8083 MD4 Assign3 Info

5

Angel Winslow

EDD 8083- “Assessment Practices to Promote Healthy Development and Learning”

Module 3 Assignment 2

“Assessments for Readiness Skills, Emerging Content Knowledge, and Intervention”

Date Due: April 11, 2022

Assessments for Readiness Skills, Emerging Content Knowledge, and Intervention

Assessments for Readiness Skills, Emerging Content Knowledge, and Intervention

Learner assessment is the application of different tools to find out whether learning has taken place. It involves examining the extent to which the learning objectives have been met by the teaching methodology applied by the teacher in disseminating new information to the learners. Assessment assists the teachers in ascertaining if the learners have acquired the right skills, knowledge, understanding, and attitude/behavior needed at any given point of development. It also enables learners to showcase what they have gathered by demonstrating their knowledge and progress. According to the Center for Early Childhood Education, teachers in the ECD observe children for different purposes. For instance, to ascertain readiness for learning, demonstration of emerging content knowledge, and intervention in weird behavior before they may become serious impediments to effective learning. The following are some of the assessment criteria that educators can employ while assessing the three areas:

Learner Readiness

Learner readiness is the wiliness of the learner to participate in the learning process or acquire new knowledge. Before proceeding to the learning content, teachers have the mandate and responsibility of assessing whether the learners are posed for the class. Assessment for readiness can be conducted by administering survey questions to the learners to gather information about how charged for learning they are. Under the survey method, the teacher employs a survey to collect information about their students. With the aid of survey questions that are specially designed for this purpose, teachers can gather vital information about their learners as a group and individually (Ntuli, Nyarambi & Traore, 2014). Such surveys can help the teachers know how prepared the students are by assessing their enthusiasm to learn, their interests, preferences, and perceptions of the learning process. For the survey to be developmentally appropriate, it should be tied to specific objectives and learning outcomes. For instance, the teacher can administer survey questions that assess the level of curiosity to learn. Teachers can use such data to reflect on ways to motivate learners to be ready for understanding using the various motivational theories (Protheroe, 2001).

The second method teachers employ to assess learner readiness is by creating interactive learning sessions with learners in disseminating the learning content. Creating an interactive learning environment that allows teachers to engage their learners on a one-to-one helps teachers establish how ready learners are to learn. Besides, creating an interactive session between and among students also motivates learners by allowing them to share their views and opinions about a given concept. Before delving into the main points or the content of the day, teachers should encourage students to work in groups and share their views on phenomena parallel to the topic of the day. In this way, the teacher will be able to gather the views and opinions of the learners about the various concepts they are about to cover. The data will help the teachers understand how ready their learners are for the topic. During such sessions, teachers should pay close attention to how and whether the students can make self-reflections and assessments (Ntuli, Nyarambi & Traore, 2014). At the end of the lesson, teachers may use feedback to assess readiness for learning. This would involve getting the opinions of the learners on the content of the day and their views regarding subsequent lessons, done posthumously.

Assessing For Emerging Content Knowledge

Teachers are entitled to the responsibility of assessing the development of new knowledge capabilities in their learners. At the same time, teachers also need to ascertain the ability of their learners to demonstrate the development of new knowledge capabilities. To determine if learners are developing new knowledge content, teachers can apply evaluation of student ideas as one assessment method or administer thought-provoking exams and quizzes. By evaluating student ideas, evident in the way they respond to an assigned task, or activities and interactions, teachers can establish if learners have developed new content knowledge. In subjects like English, teachers can ask learners to apply a given the word in different contexts to see how they have integrated the knowledge learned in class into other domains. In mathematics, teachers may ask learners to apply different formulae to solve a given problem (Ntuli, Nyarambi & Traore, 2014). Another common strategy for assessing learners to establish any signs of new content knowledge development involves administering thought-provoking quizzes that pressure learners to think critically and creatively. By challenging learners to be creative, teachers can assess and see which learners have the ability to be creative and innovative.

Assessment Methods for Intervention

It is a common understanding that students may sometimes develop anterior behaviors and motives that are unacceptable and may limit the effectiveness of learning. In some other instances, intrinsic personal health conditions in the learners may be the grounds for the limitation of effective learning. In this sense, teachers and school administrations should conduct an assessment to evaluate the nature and conditions of their learners with the view of getting the best intervention strategies for the negative behavior patterns. One of the common methods of assessing learners for intervention purposes is screening. Screening assessment involves administering tests to determine the standards of learners. Teachers focus on the learners' performance to their previous scores. The assessment results are ranked as either falling on, below or above the expected grade level. Depending on the evaluation outcomes, the teachers can reflect on the right intervention (Guss, Horn, Lang, Krehbiel, et al., 2013). For instance, when the student results indicate that their performance is below the expected standard levels, one of the interventions that can be employed is extensive teaching to increase knowledge acquisition.

Another assessment for intervention is syllabus coverage and content mastery. Once the teacher is done with the syllabus, they can administer evaluation tests to assess the extent to which the learners have grasped the content of the syllabus. The assessment can be administered in the form of quizzes, tests, and exams: the assessment experts to establish if the content of the syllabus was well covered. The aim is to identify areas where there are signs of misconception from the learners. Such areas are flagged out and given priority for revision to help the teachers boost the understanding and mastery of the content. Through evidence-based approaches, the student should be examined for their behavioral, motor, language, social, cognitive, and emotional skills (Guss, Horn, Lang, Krehbiel, et al., 2013). The assessment helps develop a better understanding of the learner's capabilities, thus giving teachers an easy time identifying any special arrangements to help the learner when needed.

References

Guss, S. S., Horn, D. M., Lang, E., Krehbiel, S. M. et al. (2013). Using classroom assessment to inform teacher decisions. Young Children, 68(3), 16-20

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.

Protheroe, N. (2001). Improving teaching and learning with data-based decisions: Asking the right questions and acting on the answers. Retrieved from http://www.rogersschools.net/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=3497164