observation and assessment early childhood

Unit 7: Performance-based Assessment – Discussion

Please view the video, “Building with Blocks,”  at http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/-pls_0558982484/index.html?wf=1&item=5

with four-year-old children.

Identify what form of authentic assessment would be appropriate for these children. Why? How is the natural learning environment an appropriate setting for authentic assessment?

Be sure to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the method you chose.

How would you record data? Is there another method you would also like to use, and why?

Unit 8: Interpreting and Using Assessment Results – Discussion

Case study

Roberto is a 3-year-old boy in the childcare center where you work. Your center uses the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3) to screen all children in your care. Roberto scored above the cutoff point in all areas on the ASQ-3 except for communication, where his score was far below the cutoff point, which indicates a need for further assessment. Please answer the following questions (please do not read other classmate responses until you have responded).

As early childhood professionals, we can always use additional assessment data to form a complete assessment on a child. Based on the scores on the ASQ-3, what would you recommend for further assessment and why? Please be sure to discuss the limitations of a screening instrument such as the ASQ-3 and appropriate uses of screening results.

Further assessment indicated that Roberto had a significant language delay, and qualified for language intervention from a speech pathologist through the public school system. How could you as the early childhood professional in the home childcare center link these assessment results to your instruction? Please give specific examples and be sure that these are based on developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and scientifically based practice.

Unit 9: Communicating and Collaborating: Sharing Assessment Results – Discussion

Please use this case study to address the Discussion topic.

Koi is a 5-year-old boy in the childcare center where you work. You are preparing for the annual family conferences in your school. You have compiled a portfolio of Koi’s progress throughout the year and also have standardized test results from a screening done on all children in your center. Koi is developing typically, and has met all of the developmental milestones as indicated by the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL-4), the standardized screening assessment given at your school. You have prepared a portfolio complete with many work sample artifacts demonstrating his progress throughout the year.

The only area of concern noted by the early childhood professionals in Koi’s classroom is off-task behavior during circle time. It takes three or four requests to get Koi to join circle time each day. He will only sit for approximately 10 minutes and then he attempts to leave the circle. After studying this behavior, the early childhood professionals were able to determine that if Koi got to be the circle leader, then he would attend and participate in circle time for the entire lesson.

Koi has been staying and participating in circle time consistently for the past two weeks since this implemented change. You want to share all of this assessment information with Koi’s parents, and the following questions are good ways to start thinking about how to best communicate with families.

Please describe how you would share these assessment results with Koi’s family by answering the following questions:

1.          What strategies can you use to ensure that parents/caregivers feel welcome and comfortable at the beginning of the conference?

2.          What strategies can you use when sharing assessment information with the parents/caregivers? Why did you choose these strategies?

3.          What method can you use to summarize the student’s progress?

4.          What role do the parents/caregivers have in the conference?

5.          How could you share results that may be perceived by the parents/caregivers as negative?