios, extensive collections of the child’s work that include samples of herdrawing and writing, paintings, and photographs of three-dimensional constructions. It may include a list of books she has read or enjoyedhaving read to her; notes from parent conferences; and anecdotal notes, checklists, rating scales, and other documentation of her learning,growth, and development collected throughout the year. All work samples should be dated and annotated with short notes describing theirsignificance before they are filed. If it is to be a formative portfolio, these work samples must be saved over time. But whether it is to be aformative or summative portfolio, it is important to remember that a portfolio is not a scrapbook. This collection of “everything” the childhas done is the raw material for the presentation portfolio. Artifacts can be collected in boxes, drawers, and file folders.
The next step is for teachers, who sometimes involve older preschoolers, kindergarteners, or primary-age children in the process, is todevelop a presentation portfolio. This step requires them to select from the working portfolio the artifacts that most clearly demonstratewhat the child knows and is able to do, and that, when taken together, create a well-rounded portrait of her learning, growth, anddevelopment. Children can benefit from being involved in this selection process because it is likely to make them appreciate what they haveaccomplished and helps them to understand the purpose and process of assessment. When children join in the selection of artifacts, theycan also help teachers draft the rationale or interpretation for each item. They can consider:
· Does it show their best work?
· Do several artifacts taken together show growth over time?
· Do selected artifacts illustrate their favorite classroom activities, including their favorite classmates for work and play? (Mindes & Jung,2015)
Presentation portfolios are often presented in a folder or binder with page protectors; or documentation can be collected and organizedelectronically and presented using PowerPoint or other presentation software that can incorporate pictures and video recordings. Thedecision about whether to store and present materials in hard copy or electronically needs to take into account teachers’ as well as families’access to and expertise in using digital tools (Feeney, Moravcik, & Nolte, 2016).
Teachers take the final step in developing children’s presentation portfolios when they reflect and analyze what they have learned abouteach child’s learning, growth, and development. They should put each child’s progress into the context of developmental guidelines and/orappropriate learning standards; and identify the child’s interests, strengths, and any areas for concern. This reflection and analysis areessential components of presentation portfolios. They help families put the documentation included in the portfolio into the context ofdevelopmentally appropriate expectations for their children’s learning, growth, and development.
As the program’s director, it is your responsibility to create a structure and expectations for how the teachers in your program will developand present portfolios. You may specify:
· that teachers use a checklist to ensure that they keep documentation across all developmental domains and addressing all appropriatelearning standards on a regular basis.
· a timeline for collecting and interpreting artifacts.
· that all portfolios include specific items such as drawings from preschoolers’ first and last weeks of school.
· that all portfolios include evidence of how children complete specific activities, such as a recording of their speech, a photograph of ablock structure, or samples of their “writing” or drawing.
· the topics that must be included in teachers’ portfolio reflections and summaries.
· a schedule for conferences for teachers to present portfolios to families several times throughout the year (Feeney, Moravcik, & Nolte,2016).
Figure 11.12 Information and Documentation to Collect for Students’ Portfolios lists materials that teachers should collect to help themdevelop portfolios to be used as a form of formative assessment.
Tools for Structuring Documentation and Analysis
A number of commercially available tools designed to guide teachers’ documentation of children’s learning, growth, and growth across alldevelopmental domains are briefly described below. All of these assessments have demonstrated their reliability and validity when used byteachers trained in their use. Your program might be mandated to use one of these assessment systems if it is sponsored by a governmentalagency or receives other external funding. You may, however, be in a position to lead the decision-making process to determine if one wouldbe the right fit for your program. We recommend that you review these brief descriptions and visit each system’s informative website tofind additional information to guide your selection.
Figure 11.12
Information and Documentation to Collect for Students’ Portfolios
· Child Observation Records (COR). The Infant/Toddler Child Observation Record (COR) (High/Scope Educational Research Foundation,2002) together with the second edition of the Preschool COR (High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, 2003) are designed toassess children from 6 weeks to 6 years of age. Although they were developed to align with the HighScope curriculum, they can beused by programs implementing other developmentally appropriate approaches. Teachers complete the assessment process two orthree times each year, beginning after children have participated in their program for at least 6 weeks. Data can easily be digested intoreports to share with families or to give teachers data organized in a number of ways to give them information about their entire class.The authors recommend that teachers participate in a COR training, which is available either in person or online, before using it intheir classrooms.
· The Work Sampling System. The WSS (Meisels, Marsden, Jablon, & Dichtelmiller, 2013) is designed to assess the skills, knowledge,behavior, and accomplishments of children from 3 to 12 years of age three times a year using the information teachers collect throughobservations, photographs, checklists, running records, portfolios, and children’s dictations. It is available in paper-and-pencil andonline versions. Teachers can use the data they gather through the WSS to modify instruction and to generate reports describingchildren’s learning and development in a variety of ways, including formats that are appropriate to share with children’s families.Trainings in its use are conducted in many communities, and the publisher regularly posts training webinars on its website (Maccow,2015).
· The Ounce Scale.3 The Ounce Scale (Meisels, Marsden, Dombro, Weston, & Jewkes, 2003) assesses the development of infants andtoddlers from birth to 3½ years of age. Its purpose is to help teachers and parents recognize and appreciate children’s rapid growthduring this period and to help ensure that their daily interactions with children reflect their knowledge of child development and whatthey know about a particular child’s developmental trajectory. The Ounce has three essential components: the observation record forcaregivers’ use; the family album, a small booklet for parents to keep mementoes and record their observations of their child’sdevelopment; and the developmental profile, for caregivers to compare individual children’s development with accepted developmentalnorms. Reports can be easily generated from data gathered through its use to describe individual children’s growth as well as tosummarize the development of an entire class of children. Trainings on the use of the Ounce are offered in many communities, andonline webinars provide overviews and regular updates on its use (Maccow, 2014).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7BHFuf9eAY&t=38
· Teaching Strategies GOLD®. Teaching Strategies GOLD® (Heroman, Burts, Berke, & Bickart, 2010) is a performance-based assessmentsystem for use with children from infancy through kindergarten. It was developed to accompany the Creative Curriculum; aligns withthe Head Start Early Learning Framework, Common Core State Standards, and each state’s early learning guidelines; and can be usedby any program using a developmentally appropriate curricular approach. Teaching Strategies GOLD® is appropriate to use to assesstypically developing children as well as those who have disabilities and those who are English language learners. It also offersassessments of Spanish language and literacy development. Assessments are to be completed three times annually, but teachers andcaregivers are encouraged to collect artifacts and observation notes to document children’s development on an ongoing basis.Training is available on-site and online and the publishers host periodic online webinars.
· The Early Learning Scale. The Early Learning Scale (ELS) (Riley-Ayers, Boyd, & Frede, 2008) was developed by researchers at theNational Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) in response to early educators’ request for a comprehensive standards-basedassessment system. It is based on states’ early learning guidelines, is designed to assess what children from 3 to 5 years old know andare able to do, and can be used in classrooms using a variety of curricular approaches (Rile-Ayers, Frede, & Jung, 2010). Training isavailable either in person or online.
Directors must not only determine if one of these assessment tools is appropriate for use in their program, but they must also consider thecost of its adoption. Purchasing materials and arranging for the needed staff development can be very expensive, but can be excellentinvestments if the assessments are used not only to identify what children know and are able to do, but also to guide teachers’ efforts toadapt instruction to meet children’s changing needs and to keep families informed about their children’s learning and development.
11.3 SHARING CHILD ASSESSMENT INFORMATION
Just as it is important for teachers to collect and interpret data illustrating what children know and are able to do, it is also essential thatthey schedule regular opportunities to gain insights about the children with whom they work from the children’s families. Teachers canencourage informal two-way communication with families by writing frequent notes and emails about classroom happenings and havingphone conversations to share insights and respond to families’ questions and concerns. Teachers must also schedule regular conferenceswith children’s families on a regular basis, however, to give them opportunities to systematically share evidence of children’s strengths andneeds.
Most programs schedule individual conferences with members of each child’s family on a regular basis, typically two or three times a year.Conferences give teachers and parents opportunities to discuss children’s progress, share any concerns about what is happening at homeor at school, and set goals for the future. They also help to build relationships of mutual trust and respect. Teachers should prepare foreach conference by creating a list of talking points that they want to be certain to address. If formative portfolios are the centerpiece of theprogram’s child assessment plan, teachers should use the documentation they include as well as her reflections and analysis as theframework for parent conferences. It is important to put families at ease, providing them with plenty of opportunities to ask questions,share observations, and express any concerns both as they review the documentation presented in the portfolio and as a response to theteacher’s analysis and reflection. When addressing concerns, teachers should plan to start by describing a strength, then addressing theconcern, taking care to end all parent–teacher conferences on a positive note by summarizing any plans to follow up with promisedinformation or to answer any questions that could not be addressed during the conference.
Parents enjoy seeing artifacts showing what their children can do.
Suzanne Clouzeau/Pearson Education
Directors play an important role in supporting teachers during these conferences. They can give teachers feedback on the presentationportfolios they have developed and can provide teachers opportunities to practice their presentations to parents. They should also plan toparticipate in conferences when teachers are planning to raise a sensitive issue, such as recommending that a child receive additionalscreenings or evaluations because of a possible developmental or learning delay. A director’s objective perspective can help smooth thesepotentially emotional discussions for parents and teachers alike. Directors should also stress to teachers how important it is that they neverlabel a child’s behavior or use a term that they are not qualified to apply. For example, a teacher should never state that she thinks a child ishyperactive. She can, however, share her anecdotal and running records that describe a child who is always on the go and can sit for just afew minutes, seldom long enough to see a task through to its completion.
A Better Way
As a new director, Grace soon realized that documenting children’s learning, growth, and development and using that data to assesschildren’s progress, inform instruction, and to share insights about children’s development and learning with families, was many teachers’most pressing professional development need. At the next staff meeting, she asked teachers to reflect on how they documented theirobservations of what children know and are able to do and to consider how they used what they learned for assessing children’s progress, foradapting their instruction to meet children’s needs, and for describing children’s strengths and needs to their families.
It became apparent that all of the center’s teachers faced the same challenges. The first was having the time to systematically documentchildren’s learning, growth, and development; another was that they lacked expertise interpreting their observations in the context ofdevelopmental guidelines and their state’s early learning guidelines. The teachers were enthusiastic about Grace’s willingness to help themrefine their observation and documentation skills and her offer to help them interpret the documentation they had collected. Grace asked forvolunteers to join her in developing a school-wide child assessment plan. She was pleased that several of the most experienced teachersoffered to contribute their time, effort, and expertise to this project, and she felt certain the center was on track to implementing aperformance-based school-wide child assessment plan that would benefit children, families, and teachers.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
In this chapter we have stressed how important it is that teachers keep detailed and comprehensive records describing children’sexperiences in your program as well as what they have learned about what children know and are able to do. As you and your staff collectthis information about children and their families, you should be aware of how the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA) safeguards the privacy of these records.
All programs receiving federal funds must abide by FERPA; however, it is advisable that all programs, regardless of the source of theirfunding, be aware of and adhere to its guidelines. Programs must notify families of their rights under FERPA. It permits schools to sharestudents’ names’ address and phone numbers in a directory, but must give parents the opportunity to opt out of being included. These areadditional relevant provisions of this law, and you can find additional information by visiting the FERPA website hosted by the U.S.Department of Education:
· Program officials must notify parents and guardians of their FERPA rights.
· Parents or legal guardians of children who attend a program receiving federal funding may see information in the program’s officialfiles, including any test scores or assessment records, health records, psychological reports, notes on behavioral problems,information about the family’s background, attendance records, and all other records except personal notes made by a member of thestaff solely for their own use.
· Parents or legal guardians have the right to request that a school correct any records which they believe are inaccurate or misleading.
· Generally, programs must have written permission from a child’s parents or legal guardians before releasing any information aboutthe child’s education; however, schools may share records without consent with:
· another school to which the student in transferring.
· accrediting organizations.
· to comply with a judge’s orders or subpoena.
· Programs must keep written records indicating who has seen or requested to see a child’s records.
· Parents or legal guardians have the right to know where records are kept and which program personnel are responsible for them.
· Unless a divorced parent is prohibited by law from having any contact with the child, divorced parents have equal access to officialrecords.
11.4 KINDERGARTEN READINESS ASSESSMENTS
The federal Enhanced Assessment Grants program that began in 2002 and the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant programthat began in 2011 required states receiving those awards to develop and implement kindergarten readiness assessments. Theseaccountability mandates were part of national efforts focused on improving the quality of preschool programming and accurately assessingwhat young children know and are able to do (Gerwertz, 2014). Creating useful kindergarten readiness assessments has proven to be amore difficult task than policy makers might first have imaged. There is no consensus definition of “kindergarten readiness”; nor is thereagreement about how it should be evaluated or how states, communities, schools and teachers should use the data they generate. For thosereasons it is not surprising that states’ kindergarten readiness assessments:
· use different definitions for readiness.
· differ in their focus (e.g., is the child ready for school, is the school ready for all children, does the family support school readiness, oris the community contributing to children’s school readiness?).
· use their assessments in different ways (e.g., to support instruction, or to determine if children are ready to be successful inkindergarten).
· address different developmental domains (e.g., some assessments measure academic readiness such as children’s knowledge of thealphabet or numbers, others assess the development of the whole child including social and emotional domains).
· are administered at different times (e.g., at the end of preschool in the spring or in the first weeks of kindergarten in the fall).
· take different forms (some are on-demand tests, others rely on teachers’ observations including rating scales and checklists, and insome instances they combine several assessment strategies (Walker & Feeney, 2014).
These factors reduce the usefulness of kindergarten readiness assessments and make it difficult to gauge states’ success in preparingchildren for school.
Advocates warn against the implementation of high-stakes developmentally inappropriate kindergarten readiness assessments and advisethat any instrument used to measure children’s kindergarten readiness must be used for its intended purpose and align with learningstandards and instructional goals while satisfying accepted levels of reliability, validity, and standardization (Snow, 2011). Appropriateassessments must also reflect children’s and families’ language and culture. Teachers must not “teach to the test” or make them the focus ofthe curriculum by overemphasizing academic skills that the children they teach are unlikely to be ready to master.
As the program administrator, you need to be informed about whether your state assesses children’s kindergarten readiness, and, if it does,it would be wise to learn about the test children may be required to take when they leave your program. It is important, however, to avoidthe temptation of coaching your program’s teachers to let this assessment determine how and what they teach. They may be responsiblefor addressing your state’s early learning guidelines that describe what young children should know and be able to do, but it is thedirector’s responsibility to support their efforts to keep instruction hands-on, meaningful, and linguistically and culturally relevant to thechildren they teach.
Application Activity
Investigate your state’s (or a neighboring state’s) kindergarten readiness assessment. Identify its definition of “readiness,” thepurpose of the assessment, its focus (i.e., the child, the school, the family, or the community), the developmental domains it addresses,when it is administered, and its form. Based on what you have learned, explain why you believe it is, or is not, an appropriateapproach to assessing children’s kindergarten readiness.
SUMMARY
Quality programs of early care and education make observing, documenting, and assessing children’s learning, growth, and development aroutine part of every day. These processes are not simple or easy to implement, however. They depend on a well-prepared staff anddirectors who can model, teach, and coach teachers to use observation and documentation to assess children in developmentally, culturally,and linguistically appropriate ways.
· Contrast the characteristics of appropriate and inappropriate approaches to assessing young children.
Young children should be assessed in “ethical, appropriate, valid and reliable … developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguisticallyresponsive” ways (NAEYC & NAECS/SDE, 2003). Appropriate assessment is imbedded into children’s ordinary daily activities, incorporatesinformation from a variety of sources, and is used to help teachers respond to children’s interests and needs. Appropriate assessmentprocesses also involve families and keep them informed about their children’s learning, growth, and development.
On-demand high-stakes pencil-and-paper tests are inappropriate ways to assess young children. They are stressful and frustrating. What’smore, they fail to provide an accurate picture of children’s knowledge and skills because they violate what we know about how theydemonstrate what children know and are able to do (Walker & Feeney, 2014).
· Identify performance assessment strategies that are appropriate for documenting what children know and are able to do.
Authentic performance assessments are based on teachers’ observations of what children know and are able to do in the context ofordinary classroom interactions and events. Anecdotal records and running records are two open-ended authentic assessments, and eventsampling and time sampling are two focused authentic assessment strategies appropriate for use with young children. Checklists andrating scales are structured performance assessments that can be used to keep track of children’s attainment of developmental milestonesor mastery of specific skills. Additional forms of performance assessments include interviews and samples of children’s work that are firstcollected into a working portfolio and then refined into a presentation portfolio.
· Describe some ways teachers of young children share their insights about what they know and are able to do with their families.
Regular notes, phone calls, and emails are informal ways teachers can share information about children’s development and learning withtheir families. Teachers should also schedule formal conferences with children’s families on a regular basis to share insights about theirchildren’s progress and to set goals for their future learning. Portfolios that include the teacher’s reflections and analysis make an effectivecenterpiece for parent–teacher conferences and give teachers opportunities to talk with families about what is happening at home and atschool.
· Discuss the origins of kindergarten readiness assessments, the challenges faced by those tasked with their development, and factors that make itdifficult to compare states’ results.
States that were awarded federal Enhanced Assessment and Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grants were required to developand implement kindergarten readiness assessments. This has proven to be a difficult assignment because there is not an agreed-upondefinition of “readiness.” The resulting assessments differ in their focus, are used in different ways, assess different developmentaldomains, are administered at different times of the year, and take different forms. These factors reduce their usefulness and make itdifficult to gauge states’ success preparing children for school.
USEFUL WEBSITES
Defending the Early Years
This advocacy group focuses on efforts to support the rights and needs of young children. Its leaders are among the most respectedexperts in early childhood education. They provide guidance about how to respond to inappropriate standards, assessments, andclassroom practices.
FairTest: The National Center for Fair and Open Testing
This organization is committed to promoting fair, open, valid assessment practices that benefit children, families, and schools. It works toeducate the public about issues related to testing practices from kindergarten through college admission, stressing the importance of usingtests appropriately and evaluating students and schools with data collected over time.
National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)
NIEER’s research addresses a wide variety of topics of interest to early childhood educators, including child assessment and assessments ofthe programs they attend.
Child Trends
Child Trends conducts research on topics of importance to early childhood educators. It takes a “whole child” approach to its work withchildren from infancy through the school years, with an emphasis on exploring ways to increase children’s chances for being successful inschool and beyond.
TO REFLECT
1. It is essential that assessment practices used with vulnerable young children are ethical. Using the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct(Appendix 2), evaluate the extent to which your center’s assessment and evaluation plan might be considered appropriate. If yourcenter does not yet have a child evaluation plan, design a sample plan that would be considered ethical.
2. The director of an early childhood center decided that authentic assessment took too much time and that administering a standardizedliteracy assessment in the pre-K year would show the quality of her program if the children scored well. What concerns would youshare with this director on the use of one standardized assessment as a reflection of children’s learning and her program’s overallquality?
1 The terms observational assessment and performance assessment, sometimes called “classroom assessment,” are often usedinterchangeably when discussing child assessment strategies. We will use them interchangeably here.
2 Children’s speech is not always clear or accurate. Observers should record what they heard, not what they believe the child meant. Forexample, if a child says “I’s needs that k-on” the observer should record that utterance, not “I need that crayon,” which is what the childprobably meant.
3 This tool is named The Ounce Scale because funding for its development was provided by the Ounce of Prevention Fund based in Chicago.