National Academies Press: OpenBook

Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How (2008)

Chapter: Part IV: Assessing Systematically

« Previous: 9 Implementation of Early Childhood Assessments
Suggested Citation:"Part IV: Assessing Systematically." National Research Council. 2008. Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12446.
×
Page 299
Suggested Citation:"Part IV: Assessing Systematically." National Research Council. 2008. Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12446.
×
Page 300

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

Part IV Assessing Systematically I n this part, we present our ideas about how to design, develop, and implement systems of assessment. We strongly believe that assessment of young children should be an integral part of a larger system of early childhood development services, and should be designed to be coherent with the objectives and approaches the system embraces and should be complementary to the other components of the system. We realize that today such comprehensive systems to support children’s development are more commonly aspirations than realities, but we see them as an important goal that should be pursued. Thus in Chapter 10 we present our vision of an ideal early childhood services system, its components and infrastructure, and describe the roles that assessments play in such a system. In Chapter 11, we present our guidelines for developing and implementing assessments within such a system. 299

Next: 10 Thinking Systematically »
Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $69.95 Buy Ebook | $54.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

The assessment of young children's development and learning has recently taken on new importance. Private and government organizations are developing programs to enhance the school readiness of all young children, especially children from economically disadvantaged homes and communities and children with special needs.

Well-planned and effective assessment can inform teaching and program improvement, and contribute to better outcomes for children. This book affirms that assessments can make crucial contributions to the improvement of children's well-being, but only if they are well designed, implemented effectively, developed in the context of systematic planning, and are interpreted and used appropriately. Otherwise, assessment of children and programs can have negative consequences for both. The value of assessments therefore requires fundamental attention to their purpose and the design of the larger systems in which they are used.

Early Childhood Assessment addresses these issues by identifying the important outcomes for children from birth to age 5 and the quality and purposes of different techniques and instruments for developmental assessments.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!