8083 MD4 Assign3 Info

Module 1 Discussion 1

Responsible Assessment

 Responsible assessment can be defined as a form of evaluation that employs both formal and informal strategies to establish goals for each individual learner and develop plans aimed at reaching such goals (Freeney & Freeman, 2018). In so doing, it supports children rather than being employed to exclude them or deny them the learning services that they require. One of the benefits of responsible assessment practices is that it promotes an inclusive learning environment that allows people from different cultural groups an equal opportunity to gather and retain knowledge. Additionally, it promotes high-quality learning, which generates long-lasting benefits. As a consequence, local, state, and federal policymakers often seek mechanisms of teaching young children and ensure that determine how they develop learning capabilities.

 Two of NAEYC’s position statement elements that reflect the rationale for responsible assessment include advancing equity in early childhood education, and promoting developmentally appropriate practices. The first element is founded on the idea that all children reserve the right ton access equitable learning opportunities that enable them to accomplish their full potentials as engaged learners and valued societal members (NAEYC, 20210. According to this statement, early childhood education instructors have the professional obligation to promote an equitable learning environment. This goal can be accomplished by seeking support from school administrators, parents, and community members to champion diversity and inclusivity and uphold basic principles of fairness and justice (NAEYC, 2021). In so doing, they can eradicate structural and systemic inequalities that limit fair access to learning opportunities. The second position statement is also founded on the idea that all children from birth to age 8, have the right to equitable learning opportunities.

 One of my experiences with authentic assessment occurred when I was required to complete an examination that does not require multiple choice answers. This process enlightened me about the importance of authentic assessment exercises in promoting knowledge retention and acquisition. More importantly, it encourages students to expand their intellectual capacity and master key academic concepts that can be used to improve their capabilities in future. Implementing formative and summative assessment exercises are two of the ways in which I plan to embrace authentic assessment processes in my future classroom environment. The former approach will be utilized to test the extent to which learners have gathered and been abreast with specific topics of the curriculum. This will be implemented by crafting continuous assessment tests, quizzes, and homework assignments. The latter will focus on solving real-world tasks and going through end of term examination exercises.

 The main assessment methods that can be appropriate for early childhood educational settings include child observation records and diagnostic assessment. The first method offers a mechanism for systematically observing a child’s activities in the continuous learning process through continuous interactions with the teacher and child. These interactions should take place over time on a single occasion for the teacher to gain optimal insights into the accurate performance and progress of the learner. The second method is aimed at determining conclusively whether a child has special needs, ascertain the nature and character of their problems, and propose the causes of such issues. This model should be undertaken in a team-based context that employs multiple sources of information and forms part of a system of special education services. There are various ways in which these two assessment criteria promote healthy development and positive learning outcomes. For instance, they focus on development of children’s sights, sounds, and sensation of the world to calm them down. They also improve students’ capacity to engage in relationships with other people. More importantly, these assessment methods promote cognitive development and capacity to engage in two-way communication.

 

References

Feeney, S., & Freeman, N. K. (2018). Ethics and the early childhood educator: Using the

NAEYC Code. National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1509 16th

Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036-1426.

NAEYC. (2021). Position statements. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements

Module 2 Wk3 Discussion

When you are working with families how do you explain to them how you will assess, when you will assess and why it is important?

Engaging families as partners in their child’s assessment includes methods and strategies for gathering information from families and promoting their participation during the assessment. Gathering information from families is critical for identifying a child’s strengths and needs and for making informed decisions about the goals and objectives on intervention plans (Family Assessment, n.d.). Practitioners ensure that family members play an important role in their child’s assessment when they listen to family members, encourage them to share their knowledge, and clarify their concerns, priorities, and goals for their child (Family Assessment, n.d.).

 

What do you feel is the most important part of assessment as you begin working with families? 

The most important part of an assessment is to identify a child’s abilities in everyday activities, to make decisions about a child’s eligibility for intervention services, to develop an individual plan for the child and family, or to monitor child progress (Family Assessment, n.d.).  It is important as a teacher to share ways the family can be involved in the assessment process (e.g., interacting with the child, providing information about their child during or after the assessment). We as teachers should discuss the importance of family input about the child’s characteristics, abilities, and challenges (Family Assessment, n.d.).

 

Reference:

Family Assessment. (n.d.). Www.teachingei.org. https://www.teachingei.org/families/09-family-assessment.php

Module 3 Week 5 Discussion

The individual assessment methods proposed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2012), Matafwali and Serpell (2014), and other educational leaders often focus on different aspects of childhood development, such as cognitive, linguistic, and content knowledge development. According to Matafwali and Serpell (2014), the process of assessing children in early phases of development is increasingly becoming a subject of focus among educational professionals. This pattern is brought by the growing recognition of the significance of early intervention in improving the children’s overall cognitive, psychological, and intellectual development, which in turn reflects in the form of educational attainment.

One of the goals of the assessment tests is to evaluate the children’s cognitive, physical, linguistic, and socioemotional growth and milestones. These models often embrace the theory of continuous, gradual developmental changes and the discontinuous progression over time. The assessment of children is then approached through such developmental lenses, in which the evaluators are attuned to where the child aligns or strays from a typical developmental trajectory, irrespective of whether they are in a time of continuous or discontinuous change, or a critical versus sensitive stages.

 There are various potential strengths and weaknesses of each assessment methodologies proposed. For instance, they can be employed to improve cognitive development goals to review student attainment with respect to a common body of knowledge. Additionally, they adopt standardized tests that are devised by professionals in the discipline, thus having strong validity and reliability. One of the potential weaknesses of these assessment tests is that they may not reflect the learning goals of a particular lesson or school (Ntuli et al., 2014). Additionally, they are faced with strong cultural biases since most of them are predominantly western in nature. The importation of assessment tools designed by the western cultural context may not, for instance, be fit for use among individuals from diverse cultural groups.

 The formal assessment tools are highly reliable since they give users the confidence that repeated or equivalent evaluations will grant consistent results. Some of the characteristics of the assessment methods that increase their validity include their length, suitability of the questions, phrasing of the terminologies, and consistency in the test administration. Since they are longer in nature, they generally produce more reliable outcomes than shorter, non-formal tools. The questions that are used to conduct the tests are also appropriate to the issues that they are attempting to evaluate. These questions are for instance, focused on assessing the distinct problems that affect each student group. Most importantly, the readiness of the students to take part in the assessment process boosts the validity and reliability of the formal assessment exercise.

 The formal assessment tools are also strongly valid in various dimensions. They meet face, content, construct, and criterion aspects of validity. The tools, for instance, comprise items that appear to be appropriate. The assessment contents also cover a wide range of issues that are specific and relevant to what should be assessed. The tests also effectively use important metrics for measuring what the instructor intends to evaluate.

 The information can be useful in promoting development in various ways. Indeed, they can be employed to monitor child development and learning process. This can, in turn be useful for guiding curriculum planning and decision-making. Additionally, the insights gained from this assessment can be shared by fostering student-parent-teacher collaboration, which facilitates sharing of information for the benefit of the students. The assessment criteria are developmentally appropriate (DAP) since they incorporate both formal and informal measures as tools for monitoring children’s progress towards the desired goals (naeyc, 2021). Educators can utilize them to help children to progress when they know where each child is with respect to learning goals.

 

References

Matafwali, B., & Serpell, R. (2014). Design and validation of assessment tests for young children

in Zambia. New Directions for Child & Adolescent Development 2014 (146), 77-96.

NAEYC. (2021). DAP: observing, documenting, and assessing children’s development and

Learning. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap/assessing-

development

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). (2012). Early childhood

generalist standards (3rd ed.). Retrieved from

http://boardcertifiedteachers.org/sites/default/files/EC-GEN.pdf

Ntuli, E., Nyarambi, A., & Traore, M. (2014). Assessment in early childhood education: Threats

and challenges to effective assessment of immigrant children. Journal of Research in

Special Education Needs, 14(4), 221-228.