Early Childhood Assessment Why, What, and How (2008) / Chapter Skim
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2 Purposeful Assessment
2 Purposeful Assessment
Pages 27-42
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From page 27... ...
However, inappropriate testing of young children runs the risk of generating insufficient information for the tester and discomfort (or just wasted time) for the testee; such risks are unacceptable and can be avoided only if it is very clear why people are engaging in the activity and what benefit will accrue from it.
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From page 28... ...
In the following sections we discuss many purposes for which assessment of children's learning and development is employed, beginning with several purposes associated with determining the level of functioning of individual children, and progressing to the purpose of guiding instruction, and then measuring program or societal performance. After briefly mentioning research uses -- employing assessment to learn more about child development -- we present guidance to be kept in mind when assessing for individual child-focused or accountability purposes, drawing on the wisdom of many previous reports from organizations interested in promoting the education and welfare of young children.
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From page 29... ...
-- a genetic disorder characterized by an inability of the body to use the essential amino acid, phenylalanine -- and in the first year of life infants are screened for vision and hearing deficits. These screening assessments are typically carried out in pediatric settings.
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From page 30... ...
have often been used prior to kindergarten entrance to ascertain children's likelihood of success in kindergarten and as a basis on which to make recommendations to parents about whether to enroll their children in the regular program or in some form of extra-year program or to postpone kindergarten entry. Using tests for this purpose supersedes the legal establishment of kindergarten eligibility in state law based on age (Education Commission of the States, 2005)
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From page 31... ...
. Similarly, the instructional and therapy services provided to children receiving early intervention and early childhood special education should be based on the results of initial assessment information and regularly revised using subsequently collected information on the child's progress (Neisworth and Bagnato, 2005)
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From page 32... ...
, and to allocate time optimally to the various domains, improving children's progress and promoting their engagement. For example, data from Head Start about children's proficiency at the beginning of the year in the domains of emergent literacy, numeracy, and oral language skills would help teachers decide how much time should be spent in teaching letter recognition and counting versus promoting vocabulary and sharing books.
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From page 33... ...
. RTI models vary somewhat but common components include the use of multiple tiers of increasingly intense interventions, a problem-solving approach to identifying and evaluating instructional strategies, and an integrated data collection and assessment system to monitor student progress and guide decisions at every level (Coleman, Buysse, and Neitzel, 2006)
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From page 34... ...
. The developmental and experiential variation in young children presents challenges for the strict application of RTI's prescribed universal screening, identification of low-performing children, and tiered intervention.
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From page 35... ...
Second, progress monitoring requires data on all relevant domains from all children in a program, whereas in many cases it is possible to evaluate a program's effectiveness by sampling children rather than testing them all, or by using a matrix design to sample different abilities in different children. Using assessments for accountability purposes may seem simple, but in fact interpreting test data as reflecting the value of a program can be risky.
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From page 36... ...
" Social benchmarking efforts include projects like those launched by the National Center for Education Statistics (the Birth Cohort Study, the Early Childhood Longitudinal StudyKindergarten) and individual states (California's Desired Results Developmental Profile)
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From page 37... ...
Nonetheless, because researchers of child development have indeed innovated and in many cases refined the tools adopted for use by education practitioners and policy makers, it seems churlish not to acknowledge this important and generative line of work. Guidelines for Administering and Using Child Assessments Appropriately for Various Purposes Organizations concerned with early childhood development and learning have recognized the potential good that can come of child assessment as well as the harm that incorrect uses or interpretations of such assessments can cause.
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From page 38... ...
• Early Childhood Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evalu ation (and an accompanying extension for English language learners) , a position statement promulgated by the National As sociation for the Education of Young Children and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (2003)
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From page 39... ...
Special Considerations When Using Child Assessments for Accountability Particular care is needed in moving from child-focused to accountability-focused purposes for assessment. Data collected for accountability purposes are never meant as a basis for drawing conclusions or informing program personnel about individual children.
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From page 40... ...
Any conclusion about program accountability requires data about initial as well as final performance. Another key issue in accountability-related assessment is the selection of the assessment tools to be used.
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From page 41... ...
PURPOSEFUL ASSESSMENT 41 Too often these decisions are made by committees or with input from multiple stakeholders; even with the best intentions, multiple parties may end up compromising on poor tests. We hope this report provides some guidance to groups making decisions about instruments to choose for any of the purposes they may be addressing.
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