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Gadzikowski, A. (2013). Administration of early childhood education programs . Retrieved from http://content.ashford.edu

· Chapter 9: Evaluation and Assessment

· This chapter looks closely at the role of administrators in child assessment and the relationship between child assessment and program assessment.

· Chapter 10: Leadership and Advocacy

· This chapter examines how administrators can ensure their knowledge base and credentials remain current.

Article

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2008). Overview of the NAEYC early childhood program standards

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. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/academy/file/OverviewStandards.pdf

· NAEYC standards.

Supplemental Material

Kelly, K. & Irwin, J. (2013). Website evaluation rubric

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. College of Education, Ashford University, Clinton, IA.

· Use this rubric to evaluate one of the given childcare websites.

Websites

Association for Childhood Education International (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (http://www.acei.org/)

· This site will offer students the opportunity to research professional development opportunities.

Bright Horizons (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (http://www.brighthorizons.com/)

· This site will offer the students the opportunity to review a stellar website to help design their own site.

Childcare Network (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (http://www.childcarenetwork.net/)

· This site will offer the students the opportunity to review a stellar website to help design their own site.

Head Start. (n.d.). Dual language learners (DLL) & their families: Professional development. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Retrieved from http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/cultural-linguistic/Dual%20Language%20Learners/prof_dev

· This Head Start site will offer students the opportunity to research professional development opportunities that pertain to second language learners.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (n.d.). Professional development (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. . Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/ecp

· The NAEYC site will offer students the opportunity to research professional development opportunities.

National Associate for the Education of Young Children. (.n.d.). 2014 annual conference & expo (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. . Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/conference/reasonstoattend

Professional Association for Childhood Education (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (http://www.pacenet.org)

· This site will offer students the opportunity to research professional development opportunities.

The Southern Early Childhood Association (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (http://www.southernearlychildhood.org/)

· This site will offer students the opportunity to research professional development opportunities.

United States Department of Education. (2012). Early childhood educator professional development program (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. . Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/programs/eceducator/index.html

· This government site will offer students the opportunity to research professional development opportunities.

Recommended Resources

Overview of the Learning Week

Last week we discussed how to build family collaboration and relationships within each center. We also analyzed how important it was for administrators to understand all of the policy, procedures, and rules for many aspects of running a center. This week we will discuss assessment and evaluation on the child and for the center. You will learn about different types of assessments and the method of performing an assessment. We will also talk about leadership roles and the administrator as an advocate for families, children, and top quality child care.

Instructor Expertise

Chapter 9 Evaluation and Assessment, focuses on child assessment and program assessment. Child assessment is how the learning and development of individual children are measured through the collection of data (Gadzikowski, 2013). I’m sure most of you that have taught in early childcare settings have seen and/or implemented child assessment at one time or another. Schools and centers use a child assessment plan when assessing the students; some plans are required by the public school system, etc. while other schools and centers have the flexibility of developing and implementing their own child assessment plan. For example, when I taught in a public elementary school, we were required to use state and curriculum assessments, but our school had decided to also use different chapter assessments and developmental assessments. Each classroom could even implement their own quick assessment checklists for students. It’s important to keep child portfolios with ongoing assessments for each student. Different assessment activities can be used to quickly check a child’s developmental progress. These different child assessments accomplish the following:

· Identify students with special needs

· Report progress to parents

· Determine the effectiveness of the program/curriculum

· Help in grouping students

· Help in arranging classrooms with appropriate staff

· Allow for teaching adjustments

· Establish individual learning goals

Types of Assessments

· Authentic assessment: observing a child in their natural environment

· Responsible assessment: accurate, relevant, ethical

· Formal assessment: structured and identical for each child

· Informal assessment: tailored to individual children

· Research-based assessment: compares results with many children over time

Assessments must be both valid and reliable. Validity means that the assessment actually measures what it is intended to measure, while reliability refers to the overall accuracy (Gadzikowski, 2013). The word, “assessment,” always sounded intimidating to me, but I find the entire assessment process quite interesting. I took a class in grad school based entirely on assessment. I urge everyone to take an assessment course if given the opportunity! Assessment Methods

· Observation: This sounds simple, but teachers must be trained and prepared to “observe” a child in their natural setting while jotting down what they observe.

· Narrative records: These are any type of written description based on an observation.

· Anecdotal records: brief, written accounts describing a child’s behavior

· Running record: a narrative record describing a child’s behavior at specific intervals (time-consuming)

· Sampling methods: collecting pieces of information about a child

· Time sampling: a checklist or chart identifying targeted behaviors at specific times

· Event sampling: using a tally sheet to record behaviors during a specific event or activity

· Checklists: checking whether a skill is there or not (quick and easy)

· Rating scale: similar to a checklist but uses different levels of mastery

· Portfolio assessment: collection of an array of documents, artifacts, and assessments such as artwork, photos, written work, notes, checklists, etc.

· Standardized tests: not required in early childhood settings, but required in elementary and secondary schools (controversial…do they actually benefit the children?)

Assessments for Special Needs Assessments can help in identifying a student with special needs. Once there is a suspected disability, additional screenings and evaluations are necessary. After a diagnosis is made, an IEP or IFSP must be completed (Gadzikowski, 2013). As a special educator, I often implemented diagnostic assessments (Battelle Developmental Inventory and Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities or Achievements) to students with special needs and devised an IEP for them. Program assessments are assessments that measure the quality and efficacy of the program. The following are used to assess a program:

· Accreditation

· Early Childhood Rating Scales (ECRS)

· Best practices

· Continuing quality

· Including community

Chapter 10 Leadership and Advocacy, focuses on administrators being professional, managing change, and being an advocate. The following are characteristics of professionalism in early childhood administration:

· Specialized knowledge

· Adherence to standards of ethical conduct

· Opportunities for learning and growth

Administrators must also constantly use self-evaluation and reflection, attend professional development, and participate in professional conferences and organizations (Gadzikowski, 2013). Managing time is a difficult task for anyone, but administrators have to manage time for everyone involved in their centers, including planned and unplanned schedule changes. And finally, administrators must advocate for their programs and students; advocacy of public policy change can benefit programs, children, families, and staff (Gadzikowski, 2013). The following figure shows the legislation timeline of childcare and early childhood education.

References

Guidance written by Dr. Tisha Shipley (parts were taken from Kathleen Kelley’s guidance).