WK2

Required Resources

• Course Text: Assessing and Guiding Young Children's Development and Learning
• • Chapter 3, "Why, What, and When to Assess" (pp. 33–44)
  • Chapter 9, "Organizing for Assessment" (pp. 157–159)
    
    
• Web Article: "Screening and Assessement of Young English-Language Learners"
  http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/WWSEnglishLanguageLearnersWeb.pdf
  
  
• Web Article: "Where We Stand on Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation"
  http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/StandCurrAss.pdf
  
  
• PowerPoint Presentation: "Building a System for Successful Early Learners: The Role of Standards, Assessment, Evaluation, and Accountability"
  Used by permission of the Council of Chief State School Officers Assessment (CCSSO).
  
  
• Position Statement: National Association for the Education of Young Children, & National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education. (2003, November). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/ecprofessional/CAPE Self-Assessment & Planning Tool.pdf
  

Optional Resources

• Web Site: ECTA Center. The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center
  http://ectacenter.org/default.asp
• Web Site: The Child Find Project http://www.childfind-idea-il.us/
  
  
• Web Article: Overview of Project: The Child Development Days (CDD) Model http://www.cesa6.org/earlylearning/Intro_Overview.pdf
  
  
• Web Site: CESA 6 Smart Thinking. Products and Services http://www.cesa6.k12.wi.us/products_services/

Consider the following scenario:

Cassie is hoping to be hired as a preschool teacher in a center-based program. As part of her interview, the director explains that developmentally appropriate assessment is part of their program commitment to providing quality care and education. She then asks Cassie to describe an assessment process or plan that she could imagine doing with the children in her class. Cassie responds by explaining that she would assess children's language and literacy skills at the beginning and the end of the year, two weeks prior to each of the scheduled parent-teacher conferences. She adds that she has noticed a variety of such assessments while surfing the internet so accomplishing this type of assessment shouldn't be difficult. It's important, she goes on to explain, to also assess oral language skills during these same time periods so she intends to take notes during snack time on the ways children interact with their peers. At conferences, she would then be able to provide parents with a snapshot of their child's development related to language and literacy, and, at the year-end conference, summarize for parents the ways in which their child's language and literacy skills have grown and developed over the course of the year.

Consider what you have learned about effective, developmentally appropriate assessment so far in this course.

By Day 3:

Post the following:

•  
• Your evaluation of Cassie's assessment plan
  
  
• Suggestions that you would make to Cassie regarding her plan