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Best Practices in Assessment of Young Children

Lua Shanks

Dr. Shipley

EDDD8083

5-14-2021

Introduction

The purpose of this culmination paper is to demonstrate my knowledge and competency across the discussed topics of early childhood education and assessment. Early childhood assessment refers to a tool that is utilized to collect and provide teachers, parents, and families with vital information about the growth and development of a child (Jones, 2020).  Assessment of young children entails getting information about a child, thoroughly reviewing it, and utilizing the information to plan educational activities within the child's level to boost their learning process. Assessment plays a significant role in providing a high-quality early childhood education program by providing details of what a child knows and what he can do based on what a child draws, writes, makes, says, or does. It also provides information that teachers can share with parents and families of the children so that they can follow their classroom progress to better comprehend their strengths and weakness and identify ways of extending their learning in their homes. This paper seeks to address various principles and best practices that can guide practices and policies for the assessment of young children.

Best Practices in Assessment of Young Children

To begin with, the assessment should bring benefits to young children. This is due to the complexity and potentially stressful ways of gathering information from young children and the cost and resources used in the creation of formal assessments. Therefore, to guarantee the conduction of proper assessments, the benefits to young children should outweigh the challenges through improved quality of educational programs or direct services to the young children.

Additionally, the assessments should not be one-size-fits-all but rather tailored to meet a specific purpose and should be valid and reliable. Dynamic assessment is recommended as it involves assessing what the children are capable of doing alone or with the assistance of an adult. The validity and reliability of the assessments should also be age-appropriate or increase with age. It is important to recognize that it is quite difficult to gather reliable and valid assessment data for younger children. It is even more difficult to assess the cognitive abilities of a child below the age of 6 which means that some types of assessment should be postponed until the child is older whereas other assessments can still be pursued with the necessary precautions.

Assessments of young children should cover the entire range of early education inclusive of motor development and physical well-being, emotional and social development, language development, approaches towards learning as well as general and cognitive knowledge (Yun, Melnic & Wechsler, 2021). Assessment methods should also put into consideration the need for children to have familiar contexts to show their abilities. For instance, young children may experience difficulties showing their abilities using pen and paper.

Assessments should also be linguistically appropriate. This means that assessments should consider that children come from different backgrounds and they should be assessed through a language that they best understand (Radzicki et al., 2020). Assessing all children with a specific language such as English may lead to biased results since some children are more proficient than others in a specific language. It takes time for children to learn a second language besides their mother language which should be factored into assessments' policies. Educators need to be aware of children and the cultural context of their families to design assessments that are culturally sensitive and interesting to children.

Family engagement is also critical in the assessment of young children because of the vital information they provide to teachers (Toros, DiNitto & Tiko, 2018). Families are constant in a child's life and their history and information on how a child acts throughout the day are helpful in the expected behavior of a child in the classroom. The results of a child's assessment should also be shared with the parents as part of an ongoing process that involved the family in their child's education. Besides family, young children should also be given an opportunity to actively contribute to their assessments and gain feedback on their learning. For instance, children can explain and justify their thinking to other people in shared sustained thinking which can facilitate the curriculum decision-making process. Moreover, effective assessment methods should allow children to express their ideas and opinions about what is recorded in their learning process. It has been made easier to access early intervention programs for preschool children with impairments, and methodologies for communicative evaluation are now being implemented in these programs (Chadwick & Goldbart, pp.336-358). It is vital to choose the most appropriate evaluation for each child in order to make curricular decisions and judge whether a program is meeting its stated objectives. Also included are additional stakeholders who are interested in the information gathered, such as parents, teachers, and referral organizations for children with special needs, amongst other individuals and organizations. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are difficult to identify and evaluate, which makes them a difficult assignment to complete (Hus, pp. 27-37).

On the other hand, realistic assessment processes paired with parental engagement for longer discourse are necessary for long-term success (Bagnato, 2013). Using Adriana's parents as an example, consider the following scenario in which they contacted the early intervention program because they were concerned about their daughter's communication abilities. Adriana was three years old at the time, and her parents were worried about her ability to communicate with other people. The purpose of the assessment was to determine whether Adriana was eligible for the services and to assess her level of preparedness for school by evaluating her strengths and weaknesses in a variety of different areas. Adriana was found to be eligible for the services and her level of preparedness for school was evaluated. She and her parents reviewed how she was doing at home and what she was particularly excellent at during a talk with her parents Their main fear was that Adriana's delayed speech and inability to pronounce more than 10 to 15 syllables at a time would prevent her from communicating successfully with them using just those words. They were right to be worried. Unlike her friends, she spent the most of her time playing by herself, and she did not copy their pastimes.

Adriana's family opted to have her checked after talking with a physician to see whether she was suffering from any medical issues that may be limiting her ability to communicate properly in the future. Even though she was able to participate in play and build relationships with other children, she found it difficult to maintain her focus during the treatment. She was specifically targeted by the physician because she had shown a general lack of interest in the activities at the childcare facility when compared to the responses of other children her age in a similar environment. Following consultation with the program coordinator, it was determined that Adriana would need to be evaluated in all developmental areas. The coordinator had scheduled for her to have an evaluation. To perform the psychological examination, an assessment team consisting of a development expert and a speech/language pathologist was constituted and given the assignment. Depending on your knowledge, what developmental tests were administered to Adriana in order to evaluate her developmental capacity, and what techniques would you use in this case if you were in Adriana's place?

Increasingly, early intervention programs for preschool children with impairments are becoming more accessible, and approaches for communicative assessment are increasingly being used in these programs, making them more effective (Chadwick & Goldbart, pp.336-358). In order to make curricular choices and determine whether or not a program is accomplishing its stated goals, it is critical to choose the most suitable assessment for each kid. Other persons and organizations are also included that have an interest in the information being obtained. These include parents, teachers, and referral organizations for children with special needs, amongst other individuals and groups. It is difficult to detect and assess children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which makes them a challenging task to complete (Hus, pp. 27-37).

On the other hand, realistic evaluation systems along with parental involvement for a longer period of time are required for long-term success in educational settings (Bagnato, 2013). Consider the following situation, which involves Adriana's parents contacting the early intervention program because they were worried about their daughter's communication skills. Adriana was three years old at the time, and her parents were concerned about her capacity to interact with other people in a social situation. By analyzing Adriana's strengths and limitations in a number of different areas, the evaluation was designed to establish whether or not she was qualified for the services as well as to evaluate her degree of preparation for school. Following an assessment, it was determined that Adriana was qualified for the services, and her level of preparation for school was determined. During a conversation with her parents, she and her parents discussed how she was doing at home and what she was especially good at, among other things. Their biggest concern was that Adriana's delayed speech and inability to pronounce more than 10 to 15 syllables at a time would hinder her from being able to communicate effectively with them using just the words she knew. They had every reason to be concerned. And, in contrast to her pals, she spent the majority of her time playing by herself, and she did not imitate their activities.

Adriana's family decided to have her examined after consulting with a physician to see if she was suffering from any physical conditions that would impair her capacity to speak effectively in the future. Adriana's family is grateful for the opportunity to do so. Despite the fact that she was able to engage in play and form connections with other children, she found it difficult to retain her concentration during the course of the therapy. In particular, she was singled out by the doctor because she had shown a general lack of interest in activities at the child care facility when compared to the answers of other children her age in a comparable context. Following conversation with the program coordinator, it was established that Adriana would need to be tested in all developmental categories in order to qualify for the program. Her assessment had been planned by the coordinator for her benefit and well-being. For the purpose of conducting the psychological evaluation, an assessment team comprised of a development specialist and a speech/language pathologist was formed and assigned the task. In your opinion, what developmental tests were conducted to Adriana in order to assess her developmental potential, and what strategies would you use in this situation if you were in Adriana's shoes, are important questions to consider.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it suffices to say that all children benefit when an assessment reflects a whole-child approach giving a holistic view of learning and development. Early childhood educators should utilize various types of assessment based on the age of the child to build prior learning and add value to the child’s life. They should also understand the importance of family engagement in the learning and development of their child. Holistic assessment enables early childhood educators to explore and evaluate the multiple aspects of a child’s learning and development in a variety of contexts, relationships, and environments.

 

References

Bagnato, S. J. (2007). Authentic assessment for early childhood intervention: Best practices. Guilford Press.

Chadwick, D., Buell, S., & Goldbart, J. (2019). Approaches to communication assessment with children and adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 32(2), 336-358.

Hus, Y. (2017). Issues in identification and assessment of children with autism and a proposed resource toolkit for speech-language pathologists. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 69(1-2), 27-37.

Jones, B. S. (2020). Early Childhood Educators’ Use of Students’ Assessments for Data-Driven Decision Making (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).

Radzicki, A., Hughes, T. L., Schoenenberger, A., Park, M., & Sánchez, Y. (2020). Working with young children who are culturally and linguistically diverse.

Toros, K., DiNitto, D. M., & Tiko, A. (2018). Family engagement in the child welfare system: A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review, 88, 598-607.

Yun, C., Melnick, H., & Wechsler, M. (2021). High-Quality Early Childhood Assessment: Learning from States' Use of Kindergarten Entry Assessments. Learning Policy Institute.