KEY RESOURCES FROM THE ECEA SCASS ON EARLY CHILDHOOD ASSESSMENT
The CCSSO state Collaborative on Student Standards and Assessments for Young Children has developed a number of useful tools for state policy makers, and early childhood experts to guide their thinking and practice on appropriate assessement for young children. These include:
A PowerPoint for Presenters and Policymakers:
» BUILDING A SYSTEM FOR SUCCESSFUL EARLY LEARNERS: THE ROLE OF STANDARDS, ASSESSMENT, EVALUATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY
A series of short fact sheets to accompany the PowerPoint Presentation include:
» Key Considerations--Building an Assessment System to Support Successful Early Learners.
» The Role of Child Assessment in Program Evaluation and Improvement
» Assessing Child Learning and Developmental Outcomes
» The Role of Child Assessment in System Accountability and Improvement
» A Bibliography of Resources for the Development of Early Childhood Standards and Assessment Systems
One of the longstanding resources on best practice in assessing young children was developed by the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) Goal 1 Working Group. The small booklet, "Principles and Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments" can be downloaded in PDF by clicking on the booklet image or here.
KEY CONSIDERATIONS
Building an Assessment System to Support Successful Early Learners
In the current accountability climate questions are being raised about if, when, and how very young children should be assessed. Simply put, the answers are: yes--continuously, and very carefully.
YES—because—
• Teachers and other program staff cannot successfully support young children’s development and learning unless they know what children can do, both independently and with the assistance of an adult. Ongoing assessment through observation, analysis of children’s work, and use of valid and reliable instruments and processes helps teachers to know how to plan the learning environment and experiences. It supports instructional planning for individual children and for the group. It is key to assuring successful early learners.
• The judicious use of reputable screening instruments followed by careful diagnostic assessment assures that children who have learning difficulties associated with sensory, physical, or cognitive impairments receive the additional supports needed to reach their potential.
• Effective child assessment provides information that helps bring about program improvement. It must always be accompanied by assessment of the learning environment and other program supports such as well-prepared teachers and professional development that have been identified through research as critical to realizing better child outcomes.
• Parents want and need to know how their children are doing. This information helps them to understand reasonable expectations for their children and gives them tools to assist in their further development.
Continuously—because—
• To an even greater extent than is true for older students, young children’s capabilities cannot be discerned through a single test. Securing valid and reliable information about young children’s development and learning requires multiple measures applied at multiple points over time.
• Informed policy and program leaders and good teachers understand that curriculum, instruction, and assessment cannot be separated.
And very carefully—because—
• Young children, by their very nature, are not good test-takers. Consequently, it is imperative that the need for information about their progress on either an individual or a group basis not take precedence over the safeguards that must be in place to protect against mistaken judgments. Any single test or any assessment process must never be used to rank, exclude, or label children or to sanction their teachers.
• The quality of any program cannot be determined solely on the basis of the results of child assessment, particularly of a single test. Comprehensive early childhood programs are highly complex. Assessment of their effectiveness must also be comprehensive, involving evaluation of the elements known to bring about positive child outcomes. A program that does not have the resources needed to offer what is widely recognized as high quality cannot be held accountable for child outcomes.
This means the first test must be of the assessment system itself. To be certain the system gets the first test and to assure the success of all young children as they grow, develop and learn, the energies of the adults who have responsibility for them, whether parents, teachers, program leaders, or policy makers, should be focused on:
• Support for research-based programs, services, and curriculum that maximize children’s learning and development. The assessment system looks at child developmental and learning outcomes in relation to agreed upon early learning standards.
• Processes to assure continuous improvement of programs and services that help all children to be successful.
• Assessment systems that provide information about the system and services, in order to support continuous improvement leading to high quality.
An effective Early Childhood Assessment System uses the right data for the right reasons. From the outset, program and policy leaders can answer these key questions:
Is there a clear statement of purpose to guide the design of the system?
• What is the system measuring?
q Child learning and developmental outcomes; family outcomes?
q Program improvement?
q System accountability?
• Who is responsible for achieving agreed-upon outcomes?
• For what outcomes should a local program be held accountable?
q What processes are needed to measure child outcomes?
q What processes are needed to guide program improvement?
q What are appropriate outcomes/results and who decides?
• For what outcomes should a state agency be held accountable?
q What processes are needed to guide that determination?
q What are appropriate outcomes/results and who decides?
q What actions will follow from the information collected?
Does the assessment system match the purpose?
• Does the assessment system stay true to the purpose when designing, reporting, and drawing implications from the results?
• Does the assessment system support young children, teachers, and families?
• Will the efforts of the assessment system assess the merit of the cumulative investments in young children?
• How will the information be used?
• Who will use it?
Does the system avoid punitive processes and consequences?
• Does it avoid ranking, sorting or penalizing children, programs and services, or families?
• Does it specify how the information is to be used and who will use it?
• Does it delineate an improvement process when outcomes are not being achieved?
Answering these questions puts the assessment system on the right track. High quality is the essential foundation to build positive child learning and developmental outcomes. Comprehensive programs adhere to high standards that set expectations and support children’s development in language and literacy, social interactions, emotional health, thinking, mathematical concepts, physical and artistic development. High quality programs and services employ well trained staff. High quality programs involve families in meaningful ways.
An early childhood assessment system must provide information about how programs are doing and support program improvement in addition to supporting the system in improving. In addition to assessing child learning and developmental outcomes, assessment can be used to promote program improvement through effective and continuous program evaluation.
An effective early childhood assessment system increases the likelihood that all children can be successful learners in their early years and beyond. It is a key component of early childhood programs and services that decreases the disparities found among young children as a result of differing economic and social/emotional supports available to them in the early years. |
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