I think it is important for early childhood educators to assess children however not in the same fashion public schools test children. Young children have short attention spans and grow rapidly and have times of rest as well. Standardize testing does not take in consideration family structure, individualization or cultural background. I found an article that covered the topic of assessments. The article titled Assessing Young Children covered 8 types of assessments used in early education (some more appropriate than others). The eight assessments include observations and checklists, anecdotal records, running records, portfolios, home inventories, developmental screenings, diagnostic assessments, and standardize assessments. I believe teachers can use observation, running records, anecdotal records, portfolios, and home inventories as assessments to guide their planning or “instruction” to better serve the children in their care. I think developmental screenings are useful to detect any developmental delays. I do not think diagnostic assessments are reliable for the classroom and standardized assessments are for policy makers.
I looked up assessments for school aged children in Ireland. It seems as though teachers or parents observe children and if either feel as though a child needs a formal assessment the process begins there. The articles I read listed reasons for assessing children are either for delays or for gifted children. I did not find actual tools for assessing children I found more about the process deadlines. For example if a principal informs parents of a developmental concern he has 3 months to administer the assessment.
Josie Zbaeren
Case, B.J., & Gudderni, M. (2004, February). Assessing young children retrieved from
http://www.pearsonassessments.com/
Josie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that standardized assessments are for policy makers and diagnostic assessments are not reliable for the early childhood classroom.
Personally, I feel that if a child is reaching all the major milestones, the rest is dependent upon that particular child's development. All children develop at different rates and at different times. As long as the child is monitored by a reliable teacher, he/she will know if there is a lack and should be required to take more formal steps.
The children in my class are monitored but not formally. On a day to day basis, I understand what their needs are for that day and if anything is out of the ordinary, I will notice it. It is my job to meet that child on their level everyday!
Any assessment that will help a child is beneficial. If the assessment is given just to make the administration feel better, or because the teacher is mandated to do it, is not best practice.I have seen Kindergartners put in front of a computer to take a test when some of them didn't even know how to control the mouse. That would fault the results in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHi Jo,
ReplyDeleteI agree that standardized testing is not the best practice, but there are some testing in early childhood that I consider to be a type of standardized testing. For instance, where I work we do what is called a pre-test and a post-test. It really is nothing but, standardized testing.
Jo,
ReplyDeleteI also think it is important to assess children to monitor their development and progress. I believe there needs to be an overhaul of standardized assessment and create assessments that recognize children's individual needs and diverse learning styles.