Observing and Assessing Young Children

What was the result of the child study movement?

A call for educational reform, establishment of developmental norms, and the initiation of research into child development.

A comprehensive system of assessment should include

A method to report results to parents and other professionals, informal assessment strategies, and use one standardized and approved method of assessment.

The apgar scale

A standardized assessment that is administered 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth to assess the health of the new born.

Table of specifications

A type of spreadsheet to help teachers design and review tests. Main purpose is to help teachers clarify and communicate the elements (objectives) that will be emphasized on a test.

Law PL 101-576

ADA Law, Americans with disabilities act, passed in 1990. All early childhood programs must be prepared to serve children with special needs.

Validity

Accuracy - The degree to which a test serves the purpose for which it is to be used.

A test can have which type of reliability?

Alternate-form reliability

Performance Assessment

An assessment method whereby teachers evaluate a student's skill by asking the student to create an answer or product that demonstrates his or her knowledge or skills.

Why is assessment used with infants and preschool children?

Assess and promote childrens learning and development

Authentic Assessment

Assessment procedures that test skills and abilities as they would be applied in real-life situations. Allows teacher to observe progress.

ABCD

Audience Behavior Condition Degree of Mastery

Assessment that connects to real world and has meaningful context is called

Authentic Assessment

Early learning standards

- Encourage educators to understand the learning potential in young children - Support in developing quality early childhood programs - Provide guidelines for communication of children's accomplishments - Provide for accountability for the children's development and achievement

Performance assessments include

- Interviews - contracts - directed assignments

Similarity's between norm and criterion referenced tests

- Judged by validity and reliability - Useful in educational measurements - Require specifications of the achievement domain to be measured

Tests for primary grade children

- Match the child's reading level - Directions are clear -Ensure that response items for multiple choice type assessments have one correct answer - same length and are brief - list of items breif for matching exercise - homogeneous list of matching - length for blanks is the same for completion test items - only one blank for each completion items

Preschool tests can include

- Pictures - Concrete tasks - Oral responses

The steps in standardized test design...

- Specify the purpose.. A clearly defined purpose is the framework for the construction of the test. - determine the format - formulate objectives - test construction - assemble the final form - establish norms - determine v and r - develop a test manual

The selection of the norming population of a test should include all the following

- The geographical locations - The grade levels of the students in the norming group - The ages of the students in the norming group

What should educators who are looking for a quality test consider?

- The validity of the test - The test's instruction - The length of the test

In primary grades, Achievement tests should be given...

- To determine a child's progress - Plan appropriate instruction based on what the child has accomplished.

What are the 4 purposes of assessment as summarized by the national early childhood assessment resource group?

- To promote children learning and development - Identify children for health and social services - Monitor trends and evaluate programs - Assess academic achievement to hold individual students, teachers, and schools accountable.

NCLB the purpose of standards has been

- To provide clarity for curriculum content - To raise expectations for student learning - Ensure accountability

Why are the test items on a experimental form of a standardized text analyzed?

- To see if they are too easy or too hard - To see if they discriminate between students at different grade levels - To see if there are questions that should be eliminated or added

Advantages of standardized tests

- Uniformity in test administration - quantifiable scores - norm referencing - Validity and reliability

Why can the use of standardized tests be the best assessment strategy?

- Validity and Reliability - Quantifiable Scores - Norm referencing

National tests

- compare students achievement across states to address higher standards for education - identify poor instructional areas and pinpoint weakness in a program

Table of specifications is a grid that includes

- delineation of course content areas - levels of learning (Blooms Taxonomy) - grade weights alloted to each

Advantages of teacher designed assessments

- designed for a particular class ability - can be improved whenever neede

State developed tests are used by school districts to

- determine each students progress - provide information for future instruction - describe student progress between and within schools

Placement Tests

- determines the instructional group for the student and determines what the student already knows and is ready to learn.

Achievement tests are

- given to measure and analyze individual and group performance - analyzed for trends in achievement - describe program effectiveness

Pre-assessments are conducted at the beginning of the year to

- learn about individual differences -determine a child's current developmental level - plan appropriate curriculum experiences

Disadvantages of standardized tests

- not the best method of evaluation for young children - a variety of strategies should be used in assessing children

Work samples include

- paintings - emergent writings - clay models

Variables that affect the standard error of measurement

- population sample size - test length - range of test scores

To avoid narrowing the curriculum, and using inappropriate testing methods, teachers must integrate

- standards into existing curriculum - assessments that are proven to be of high quality for young children

Why do we have standardized tests?

-To measure individual characteristics - Determine developmental and learning - Plan Instruction - Study differences between individuals and groups

Stanines show how individuals range among a group of test takers on a scale of

1-9

Reliability

Consistency - The extent to which a test is consistent in measuring over time what it is designed to measure.

Law PL 99-457

Federal Preschool program and the early Intervention program, passed in 1986

No Child Left Behind

Highly qualified teachers must be hired

IDEA

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

The most significant law affecting the measurement of children was PL 94-142, the education for All Handicap Children act, later renamed...

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

For a child who is "gifted or talented" demonstrates a learning ability or potential, higher than the normal range...

Informal observations are usually followed by standardized tests.

Law PL 94-142

Legislation for young children law... - The education for all handicap children act, passed in 1975. Renamed IDEA.

Infants who are at risk for developmental delays might be formally examined by a

Neonatologist

Informal assessment strategies

Performance and Portfolio assessments

What is the one reason assessment should be used in the classroom?

Planning for instruction

Teacher designed assessments

Test items and learning activities are linked to the same learning objectives so that the teachers are teaching and testing to the same levels of knowledge on blooms taxonomy.

Assessment

The process of gathering information about children from several forms of evidence, then organizing and interpreting that information.

Concerns about high stake tests

They can be used inappropriately.

Play based assessments allow children

To demonstrate skills and abilities not apparent in other assessments.

Why do we assess?

To see if children are progressing normally. Children are constantly changing.

Performance assessments can be structured or unstructured.

True

Portfolios make it possible to combine performance assessments with other types of assessments.

True

Rubrics provide framework to assess process of learning in performance assessment.

True

The child can use the portfolio for self assessment.

True

There is a direct link between the standard of mastery and Bloom's taxonomy

True

Summative Assessment

Used at the end of a cycle of instructional experiences to confirm mastery of information or skills.

Formative Assessment

Used to monitor a child's progress during a series of learning activities.

For preschoolers, Teacher designed evaluation strategies are

a first step in evaluation.

Intelligence Tests

ability tests that measure learning potential

Intelligence tests measure a students

ability.

Primary grade pencil and paper tests

adapted to the child's limited reading and writing skills

Standardized Tests began

around 1900.

Comprehensive assessment system strategies are used to

assess the child and report the child's progress. They contain examples of the child's growth and achievement and traditional reports provide snapshot of progress.

When initiating assessment with young children the examiner should

be alert to shyness or fatigue in the child.

For ELL's regardless of what an assessment is intended to measure, the assessment will

be an assessment of their English proficiency.

According to the principles of assessment, assessment should

benefit the child and improve learning.

Students in primary grades

can evaluate their progress and have a voice in how they can master learning objectives.

Construct validity

describes the extent to which a test of an abstract psychological trait measures the trait.

Screening tests

detect if a child might have a developmental problem that needs further investigation. Screens various developmental domains.

Assessments are ongoing to...

determine child's level and plan curriculum.

Informal assessment strategies are to

determine development and learning.

Diagnostic Tests

determines student weaknesses that need to be corrected.

Content validity

established for an achievement test.

Criterion related validity

established for an aptitude test.

Legislation to address the needs of children with disabilities was

gradually expanded with ongoing legislation

A portfolio does not include

lesson plans

Achievment tests

measure the extent to which a person has acquired certain info or has mastered identified skills.

Aptitude tests

measure the potential to learn or develop proficiency in some areas. predict future learning.

Language tests can

measure vocabulary development and diagnose language needs.

Diagnostic tests are

not administered before screening tests

Standardized achievement tests should

not be used before age 8.

The organization of a portfolio should not include

parental feedback

Informal teacher conducted assessments can be used for...

placement, diagnostic evaluation, and instructional planning and formative and summative evaluation

Standardized tests

provide scores that can be compared.

IDEA requires that a team is used to identify and place students with disabilities, The team..

screens and tests the individual child and develops an IEP (Individual Educational Plan)

The first step in getting started using portfolios is

selecting the purpose for the portfolio

The first standardized tests

started as informal assessments.

Standardized tests were first

starting in the 1900's

After World War II: The demand for dependable and technically refined tests grew and...

testing became more centralized which improved the quality of tests and giant corporations grew that could assemble the resources to develop, publish, score, and report the test results.

Especially with infants and toddlers, Who is the primary source of information?

the parents or caregivers

IDEA guarantees all children with disabilities

the right to an appropriate education in free public schools and placement in a least restrictive learning environment.

Criterion referenced tests and norm referenced tests both use

the same type of test items

Standardized tests do not reflect

the student's progress accurately.

Disadvantages of using classroom assessments

there may be confusion over what constitutes mastery and what kind of assessment is appropriate to determine mastery.

Integration

treating a disabilities child with no special treatment. LER