AS6 ECE 5 ASSESSMENT IN CHILDREN DEVELOPMENT

• Observation methods


  • Running records
  • Learning stories
  • Photographs
  • Work samples
• Using a variety of observation methods

  • Assists in observing a child's interest, skills, abilities, and needs
  • Provides a foundation for a child's individual assessment and planning
  • Collecting a series of observations before interpreting and planning will provide a well-rounded and holistic picture of the child
• Learning goals (standards, outcomes)


  What we are practicing and developing in our journey toward proficiency
• Proficiency

  What it sounds and looks like, as well as the behavior, skills, and knowledge that indicated development
• Observation as an assessment tool

  • Offers teachers insight into the processes our learners employ when engaging in learning experiences
  • Allows educators and learners to impact learning and intervene, or celebrate in timely and targeted ways
• Anecdotal records


  Brief account of an important development event
• Writing an anecdote

  • Can be illustrative of children's levels of development in several domains
  • Can reveal much about intellectual functioning, social and language skills, and strengths and weaknesses in the program
• Structure of an anecdote


  Beginning (setting description), middle (events recorded in sequence), end (conclusions drawn)
• Advantages of anecdotal records

  • Quick and easy
  • Can focus on significant behaviors and different developmental domains
  • Include information about the context of the behavior
  • Stories are appealing to most audience
  • Can be done without separating self from ongoing classroom activities
  • Can focus on both typical and atypical behavior
• Disadvantages of anecdotal records

  • Not a complete picture of the behavior
  • Bias is possible in writing
• Reflective diary/journal/log


  Allows teacher and students to decide what to look for and how to record, reflect on their own reactions, and examine problems or situations in depth
• Advantages of reflective diary/journal/log

  • Students have wide choice of topics
  • Can write about feelings and experiences
  • Writing does not need to be done on site
  • Helps students clarify what is happening
  • Provides information for university supervisors
• Disadvantages of reflective diary/journal/log

  • Time consuming
  • Information may not be useful for planning curriculum
  • Some students may have difficulty understanding the usefulness
  • Observations are subjective
• Audio recording

  Used to learn more about young children's language skills, document and analyze children's progress in reading
• Advantages of audio recording

  • Easy to operate
  • Portable
  • Can be listened to repeatedly
  • Children can listen to themselves
• Disadvantages of audio recording

  • Some children/adults reluctant to talk
  • Listening and transcribing can be arduous
• Videotaping

  Provides a visual and auditory record of what really happened, allows reviewing tapes numerous times
• Disadvantages of videotaping

  • Young children's social preferences are ephemeral
  • Teacher interventions may need to be long-term
  • Equipment is expensive and heavy
• Sociometric techniques


  Assess the social interactions of children in group settings, classify children as popular, rejected, or neglected
• Advantages of sociometric techniques

  • Can help teachers understand group dynamics
  • Can identify children needing help with social skills
• Disadvantages of sociometric techniques

  • Young children's social preferences are ephemeral
  • Teacher interventions may need to be long-term
• Time samples

  Record the occurrence of a child's behavior and keep track of the number of times a behavior occurs throughout the day
• Advantages of time samples

  • Observe behaviors in natural setting
  • Serve as basis for further assessment
  • Fairly objective
  • Can observe interactions
  • Can be used with more than one child
  • Can document small behavior changes
  • Can develop learning experiences
• Disadvantages of time samples

  • Takes time and training
  • Cannot interact with children
  • May miss important context
  • Can overestimate frequency
• Event samples

  Series of short observations of a child's response during a particular situation, to uncover causes and effects of behaviors
• Advantages of event samples

  • Can uncover causes and effects of behaviors
  • Results can be used to plan appropriate interventions
• Disadvantages of event samples

  • Results cannot be generalized
  • Requires time and skills to code
  • Not always easy to establish cause of behavior
• Rating scales


  Informed observer determines where child's behavior fits on a 3- to 7-point scale, or chooses the category most similar to the child's behavior
• Advantages of rating scales

  • Easy to use
  • Can compare behaviors of several children
  • Can assess many different areas
• Disadvantages of rating scales

  • May be biased
  • Not very accurate
• Continuum


  Range from "almost always" to "almost never" or from "very quickly" to "very slowly"
• Rating scale

  Measures how well or how often a child exhibits certain pre-stated behaviors
• Example of rating scale


  • Child Observation Record, published by High/Scope Educational Research Foundation
• When to use rating scales

  • When teachers want to know, in general, how well or how often a behavior takes place
  • When assessing many different aspects of program or several child behaviors
  • For making overall assessments for diagnosing individual needs
  • To chart a child's growth over time
• Checklist

  An easy way to gather specific information on a group or whole classroom of young children when the behaviors can be easily observed
• Good checklists have clearly defined items - the child either has the ability or does not
• Examples of checklists

  • Developing Skills Checklist, published by CTB Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
  • School Behavior Checklist, published by Western Psychological Services
  • Kindergarten Checklist from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Public School District
• When to use checklists

  • When teachers want to know who has or has not completed a certain task or learned a clearly defined skill
  • To identify children who need remediation to master specific tasks
• Case study

  An in-depth look at an individual child, often based on observations and interviews
• Case studies are often employed when working with children who may have special needs or are at-risk