Lesson 1: Definition of Assessment

Early childhood teachers in classrooms study and assess children’s development and learning. They observe children at work and
play, and record information about what they observe. They collect and analyze samples of children’s work, and set up portfolios
to display children’s competence. They ask children to explain and describe their thinking processes. They may administer teacher-
made or published tests, or evaluate each child’s general progress as required by a school or program. They may give tests that
focus on diagnosing children’s strengths and needs in different subject areas. They may also document children’s learning through
different means.

All these activities, and more, are part of assessment. Not every school or center will require or expect that teachers do each of
these things. What teachers are expected to do will vary depending on the age and levels of the children. Regardless of the setting,
good early childhood education includes appropriate assessment of children’s development and learning.

Definitions of Assessment:

 It is any form of measurement and appraisal of what children know and can do, including tests, observations, interviews,
reports from knowledgeable sources and other means.
 It is the process of gathering information about children from several forms of evidence, then organizing and interpreting
that information.
 It is described as documenting the work children do and how they do as a basis fora variety of educational decisions that
affect the child.
 It is the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken for the purpose of
improving the learning and development.
 It involves the multiple steps of collecting data on a child's development and learning, determining its significance in light
of program goals and objectives, incorporating the information into planning for individuals and programs, and
communicating the findings to parents and other involved parties.
 It is the systematic basis for making inferences about the learning and development of students. It is the process of
defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analyzing, interpreting and using information to increase student's learning and
development.

Difference Between Formative and Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

 Is the gathering of information that is used to shape and improve, to help in the formation of an instructional program.
 Is the monitoring that occurs throughout the process of learning, providing students with feedback on how they are doing
and what their next learning steps are.
 Is a continuous and several assessments done during the instructional process for the purpose of improving teaching or
learning. (Black & William, 2003)
 Its purpose is to provide students with concrete and specific information they need to be able to evaluate and therefore
improve their own learning.

What makes formative assessment formative is that it is immediately used to make adjustments to help students learn the
lessons better.

EXAMPLE OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

 Multiple choice
 Debate
 One-to-one Conversation
 Recitation
 Essay

BENEFITS OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

 Immediate Feedback: The teacher can quickly gauge the overall understanding of the class.
 Individualized Feedback: The teacher can identify students who may need additional support.
  Adjusted Instruction: Based on the results, the teacher can adapt the lesson plan. If many students answer incorrectly,
the teacher can re-explain the concept or offer further examples.

Summative Assessment

 Evaluation is done at the end of a period of time such as school year or the end of the project, to determine the
effectiveness of a program.
 The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it
against some standard or benchmark. Summative assessments have a high-stake value.
 In a nutshell, formative assessments are quizzes and tests that evaluate how someone is learning the material throughout
a course. Summative assessment are quizzes and tests that evaluate how much someone has learned throughout a
course.

Distinctions Among Terms:

 Alternative Assessment - refers to any type of assessment other than standardized tests and similar developmental
inventories and achievement tests. Sometimes such alternative assessment is referred to as "informal assessment" as
opposed to formal assessment using standardized and other published instruments.

 Performance Assessment - refers to a specific type of assessment in which children demonstrate a skill or create a
product that shows their learning (Stiggins, 1995). If motor coordination is being measured, the child performs an
appropriate action. If writing is under consideration, the child writes.

 Authentic Assessment - applies to assessment as part of children's ongoing life and learning in the classroom, playground,
hallway, lunchroom and other typical school and center settings. In authentic assessment, tasks are as close as possible
to bona fide practical and intellectual challenges (Finn, 1991).

EXAMPLE OF AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT

 Role play
 Essay
 Portfolios
 Presentations
 Journals

This type of assessment accomplishes the following goals

 Requires students to develop responses rather than select from predetermined options;
 Elicit higher order thinking in addition to basic skills.
 Uses samples of student work or portfolios collected over an extended of time;
 Stems from clear criteria made known to student;
 Allows for the possibility of multiple human judgement; and
 Teaches students to evaluate their own works.

Assessment in Early Childhood Education

A process of observing, recording and otherwise documenting what children do and how they do it as a basis for a variety of
educational decisions that affect the child (NAEYC & NAECS, 2001).

It is also the quantitative and qualitative study of children’s works, activities, and interactions for the purpose of planning
curriculum and instruction, reporting programs toward goals, and conveying accountability to families and communities (Barbour,
2000).
Synthesis/Summary:

 Teachers in school assess children’s development and learning in a wide variety of ways and used that information for
different purposes.
 Teachers have a professional responsibility to know about and thoughtfully select assessment strategies appropriate to
young children and families they are working with.
 Teachers use information to guide and support children’s development and learning.

LESSON 2: ASSESSMENT OF DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

Rationale:

Children are expected to learn more at an early age than in years past. Every society now has documents that specify what they
expect children to learn in kindergarten through high school – its standards, or essential learnings. Every state that fund education
programs has identified expected outcomes for the children. National state policy makers emphasize an early focus on academic
skills related to school readiness and success.

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Identify concepts about children’s development and learning.
2. Understand the nature of assessment of children's development and learning
3. Enumerate the uses of assessment.
4. Understand and apply the purposes of assessment.
Content:

1. Concepts About Children's Development and Learning

a. Children actively construct knowledge within a social context that affects what and how they learn. They do not require
knowledge and skills all on their own, automatically developing more complex skills, ideas and understanding as they
mature. Nor do they simply learn what is taught and "reinforced" the behaviorist psychology that once dominated
learning theories. Learning and teaching are complex enterprises in which children, adults, the things children work and
play with, language interactions and all aspects of the child's life - in and out of school - to interact to influence that
learning (Bordova & Leong, 1996).

b. Children don't simply learn more and more discrete facts and skills. Rather, they try to organize information,
develop theories, see relationships and develop their own cognitive maps of the interconnections among facts and
concepts (Shepard, 1989).

2. Nature of Assessment of Children's Development and Learning

a. Assessment of children's development and learning demonstrate children's overall strengths and progress, what
children can do, not just their wrong answers and what they cannot do or not know.
b. Assessment is a collaborative process involving children and teachers and parents, school and community.
Information from parents about each child's experiences at home is used in planning instruction and evaluating children's
learning. Information obtaIned from assessment is shared with parents in a language they can understand.

c. Assessment of children's development and learning utilizes an array of tools and a variety of processes, including,
but not limited to, collections of representative work by children (artwork, stories, write, tape recordings of their reading)
records of systematic observations by teachers, records of conversations and interviews with children and teachers'
summaries of children's progress as individuals and groups.

d. Assessment involves regular and periodic observation of the child in a variety of circumstances that are
representative of the child's behavior in the program over time.

e. A regular process exists for periodic information sharing between teachers and parents about children's growth
and development and performance. The method of reporting to parents does not rely on letter or numerical grades but
rather provides more meaningful. descriptive information in narrative form.
f. Assessment practices should mirror the active learning processes implied in this complex, dynamic and holistic view of
child development and learning (Shepard, 2000).
 g. Assessment must be united in the service of development and learning. Vygotsky 's "zone of proximal
development" lies between what the child can presently accomplish independently and what the child can presently
accomplish independently and what the child can potentially do in a supportive environment.

Vygotsky believed that assessment of potentials as well as actual, independent problem child. All children can do more
with assistance than they can manage alone, but the direction of growth, development and learning is toward independence.
3. Uses of Assessment
a. Assessment encourages children to participate in self-evaluation.

b. It addresses what children can do independently and what they can demonstrate with assistance since the latter
shows the direction of their growth.

c. It provides teachers with useful information to successfully fulfill their responsibilities:

to support children's learning and development

d. It is absolutely necessary if teachers are to provide curriculum and instruction that is both age appropriate an
individually appropriate.

e. An initial assessment is necessary for teachers to get to know children and to adjust the planned curriculum. The
appropriate use of the initial assessment is to find out what children already know and are able to do and to use this
information to adjust the curriculum to the individual children.

f. Initial assessment takes the form of "readiness testing" with younger children or "achievement testing” with older
children from the program, track them by ability or otherwise label them.

4. Purposes of Assessment
a. Instructional planning and communicating with parents
1) What are this child's strengths, needs and learning processes?
2) How is this child doing?
3) How will this child's instruction and guidance be planned?
4) What and how can the teacher best communicate with the parents about the status and progress of
their child.
b. Identification of children with special needs
1) Can this child's needs be met in this program?
2) If not, how does this program need to be supplemented or what program is required?

c. Program evaluation and accountability

Is the program meeting its goals and objectives?

Synthesis/Summary:
• Teachers have the professional responsibility to know about and thoughtfully select assessment strategies
appropriate for young children and families they are working with.
• Teachers use information to guide and support young children’s development and learning.

LESSON 3: THE KEY PLAYERS IN ASSESSMENT IN ECE

Rationale:
The key players in assessment in early childhood programs are children who are assessed, teachers who assess and
audiences (Administrators, Policy Makers, and other Stakeholders) for assessment information.

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Identify the key players in assessment in early childhood education.
 2. Determine the key players’ role in assessing children.

Content:
❖ The Child

The child is the center of assessment; all assessment activities should result in benefits for children.

Four Roles of Children in Assessment

a. As objects of assessment
b. As sources of assessment information
c. As observers and critics of their own thinking processes and progress
d. as beneficiaries of the ways the information is used

Characteristics of Children that Affect Assessment

a. Young children are acutely sensitive to their surroundings. This sensitivity means that they can be easily distracted and
may have emotional reactions to assessment procedures that may skew their behaviour. To produce a reliable picture,
assessment should take place in a variety of situations that reflect the objectives of the program, make the child
comfortable and represent the child's typical range of activities.

b. Young children are characterized by rapid developmental change, meaning that they must be assessed
frequently. They are specially prone to dynamic changes in social and emotional development, for example in inhibiting
impulses and in delaying gratification.

c. They have limited interest in being assessed, specially when the assessment procedures interfere with their normal range
of movement, talk and expression of feelings. They are naturally interested in engaging in activities that fit their needs
and desires, in feeling good about themselves and their accomplishments and in pleasing significant adults. As they
develop they grow in interest and awareness of their own thinking processes and their progress. These developing meta
cognitive capacities are an important part of assessment plans.

❖ The Teacher
• The teacher is the primary assessor in the early childhood program, as the individual who is closest to the child,
most responsible for the quality of the program, best positioned to coordinate the needs of individual children
with the program goals and objectives, and most likely to have the information that parents and other interested
persons need.

• Teachers are not the only primary assessors but they are also the primary users of assessment
information. Teachers need information about every one of the children - how they are progressing, how they
think and solve problems and how they think about their own learning. Teachers cannot decide what and how
and when to teach without knowing what is happening with the children.

• Teachers continually assess as they observe the children's learning processes and examine their products -
paintings, block constructions, social interactions and developing oral and written language etc.

• Teachers continually draw conclusions and make decisions based on their observations even though
the process itself may be intuitive and unreflective.

Teacher's Responsibilities in Assessment

a. Integrate instruction and assessment fully in planning and carrying out the program.
b. Use knowledge of young children to choose or design assessment processes
c. Analyze the results to find their meaning for the program and the children
d. Apply what has been learned to planning next steps and improving the program
e. Communicate with parents and involve them in an exchange of information about their child's learning
and development.

❖ The Parents
• Parents are the primary audience for what is learned from assessment of their own children.
 • Parents need the most specific information about individual children. They need to know that their children are
well cared for and that they are making progress.

• Parents want to understand the program and feel confident about it. They want concrete evidence about what
is happening and what their children are experiencing.

• The assessment information most important to parents allows them to see their own children's growth.

• As experts of their own children's growth, parents have knowledge about their children that is
invaluable to teachers. They know what their children can do in comfortable, familiar social setting.

❖ Administrators, Policy Makers, and other Stakeholders

• Administrators, Policy Makers, and other Stakeholders have legitimate needs for assessment information related
to programs and large groups of children, their needs are extensive, not intensive and unrelated to data on
individual children.

• Administrators need to know how groups of children are coping in relation to a standard of expectation.
Administrators are accountability agents; they must monitor how programs fulfill their goals and objectives and
assess needs for broad program changes.

• Administrators have an equally important responsibility to be instructional leaders, supporting the kind of
assessment that teachers need to improve the quality of children's experiences.

• Administrators may help teachers observe and evaluate children's performance and reduce
unexamined reliance on mass standardized testing for program evaluation and teacher assessments (Stiggins,
1985).

Synthesis/Summary:
• The key players in assessment in early childhood education programs are children who are assessed, teachers
who assess, and audiences for assessment information.
• All of the adults involved closely with assessment issues have responsibilities – they are accountable.
• Teachers, administrators and parents must wrestle with the issues of what is worth knowing and how to
communicate those values to children.
LESSON 4: WHY, WHAT AND WHEN TO ASSESS

Rationale:

Decisions have to be made before the process even starts: Why is assessment being done? What will be assessed? When?
Deciding how to assess requires decisions about collecting and recording information. Compiling, summarizing and interpreting
information helps us understand what it means so we can use it for the intended purposes. In short, consider assessment as a
decision-making task.

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Determine the purpose of assessment (The Why)
2. Identify What to assess.
3. Know When to assess

Content:

• WHY TO ASSESS
The intended use of an assessment - its purpose - determines every other aspect of how assessment is conducted. We
assess individual children's developmental status at a given time and their progress and change over time. Status refers to
children's current condition or situation with respect to any particular aspect of growth, development or learning. Status is
concerned with " where children are" in their development.

Their basic information is then used for other purposes:

1. To monitor children's development and learning
2. To guide classroom planning and decision making
3. To identify children who might benefit from special help
4. To report to and communicate with others

• To Monitor Children's Development and Learning

1. Teachers assess to determine a child's and a group's strengths and needs at a given point in time.

2. Teachers monitor and keep track of children's progress and change over time. They do this to:
a. provide evidence of learning to themselves, parents and children
b. guard against the assumption that because " we've worked on that" the children have learned it
c. make needed changes in response to what children have or have not learned
3. Teachers assess to guard against the assumption that if children are given an opportunity to learn - whether
through experiences, materials, explicit instruction or simply general support and expectation - they will
automatically grow, develop and progress.

• To Guide Classroom Planning and Decision Making

1. Assessment information "is essential for planning and implementing developmentally appropriate programs
(Bredekamp, 1987).

2. Assessment " in the service of instruction" helps decide where and how to begin, how long to work on a given
goal or objective, when to review and when to make changes to help children learn.

3. Initial assessment and periodic assessment of progress, placed against program goals and expectations, can help
teachers make long and short-range plans. Assessment also helps teachers in day-to- day classroom planning
because what children do one day prompts changes in plans for ensuing days.

4. Teachers use information gained from on-going continuous assessment "to understand specific children and to
gain information on which to base immediate decisions on how to direct, guide, teach or respond (Phinney,
1982).
 5. Teachers seek to understand children's thinking and learning processes, not only what they know and can do.
During interactive teaching and instructional conversations, teachers adjust what they say and do to recognize
children's current level of understanding and try out words and strategies to increase that understanding. As
children respond, teachers revise and modify approaches in a continuing interplay. They use assessment
information to help them choose materials and strategies, select one activity and reject another, allocate more
or less time to a given portion of the day, decide what to do about the continuing squabbles in work groups, and
decide how to rearrange learning centers to increase interest.

6. Effective, developmentally appropriate programs depend on some kind of assessment.

• To Identify Children Who Might Benefit from Special Help

1. Assessment is used to identify children who may need special help. Teachers may identify children who need
special help in the classroom.

2. Teachers may be involved in screening, pre-referral strategies or other processes to identify children who might
need an in-depth assessment to see if they could benefit from specialized services.

3. Systematic assessment also keeps teachers from "losing" individual children. In any group of children, certain
ones get lots of adult attention. Some demand it by their spirited behavior, others get it because they are so
cooperative or responsive or because they have great need. Others may get lost along the way unless teachers
take care to know them and meet their needs.

• To Report to and Communicate with Others

1. Information from accountability assessments may be used to detect and strengthen weaknesses in programs,
plan professional development activities, compare with other schools or programs or to analyze costs and
benefits.

2. Assessment information guides teachers in their conferences with families and other professionals,
such as speech and hearing specialists, nurses or developmental specialists.

❖ WHAT TO ASSESS

The goal of assessment is to acquire sufficient knowledge about each child, and about a group of children in relation to
program goals and objectives to fulfill the purposes of assessment. Because developmentally appropriate programs for young
children address the "whole child' - physical, social, emotional and intellectual, the assessment plan should include strategies that
will gather information on a broad range of children's activities and functioning. This means that assessment processes must focus
on children in relation to what is known about developmental directions (the continuum of development) in acquiring knowledge,
skills, attitudes and dispositions.

Teachers make decisions about what to assess in four categories:

1. Major Child Growth and Development Domains
2. Expected Outcomes of the Program for Individual Children
3. Children's Unique Patterns of Development, Knowledge, Attitudes and Interests
4. Problems or Concerns About a Child or Group

Major Child Growth and Development Domains

1. Major development domains may be called different things: cognitive, affective and psychomotor; or intellectual, social,
emotional and physical. Some people add language as a separate category. Others add aesthetic, moral and spiritual
development.

2. Schools working with older children may think in terms of curriculum areas or subjects, such as literacy development,
physical education, social studies, health and nutrition, and others.
Expected Outcomes of the Program for Individual Children

1. Assessment should focus on the program's expected outcomes for children. These expectations are found in curriculum
guides and documents developed by school districts, Department of Education, organizations and agencies that sponsor
educational programs.

2. They may be called "standards," "early learning standards", "essential knowledge and skills", "child outcomes
framework," "goals and objectives," or something else altogether.

3. A benchmark is a clear, specific description of knowledge or skill that students should acquire by a specific point in their
schooling. It is a "grade-appropriate or developmentally-appropriate expression of knowledge or skill that is more broadly
stated in the content standard".

There may be several knowledge and skill statements under each benchmark specifying the expectations in greater detail.
These are specific enough that teachers should be able to develop assessment strategies to determine what children
know and can do.

Ideally, standards and benchmarks between grade and age levels, such as kindergarten and first grade, align. Expected
outcomes stated in general curriculum frameworks should align with specific curriculum materials such as literacy or
mathematics programs.

4. Performance Standards. Performance standards define the levels of learning that are considered satisfactory and suggest
ways of gauging the degree to which content standards have been attained. Performance standards try to answer the
question, "How good is good enough?"
Changing expectations about what young children can learn, and at what ages, makes judging performance of young
children especially difficult.

5. Rubrics identify different levels and qualities of attainment of each benchmark or standard. The following example states
the expectation, "converses effectively".

6. From the General to the Specific. If expected outcomes are too general, teachers have to make them more specific in
order to assess and teach effectively. If curriculum guides, frameworks, benchmarks or suggested assessment tasks do
not identify the experience, action, or behavior children will do to show their experience and learning, teachers must.

Unique Patterns of Development, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Interests

1. Children and groups often have their own unique "approaches to learning"--attitudes, values, habits, and learning styles
that influence what and how they learn. Approaches to learning include: a) openness to and curiosity about new tasks
and challenges, b) initiative, task persistence and attentiveness, c) a tendency for reflection and interpretation d)
imagination and invention e) cognitive styles (Kagan, Moore & Bredekamp, 1995).

2. Teachers planning a project or theme should assess "this group's" level of knowledge and interest as well as their
attitudes, prior experience and understanding of the topic.

Problems or Concerns About a Child or Group

1. Teachers often need information on a problem or concern - about a particular child, a small group or the total group - to
give clues for its solution.

2. If the problem is clearly an individual one, there is no need to assess the whole class. Focus on the child. However, many
things influence what a child does. We have to look beyond an individual or group to the physical environment,
scheduling, available materials and other children and adults to find the sources of a problem.

❖ WHEN TO ASSESS
1. Before the School Year Starts
a. Ideally, a plan for when to do different types of appraisal will be in place before the school year begins. The plan may
be modified by the realities of classroom life, lack of time or unexpected external requirements, but it will provide a
time frame for assessment.

b. Before the school year starts, determine expectations, organize filing and record keeping systems, study existing
records, study information from parents, study materials from previous years, review assessment measures you have
used in previous years.

c. The number and type of tests and assessments that are required will vary depending on the age and grade level of
the children, what entity funds and regulates the program, current laws and regulations and school and community
traditions.

2. Assess Day by Day

a. Assessments make the most sense if they occur on an ongoing basis as particular skills and content are being learned
(Shepard, Kagan & Wurtz, 1998).

b. Good teachers continuously appraise children and revise procedures and interactions accordingly.

c. Some of the best and most useful information is obtained while a teacher is taking dictation from a child; listening to
a child read a story he has written etc. Assessment is embedded in the interactive processes of teaching.

3. Assess Periodically
a. Focused initial, interim and final assessments on one or more goals in developmental or curriculum areas are
required.
b. The focused information gathering takes place as part of classroom activities. Over several days, children may
demonstrate their abilities to solve measurement problems in Math and Science or represent ideas through art and
construction.

c. Initial assessment occurs when a new group, part of a group or a new child begins. It yields information on a child's
group's initial status - ability, attitudes and dispositions, prior knowledge and understanding, and skills and habits in
relation to what the school or center emphasizes - to provide basic information for planning classroom activities and
experiences.

4. Assess Before and After a Concentrated Emphasis

a. Assess before making final plans for any sustained unit, project or topic and again at its conclusion. Determine what
children already know and can do, and consider their thinking and reasoning in relation to whatever is being planned.
At the conclusion, summarize assessment information collected during the project, and, if necessary, look again to
determine what children have learned, in what ways they have developed and in what continuation activities are
needed.

b. Appraise children's interest, attitudes, and level of understanding of the essential elements of the topic, which may
be quite different from recall knowledge. Consider what concepts the children hold about the topic and how it relates
to other learnings. Look at the pattern of errors and the size of the gap between " where they are" and " where they
are to go".

5. Assess to Get Information about a Specific Problem or Concern

a. Concerns about specific children, subgroup or the total group don't always correspond to units of study or reporting
periods, nor is continuous assessment always adequate for problem solving.

b. Simply observing the child won't give you the necessary information.
 c. Children who move frequently from one school or center to another present a special problem. If adequate records
are sent with them, continue from there.

How Should Assessment Be Accomplished

Selection of assessment procedures should be determined first by the purpose of the assessment. Below is a table that
shows the matching purpose and type in assessment:

Purpose Formal Informal

To ascertain a child's preparedness Readiness tests (criterion- Observation, Parents' Reports
to benefit from a particular planned referenced)
program

To identify children who may need Developmental Screening Tests Error Analysis, Structured
specialized placement Observation
To evaluate the appropriateness Appropriate Criterion- Teacher-made tests and
of teaching programs and Referenced Achievement Tests procedures; observations,
strategies analysis of work samples

To evaluate a child's progress Appropriate Criterion- Teacher-made tests and

Referenced Achievement Tests procedures; observations,
analysis of work samples

To determine classification and Developmental Assessment

placement Tests

Synthesis/Summary:
• Thinking about assessment as series of decisions helps simplify a complicated process. Basic decisions pertain to why,
what, and when to assess.
• Teachers decide how to collect and record information and how to organize, summarize, interpret and use it.
• Assessment helps determine children’s status and progress in growth, development and learning.
• Decisions on what to assess may be influenced by the need for information from major developmental domains, the
expected outcomes of the program, the need to know something about the uniqueness of each child, classroom or
individual problems or concerns, and practical considerations.
• The timing of assessment determines much of its utility, so a tentative plan should be in place and preliminary tasks
done before school starts.
• Continuous assessment is integrated with ongoing classroom activities.
• Periodic assessment or summarizing existing information takes place initially, midway, and for a final “summing up”.
• Assess as needed to study a problem or concern.

LESSON 5: DOCUMENTING: COLLECTING INFORMATION

Rationale:
One way to improve assessment of children is to use "multiple measures" or "windows". Tests alone, teacher
observations alone, children's work alone or any other assessment data alone do not yield reliable and adequate information.
When important decisions are being contemplated, such as formation of work and play groups, referral for a possible
developmental problem, reporting to parents or action for behavioral concern, multiple measures should be used. The assessment
data, or evidence, that teachers use to guide day-to-day planning and interaction with children can be less rigorous, because such
plans can be changed. This lesson focuses only on collecting information and not recording it.

At the end of the lessons, students will be able to:

1. Determine the three aspects of classroom assessment.
 2. Understand the sources of information when it comes to assessment. 3. Describe the different methods of
collecting information
4. Assess the contexts of assessment.
❖ Multiple Windows
Teachers gather information about children through many "windows" - a combination of sources, methods and contexts.
No one source of information tells everything.

1. One method reveals aspects of a child's behavior that another does not. One context facilitates certain behaviors whereas
another does not. For example, journals, dictation, stories, conversation with other children, responses to questions from
adults and wordplay provide indications of and evidence about a child's language development. If the journal is the only
source of information, the picture of language capabilities is incomplete.

2. One window or measure "is likely to provide a less valid estimate of a student's achievement than is some combination”
(Gage & Berliner, 1998).

3. Any single assessment is an estimate of a child's or group's status and is not an exact indication of performance (Airasian,
2001).

4. Using multiple windows result in better and more complete information about children (NAEYC/NAECS/ SDE, 2003) and
increases reliability and representativeness (Cronbach, 1990). It frees teachers from the rigidity imposed by overreliance
on one approach and decreases the possibility of errors.

Three Aspects of Classroom Assessment that can Provide Multiple Measures

a. The Source of Information - the child, other children, parents, specialists, other adults or records about children

b. Method of Obtaining Information - systematically observing, eliciting responses from children, collecting products
from classroom activities, or eliciting information from parents and other adults.

c. Context, Setting or Setting for the Appraisal -outdoors or indoors, at a desk or on the floor, in the classroom or
testing room, using paper or pencil or manipulative materials, alone or in groups or with familiar classroom staff or
strangers.

The Sources of Information

The source of information refers to who or what provides information about children. The primary sources are the child,
parents, specialists, classroom assistants and volunteers and other adults; and records from other teachers, specialists or other
sources. Sources provide information directly from children or indirectly through the eyes of other people. Both serve important
purposes and together, give a diverse well- rounded picture of a child.

1. The Child as a Source of Information

a. The most authentic and direct way of obtaining information is by watching, analyzing the work of, talking with, and
listening to the child. Assessing a child functioning in a group yields information about the child and the group
available in no other way.

b. Opportunities for obtaining information from children occur as natural outcomes of day-to-day classroom
interactions. Activities in which children cooperate, talking and explaining their thinking as they work and play, offer
rich assessment opportunities.

c. Children volunteer information about their own activities, making comments about what they like and dislike and
what they understand. Sometimes, this self reports are unprompted and unsolicited.

d. Self-assessments convey the child's self-image as a learner. Even though, young children may have difficulty in
articulating or demonstrating internal thought processes and feelings, the reports reveal information difficult to
obtain in any other way.
 2. Parents and Other Adults as a Source of Information

a. Other people- parents, specialists, teachers, aides, and other school personnel - are indirect source of information
about the child behavior. Insights from other people, particularly parents, improve and deepen a teacher's
understanding of the child.

b. Parents provide a special perspective. They have known their children better and longer than anyone else. They have
information about events occurring at home that might affect a child's behavior in the classroom. They may see a
side of the child that is not revealed at school. Parents provide insights about home culture and home/ school
differences that are essential for teachers in today's multi-ethnic, multicultural classroom.

c. Teachers obtain information from other professionals, including speech and language specialists, nurses, and
psychologists. By working together, participating in formal meetings and staffing, and reading records, teachers gain
important additional insights.

3. Records as a Source of Information

a. Records include attendance records, intake records, health and school history records, progress reports, report cards,
narrative reports from previous teachers, inventories, checklists, parent questionnaires and results of standardized
tests. Some programs archive a cumulative portfolio that documents growth year after year (Herbert, 1998).

b. The transfer of records is one way to help children make a smooth transition from one setting to another (Love and
Yelton, 1989).

c. A professional teacher should be able to weigh such information against other evidence, regard it as tentative, and
combine it with other information and perceptions to assess a child quickly and accurately. Other people's insights
and knowledge can augment a teacher's, if only because there is disagreement.

Methods of Collecting Information

The method of assessment is the "how" of way information is gathered; it can be formal or informal (Goodwin and
Driscoll, 1980). Formal methods are usually research instruments, clinical techniques or standardized tests such as screening or
achievement tests, with the limited uses in classrooms. Although they may yield useful information, formal methods require the
teacher to have special knowledge and expertise for correct interpretation. Informal methods involve normal classroom activities
and are directly relevant to classroom decision making and keeping track of progress toward developmental goals.

1. Observe Children Systematically

a. The connotation of observe is that one stands apart from the action, noticing important things that others may miss
and being more detached and objective.
b. The most common way of gathering information about children is watching and listening to them. Some observation
is routine and informal. Some are intuitive or sensed. Attention must be directed to a child, a particular pattern of
behavior, a situation or a problem or progress toward an identified goal. This kind of observation is called systematic
observation.

c. Observation is the most effective strategy for getting to know young children, approaches based on observation are
the primary forms of assessment.
d. Observation can lead to collection of valid, reliable information without intruding on or transforming the daily
classroom life and without constraining the children's behaviors so us to limit their demonstration of competence.

e. Systematic planning for observation helps teachers become observant and use what they learn.
✓ Steps for Systematic planning for observation-based assessment:
1. Establish purpose and focus
2. Observe and record
3. Compile what was recorded, both for individual children and for the group
4. Reflect on the records and refocus teaching and learning activities
 ✓ Guides for Systematic Observation
1. Be unobtrusive
2. Be objective as possible
3. Focus observation on a specific child, behavior, situation, concern or identified goal
4. Observe verbal and non-verbal behavior
5. Suspend judgments, conclusions, and other interpretations of meaning until after observation.

2. Elicit Responses From Children

a. Teachers and children converse, discuss activities, and exchange questions and answers in daily interaction and
assessment. Teachers save time by focusing on needed information in a direct request to a child instead of waiting
for spontaneous evidence.
b. Teachers can also use instructional conversations or dialogues to explore children's thinking processes, problem
solving strategies, reasoning and concerns about almost anything (Berliner, 1987, Ginsburg, 1997)

c. Alternative assessment – includes performance assessment, dynamic assessment, interviews, conferences, and
discussions. Teachers seldom have time to conduct indepth interviews with individual children. However, they can
incorporate many interview techniques into instructional conversations and dialogues.

d. Performance Assessment – allows pupils to demonstrate what they know and can do in a real-life situation. They
reflect the recent emphasis on a real world problem solving. Performance assessment can focus either on a process
such as oral reading or a product. Early education teachers rely heavily on performance assessment because of young
children's limited communication skills. Teachers may observe and assess naturally occurring behavior or set up
structured performances (Airasian, 2000).

e. Dynamic Assessment – a specific way of eliciting information from children. Instead of seeing a child's performance
as only what the child can do independently, dynamic assessment prove skills that are on the verge of emergence;
they can be tapped as children and teachers interact.

f. Interviews, Conferences and Discussions –are ways to elicit information. An interview usually involves a planned
sequence of questions; a conference implies discussion with teacher and pupil sharing ideas.

✓ Guides for Eliciting Responses from Children

1. Construct oral or written response prompts (questions, requests, statements) to elicit the desired level of
performance
2. Determine how children will respond
3. Focus on Levels of cognitive complexity
4. Present prompts (questions, statements, problems) in ways that make it easy for children to respond
5. Use sound test construction principles to construct or select any paper and pencil tests.

• Levels of Cognitive Complexity

Knowledge – the ability to recall, remember or recognize an idea or fact.
Comprehension – the ability to translate or explain in your own words. Application – the ability to use
information, applying it to new situations and real-life circumstances.
Analysis – the ability to break information into parts.
Synthesis – the ability to assemble separate parts into a new whole and recombine information from various
sources into a new form.
Evaluation – the ability to make judgments about information using a standard set of criteria.

3. Collect Work Products from Classrooms Activities

Many classroom activities result in a product or object that provides valuable evidence of a child's status and progress.

✓ Guides for Collecting Work Products

 1. Develop a plan for selecting products
2. Set up a system for storing and summarizing products

4. Elicit Information From Parents

Information from parents is available in many forms: informal conversations and communication, conferences, home
visits, forms and questionnaire and involving parents in assessing their own children.

✓ Guides for Eliciting Information from Parents and other Adults

1. Be respectful of parent and community culture, customs and language
2. Advise parents about what information will be helpful
3. Use existing communication opportunities
4. Be diplomatic to get needed information related to a problem or concern
5. Have parents do some assessment and documentation
6. Determine other teachers' and specialists' knowledge of children in a professional manner

❖ Contexts for Assessment

The context or setting is defined by tangible factors in the environment such as physical space or people. It has a powerful
effect on children and adults; any variation affect the outcome of assessment and influence the type of behavior and interaction
that occurs. The context can increase child motivation and personal involvement which in turn affect the complexity and maturity
of responses. Behavior during an interesting, involving activity differs from behavior during an uninteresting activity.

✓ Characteristics of the Context

1. Physical Space
2. Materials
3. Activities
4. People
5. Amount of Teacher Structure

✓ Guides for Selecting Assessment Contexts

1. Make sure children feel at ease.
2. Think about each factor in the setting separately
3. Use physical space to increase desired behavior and minimize distractions
4. Do not use distracting materials
5. Make the context interesting and realistic enough to engage children
6. Remember that the size and composition of the group influence interaction

Synthesis/ Summary:
• Teachers use multiple measures or windows to fairly assess individual children.
• The child, parents, other adults, and records are sources of information.
• To choose the most appropriate combination of source, method, and context for a given assessment, use these
criteria: choose a combination that is as authentic as possible, that is appropriate to the purpose, and that
maximizes the chance of seeing a behavior.
• Using different assessment measures requires certain skills and attitudes of teachers.

LESSON 6: DOCUMENTING: RECORDING INFRMATION

Rationale:
Information collected and recorded during an appraisal is the original assessment record or primary data record (Engel,
1990). Accurate and complete primary data records are essential to ensure the trustworthiness of information. Such records
preserve information so it can be consulted, studied and combined with other evidence to show progress, reveal patterns and
provide perspective that may be lacking in daily interactions with children. Records of what children have done and learned are
the basis for communicating with other people. Teachers depend on records to help them remember what children know and can
do (Leong, McAfee & Swedlow, 1992). Recording information in a systematic way helps focus attention on each child's
development, on important educational targets, and on the way authentic assessment and good instruction are linked. The
discipline of documenting, collecting and recording information - makes us better observers and teachers. This lesson has two
parts – (1) description and examples of recording procedures; and (2) selecting an appropriate recording procedure.

At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:

1. Identify description and sample recording procedures.

2. Understand on how to select a recording procedure.

Content:

Teachers and researchers have developed a bewildering array of recording techniques that fall into three basic types:
1) those that describe; 2) those that count time, or tally; 3) those that rate or rank whatever is under consideration.

Types of Recording Procedures

Descriptive Narrative
Procedures That Describe
Anecdotal Records
Jottings
Diagrams, Sketches, Photographs
Audio and Video Recording

Checklists
Procedures that Count
Participation Charts
Frequency Counts

Rating Scales
Procedures that Rank or Rate Rubrics

❖ Procedures That Describe

Procedures that preserve raw data in a form that is closest to what actually happened in narrative records such as
descriptive narratives, anecdotal records and jottings; diagrams, sketches and photographs and audio and video recordings.

1. Narrative Records - attempts to record as much as possible of what happens within the focus of observation

a. Descriptive Narratives -detailed, story-like descriptions of what occurred. Descriptive narratives sometimes called
specimen descriptions or specimen records are the most detailed. They are like video recordings - continuous
records of everything said or done during an assessment, written as the behavior is observed. They may include
many types of behaviors and activities as well as several children and adults.
b. Anecdotal Records- short, narrative accounts of specific events. They are widely used to document behaviors and
skills of a child or small group. These are recorded after the behavior occurs; used to detail specific behavior for
children's records and for teacher's planning, conferencing etc.
c. Jottings - are short notes about significant aspects or characteristics of a behavior or event.
d. Diaries - chronological records of individual children's behavior, made after the behavior occurs; used to provide
information about children whose behaviors the teacher needs to understand fully.
 ➢ Guides for Making Narrative Records
a. Record exactly what you see or hear in the order in which it happens
b. When possible, record as the event is happening
c. Include all the information necessary to understand the description
d. Date each entry

2. Diagrams, Sketches and Photographs

Not all records have to be in written form. Diagrams, sketches and photographs preserve important details of products and
processes otherwise requiring lengthy written descriptions. Special types of diagrams used to record children's knowledge and
learning about concepts or processes are called webs, concept maps or idea maps. Webs and semantic maps document one child's
thinking or the ideas of the group. Children are asked what they know about a specific topic or idea. As ideas emerge, the teacher
asks questions to find out what a child means by an idea and to find out the relationship between ideas.

3. Audio and Video Records

Recording devices capture complex performances that give authentic evidence of the integration and application of learning.
Use video records to preserve both speech and action and to serve as back -up and supplement to other methods of recording.
Audio records are useful for recording parent comments, specially if parents are not comfortable writing information.

➢ Guides for Making Audio and Video Records

a. Focus on specific assessment situations
b. Place recorders so they are unobtrusive

❖ Procedures That Count

1. Checklists
Checklists are practical, versatile way to document many behaviors, skills, attitudes and dispositions, and even products.
They can record inferences or teacher judgments such as a child's confidence when speaking in front of a group. They preserve
information from any area of development - physical, cognitive and social- or curriculum, such as social studies, science, or art.
Checklist may also be described as a list on which the teacher (or parent or other adult) checks the behaviors or traits observed
before, during and after behaviors occur.

2. Participation Charts

Participation Charts can record both the quantity and quality of participation. They document that a child joins in, the number
of times and activities in which the child is involved, and the quality of the child's contribution. Participation Charts can be recorded
by the teacher, other adults, or the children. It highlights different participation rates and provides insights into children's
preferences, dispositions, and patterns of participation. Participation Charts can document the degree and quality of engagement
in group discussions or cooperative learning activities.
3. Frequency Counts

A frequency count or even sample tallies each time a behavior occurs and documents the number of times or rate of
occurrence. Frequency Counts are practical ways to record behaviors such as social initiation and responses to others,
aggressive and disruptive behavior, and a child's request for help from teachers or peers.

❖ Procedures That Rank or Rate

Rating scales and rubrics record judgment and summaries by assigning a rank or standing on a continuum relative to
other individuals or a predetermined standard. They attempt to capture complex performances and thinking, such as writing,
oral presentation, problem solving or scientific investigations. Ratings and rankings should be based on solid assessment
evidence, not impressions and opinions.
 1. Rating Scales

Rating scales may be defined as a list of behaviors made into a scale , using frequency of behavior , level of mastery etc.
which the observer checks before, during and after the behavior. Typically expect the rater to evaluate an individual in the
characteristics under consideration, then rank the individual along a predetermined continuum from low to high frequency or
quality.

2. Rubrics or Descriptive Rating Scales

A rubric presents clear criteria - rules or guidelines - by which a complex performance can be judged. A scoring rubric
consists of a fix scale and a list of characteristics describing performance for each of the points of the scale. The scale often specifies
what is acceptable performance.

Checklists and Rating Scales have the advantage of being relatively easy to design undemanding of time and applicable to
more than one child at a time but they are limited to the specified traits or behaviors, lacking information on the context or
quality of the behavior and they are subject to the observer's interpretation.

✓ Selecting a Recording Procedure

1. Purpose of the assessment
2. What is being assessed
3. Amount of detail needed
4. Practical Considerations
a. Preparation vs. recording time
b. Amount of attention needed to record data
c. Group vs Individual records

Synthesis/ Summary:
• Accurate and complete primary data records are essential to ensure the trustworthiness of a authentic assessment.
• Records preserve information for future use, serve as the basis for communicating with other people, and help teachers
remember what children know and can do, helping them become better observers and teachers.
• Recording procedure can be grouped into 1) those that describe; 2) those that count; 3) those that rate or rank the item
being assessed.
• To select a recording procedure, teachers consider the purpose of the assessment, what is being assessed, the amount
of detail needed, and practical classroom considerations.