3.1.4 Student Assessment

How Should Schools Assess the Progress of Young Children?

The North Central Regional Education Laboratory in the US has recently prepared a "Critical Issue " paper ( Hills, 1997) that discusses the assessment of young children. The paper suggests that assessment of children ages three to eight requires understanding of their rapid and differential rates of growth, their propensity to be distracted by assessment procedures and their lack of interest in such assessments. The paper argues for developmentally appropriate assessment and suggests these actions to schools;

* · engage teachers and administrators in determining what information is necessary for assessment so that instruction can be planned, parents can be informed, children can receive additional support or the program can be revised.

* · evaluate the routine use of standardized test for all young children

* · eliminate policies that assign children to extra year programs

* · make teachers the primary assessors for the children they teach

* · include knowledge development about developmentally appropriate assessments in teacher professional development and evaluation programs

* · conduct a program evaluation not only student assessments

* · train administrators in their responsibilities for assessment

* · provide information about assessment to parents , teachers and students.

The issue of using standardized tests on young children is more fully discussed in Perrone (1991) in an ERIC Digest. He suggests that standardized tests are problematic at all ages and particularly questionable for the early grades.

* · evaluating a programs assessment procedures

* · evaluating screening (diagnostic procedures

* · assessing your program evaluation procedure

Shepard and Smith, (1989 ) have prepared a review of the issue of escalating kindergarten curriculum. They noted the trend to raise the academic content in kindergarten programs and the ensuing tendency to retain students for an additional year. They reviewed fourteen controlled studies and found no difference between retained and promoted students at the end of the first grade. They also note the social stigma associated with retention. Alternatives to retention are briefly presented as well.

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Counselling Services (Vacc & Ritter, 1995) and Shepard et al (1996) have reviewed the trends in assessment of young children They note that these assessments are often difficult because of the distractibility of the young students and their rapid, uneven growth and development. The trends include a focus on evaluating all of the child's abilities rather than specific tests, process oriented and informal methods, accommodating handicaps and multidisciplinary approaches.

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Early Childhood Education has emphasized the failure of strategies of exclusion and retention in an Internet essay at their site (Getting Schools ready for Children).

The National Education Goals Panel in the US (1997) has described some principles and recommendations for early childhood evaluation that suggest that assessments:

* - should lead to direct benefits to the children either in the form of direct services or improved programs

* - should have specific purposes and the methods selected should be reliable, valid and focused on tat purpose

* - before the age of six should be carefully questioned and used

* - should be age-appropriate both in content and procedures

* - should be linguistically appropriate

* - should include parents as a valued source for the assessment and include them in discussing results

Go to these pages for more on school actions:

3.1.1     Kindergarten

3.1.2     Instruction

3.1.3     Curriculum / Learning Outcomes

3.1.5     School Social Climate

3.1.6      School Physical Environment

3.1.7     Involving Parents

3.1.8     Early Prevention

3.1.9     Poverty

3.1.10   Special Needs

3.1.11   Support from School District, Ministry and Other Agencies

3.1.12   Monitoring Progress

Go back to the Introduction for more on parents, agencies and community actions.

See also:

* - Assessing Young Children's Progress Appropriately (Part of an Internet Essay)

* - On Standardized Testing (ERIC Digest)

* - Escalating Kindergarten Curriculum (ERIC Digest)

* - Assessment of Preschool Children (ERIC Digest)

* - Trends in Early Childhood Assessment Policies and Practices

* - Exclusion and Retention: Failed Strategies (ERIC Clearinghouse on Early Childhood Education)