8083 discus 1 mod2

RESPONSE1 SIMON

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After reviewing the relationship between healthy development of young children across all domains and annual assessments, the assessments have a tremendous impact on early childhood development programs offered in preschools and the early grades of primary schools. Some of these annual assessments require continuous observation, monitoring, and evaluating developmental and learning progress to allow an accurate annual assessment to be achieved. One specific tool that focuses on teacher-student interactions as the key to the learning progress is the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) which is a proven assessment tool developed at the School Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning that allows an effective way to measure teacher-student interactions in the classroom and offer suggestions for improving these interactions across any age group or subject matter (University of Virginia/School of Education and Human Development, 2021). The CLASS tool involves four cycles of 15 minutes observations of teachers and students by a certified CLASS observer, and  the interactions are rated using a manual of behaviors and responses (University of Virginia/School of Education and Human Development, 2021). This is an observational teacher-assessment tool that clarifies teachers’ behaviors to student gains and has proven to work in many classrooms from preschool to high school (University of Virginia/School of Education and Human Development, 2021).

 

          Another important assessment tool is Teaching Strategies GOLD which is an ongoing observational system of children’s development in the context of everyday experience from birth through kindergarten based on 38 objectives for developmental learning that involve predictors of school success and grounded on school readiness standards (Teaching Strategies, 2021). The assessment areas involving these objectives include: physical, socio-emotional, language, literacy, cognitive, mathematics, social studies, science and technology, and arts development (Teaching Strategies, 2021). The assessment approach provides a more broad, meaningful interpretation of a young child’s whole development. The two examples of assessment tools demonstrate the rationale for their usage and applications to monitor children’s development and progress across all domains and also clarify the teacher’s behaviors and instructional styles to see what is working effectively in interacting with young learners. Research on the relationship between assessment tools and the healthy developmental and learning progress of young children show a clearer picture that can be drawn regarding the importance and value of the tools.

            One area is young children developing and learning technical skills by interacting with electronic devices such as tablets and computers which is emphasized by the Teaching Strategies GOLD as the science and technologies learning domain. Herodotou (2018) conducted a systematic review of studies involving 2-5-year-olds interacting with electronic tablets across subject areas and found positive effects in literacy development, science, mathematics, problem solving, and self-efficacy which implies that developmental progress for children interacting with the tablets or any electronic device will be relevant and important to incorporate into ongoing, daily, and annual assessments for educators. Also, research indicates that young learners are experiencing positive effects from their interactions with the tablets. Teachers and educators need to assess and evaluate the interactions through measurable standards to allow progress and development to be tracked. One of the objectives of the Teaching Strategies GOLD is development in children using technological tools in their learning tasks (Teaching Strategies, 2021). Another study conducted by Margaret Burchinal, writing for Child Development and Perspectives, found that her most significant critique of high-quality early care and educational (EDC) programs is that more focus needs to be placed on teacher-student interactions and assessing these appropriately so that progress can be charted for both teacher and student in improving the quality of the interactions (Burchinal, 2018). The study demonstrates that assessment tools such as Teaching Strategies GOLD and CLASS which effectively measure the quality of teacher-student interactions are especially valuable. This is also supported by experience being an educator of young children and how the interactions between the educator and student learners is an area that requires professional assessment consistently to improve the quality of education for young learners. By having these assessment tools available and using them for purposes of improving teacher-student interactions can bring benefits for both teachers and students.  

 

References

 

Burchinal, M. (2018). Measuring early care and education quality. Child Development Perspectives, 12(1), 3-9.

 

Herodotou, C. (2018). Young children and tablets: A systematic review of effects on learning and development. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 34(1), 1-9.

 

Teaching Strategies. 2021. Teaching Strategies GOLD Birth Through Kindergarten Touring Guide.  Teaching Strategies - GOLD-Touring-Guide_5-2013.pdf (buffalo.edu)

University of Virginia/School of Education and Human Development. 2021. Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS).  Classroom Assessment Scoring System™ | School of Education and Human Development | University of Virginia

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Katheryn Gonzales 

RE: Discussion - Module 2

COLLAPSE

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Age Group: Pre-K

What are Assessments Used For:

There are many types of assessments that provide teachers, parents, and families with important information about a child’s development. These assessments give a record of growth and development in the areas of cognitive, physical, social-emotional, and language development. Educators and parents can use both formal and informal assessments to inform parents and stakeholders about a child’s progress. Formal assessments include tools like questionnaires and standardized tests, while informal assessments can include observations, portfolios, teacher ratings, and data collected by educators (Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, n.d.)

Observations are an informal assessment that is useful when assessing a child’s physical, social-emotional, cognitive, and linguistic development. The strengths of using observations as an assessment is that it uses the child’s natural environment without intrusions by adults. However, the weakness in this is that the results are a one-time event, and it is difficult to know if the results are valid and reliable. Observations are an informal assessment that are on-going (Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, n.d.).

Another assessment that is given to pre-k students in the state of Georgia is a formative assessment called the Work Sampling System. This assessment is an authentic assessment that is an instructional assessment that is designed to help teachers make instructional decisions in regard to physical, social, cognitive, and linguistic domains. This assessment also gives teachers information on who needs interventions. This assessment is important because it is authentic and allows teachers a method of sharing information with families and upcoming schoolteachers. One weakness with this assessment is that it offers indicators that not all pre-k teachers can assess based on their instructional model (Georgia’s Pre-K Work Sampling System Assessment Program, 2020). There is no current reliable data concerning this assessment due to the lack of performance assessment taken as well as the issue of the raters being subjective on their evaluations. The test has been determined to have evidence towards validity as the test measures line up with state standards (Bliss et al, 2017).

 

Letter identification assessments are a summative assessment that assess students letter knowledge at least three times a year. This form of assessment is a universal screening that is norm referenced, valid, and reliable. This form of assessment is given as a diagnostic at the beginning of the year, formative during the year, and summative at the end of the year. Teachers use the information from this assessment to determine whether a child needs interventions or if they are at risk for reading difficulties. This assessment is a useful tool for sharing information with families and educators to meet the needs of the student (Assessment in Practice, 2014).

 

 

 

Assessment: In Practice. (2014, May 1). Reading Rockets.

https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101- course/modules/assessment/assessment-practice

‌Bliss, S. L., & Johnson, R. L. (2017). Work Sampling System, 5th Edition (The). The Twentieth

Mental Measurements Yearbook.

 

Georgia’s Pre-K Work Sampling System Assessment Program. (2020). Ga.gov.  https://www.decal.ga.gov/Prek/PreKChildAssessmentProgram.aspx

 

Libretexts. (2021, January 4). 6.3: Assessing Children’s Development. Social Sci LibreTexts. https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Early_Childhood_Education/Book%3A_Observation_and_Assessment_in_Early_Childhood_Education_(Peterson_and_Elam)/06%3A_Using_Documentation_and_Assessment_to_Communicate_with_Families/6.03%3A_Assessing_Childrens_Development

 

Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC). (n.d.). Early childhood

assessment. http://resourcesforearlylearning.org/fm/early-childhood-assessment/

 

 

 

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