Early Childhood - Connecticut State Department of Education

Assessment Chapter 4
are common in young children, preschool teachers
should regularly engage in both formal and informal
assessment strategies appropriate to each child’s age
and program setting.
Assessment Is Intentional
The purposes for assessment must be clear in order
to select the best tool. Clear goals help to ensure that
assessment is authentic and valuable. Possible purposes
include communication with parents, individualization
of goals, curriculum reorganization and support,
determination of whether intervention or special
services are necessary, and articulation of program goals
and practices for specific audiences.
Assessment Embraces
All Domains Of Development
To gain information on the whole child, educators must
consider a tool that assesses all aspects of development:
physical, social, emotional and cognitive. Such tools
may help to uncover and document information on how
children think and learn, as well as their dispositions
toward learning.
Assessment Is Carried Out
With As Little Disruption As Possible
Most young children do not have the ability to understand
rules of formal testing. Therefore, they should have an
opportunity to share their ideas and talents in a natural
and comfortable setting. The teacher observes within
a child’s usual context, gathering information in varied
situations in order to discover patterns and understand
each child’s behaviors and processes of learning.
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“The very young are, by definition, less
familiar with the whole notion of and the
materials used for assessment, so that
creating a more flexible and responsive
environment that promotes the physical
and emotional comfort of the child
is likely to produce a more accurate
picture of the child’s knowledge, skills,
achievement or personality” (Meisels,
with Atkins-Burrett, 1994).
Assessment Is Conducted
By Familiar Adults
Children who are evaluated by an unfamiliar adult are
likely to be tense and anxious, and often are not able
to respond in ways that accurately demonstrate their
strengths and skills. It is important that the teachers
with whom the child is most familiar carry out the
assessment or screening. Teachers need training on the
specific tools they will be expected to use, as well as
ongoing information related to assessment in general.
Teachers also need to be provided with the time to
reflect and interpret information collected alone and
with colleagues.
Assessment Is Conducted
Regularly And Periodically
Learning and development occur rapidly in young
children. Interval assessments used only yearly are
unlikely to accurately represent a child’s growth
patterns. Furthermore, an assessment limited to a onetime
observation may not accurately reflect the child’s
abilities because a child’s performance at a particular
time depends on a variety of factors, including how he
or she feels at that moment. The goal in assessment is
to use a variety of settings and times so that findings
are representative of progress over time. The resulting
evidence of growth provides “moments in time” which
children, parents and teachers should celebrate.