Basics of Assessment: A Primer for Early Childhood Professionals

by Oralie McAfee, Deborah J. Leong, Elena Bodrova

Overview

Assessment of children's abilities and knowledge, their approaches to learning, and their strengths, needs, and interests is expected in most early childhood programs. However, many early childhood educators are unsure of how to assess young children's development and learning.

This straightforward book will help increase understanding of child assessment, including its specialized and often confusing vocabulary. Focusing on children's development and learning, the authors provide an overview of basic assessment concepts. Speaking a shared language of assessment will help early childhood professionals communicate better with other teachers, specialists, administrators, and parents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781928896180
Publisher:	National Association for the Education of Young Children
Publication date:	06/25/2004
Series:	Basics series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.20(d)

About the Author

Oralie McAfee, professor emerita of early childhood education at Metropolitan State College of Denver, is author of numerous publications related to working with young children and their families, and has done research on assessment practices and needs in Head Start and in selected state-funded prekindergarten programs.

Deborah J. Leong is a professor of psychology at Metropolitan State College of Denver and a research fellow at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) where she is working on a computerized pre-K state standards database and a database of preschool assessment instruments with Elena Bodrova. She has written on assessment, play, early literacy, and the development of self-regulation in young children.

Elena Bodrova is a senior researcher at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) in Aurora, Colorado, and a research fellow at NIEER. Previously, she had been visiting professor of educational psychology at Metropolitan State College of Denver, senior researcher at the Russian Center for Educational Innovations and the Russian Institute for Preschool Education, and adjunct professor of educational psychology at Moscow Teacher Training College. She writes extensively on early literacy, play, and assessment.

Read an Excerpt

As an early childhood educator, you probably have your own ways of appraising children’s development and learning that seem to work—things you have done in the past, things you are doing now. But in today’s environment— where assessment is a term much bandied about and where questions, claims, and concerns arise from families, supervisors, and policymakers—you may be looking for help to make sense of what you hear and are expected to do. 

Specifically, you want to confidently:

• Assess children in sensible, meaningful ways
• Describe to families the kinds of assessment you are using and why, and share with them the resulting information and insights about their child
• Use information from assessment to benefit children’s learning and development

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• About This Booklet
• Getting Acquainted with Assessment
• A Definition
• The Process of Assessment
• Why We Assess Young Children
• Sound Assessment Is .
• Doing Assessment
• Assessment in the Classroom
• What Can (and Should) Be Assessed
• When to Assess
• Gathering Information about Children
• Looking at the Information You Gathered
• Using Your Assessment Information
• Making Assessment a Part of Your Classroom
• Resources
• References
• For More Information
• Glossary