Using Scientific Knowledge to Inform Preschool Assessment: Making the Case for "Empirical Validity (original) (raw)
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The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 crystallized the concern for accountability in education. National testing was mandated as a way to improve the "broken" educational system. Publicly funded early education programs were not spared from such testing. While the positive effects of high-quality early education on children's later school achievement is well demonstrated, too many early care and educational settings in the United States are of minimal or poor quality. Accountability is clearly important for increasing the quality of our early childhood programs, however, it is not yet evident how best to formulate a standard of accountability that reflects the body of knowledge we have gained concerning how young children learn.
Trends in Early Childhood Assessment Policies and Practices
1996
This study documented current early childhood assessment policies and practices, focusing on changes since the 1988 nationwide survey and on changes occurring in response to Goal 1 of the National Education Goals, performance assessments, and integrated services for young children. Data were collected through telephone surveys and in-depth interviews with the state-level early childhood or elementary coordinator or testing director, as well as Part H and IDEA coordinators, Title I coordinators, Head Start directors, and the Goals 1 contact person. Documentary evidence of policies or legislative mandates was also obtained. The findings, in descending order of prevalence, follow: (1) most states have made an effort to move away from readiness testing and kindergarten retention, and there is a perceived reduction though not elimination of these practices; (2) almost all state-mandated standardized testing for school accountability has been eliminated for children below grade 3; (3) some states and local districts are moving to new assessment forms in the early grades that are more supportive of instruction; (4) misuse of screening instruments for instructional purposes has decreased since 1988; (5) professional training is needed to understand and use new assessment forms; (6) preschool testing is largely driven by mandates for categorical programs; (7) a few states are collecting data to report on progress toward Goal 1; (8) parent involvement was an issue both for identifying children with special needs and because of parent demands for standardized testing; and (9) lack of collaboration and coordination among agencies serving young children continues to be a problem. (Contains 16 references.) (KB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Assessment in Early Childhood Education
2004
This study investigated assessment in early childhood education. The action research investigated the effect of familiarity of a test setting on screening scores of pre-kindergarten children. Thirty-two children participated in a pre-kindergarten screening at a local school that they did not attend as students. These same children participated in the same screening at the preschool that they regularly attend. After analyzing and comparing the test scores it was determined that there was a significant difference in the scores of students depending on their familiarity with the test setting.
Using Authentic Assessment to Evidence Children’s Progress Toward Early Learning Standards
Early Childhood Education Journal, 2006
The increasing emphasis on accountability in early care and education has created an opportunity for programs to revisit their child assessment practices. This article presents a model for using authentic assessment practices to document children's progress toward a set of program standards, specifically the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework, as well as describe how authentic assessment processes can inform curriculum planning. Programmatic implementation issues are discussed and a case study is presented.
The Non-Tested Years: Policy’s Impact on Early Childhood Curriculum
The Educational Forum, 2018
Early childhood and elementary education emerged from a variety of knowledge and research bases. Tensions emerged as they were brought together in a unifi ed public kindergarten through 12th-grade educational system. This review describes how standards and accountability policies have exacerbated tensions between early childhood and elementary curriculum and instructional approaches and impacted the voice and role of early childhood educators. We argue that this is a critical time for understanding and addressing these issues.
The matter of assessor variance in early childhood education—Or whose score is it anyway?
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2012
Useful assessment outcomes (as manifest through assigned scores) must show reasonable variation across children because it is that variation that presumably defines children's individual differences. Alternatively it is conceivable that some portion of the variability in assessment outcomes does not reflect child differences but rather differences in the performance of the assessors who carry out assessments. Hierarchical linear modeling is applied in this article to identify the amount of score variation attributable to assessors rather than children. Working with multiple cohorts of Head Start and kindergarten children, score variation is analyzed for measures administered outside of classrooms by extramural assessors and for teacher-administered measures within classrooms. The amount of assessor variance (vs. actual child variance) was negligible as associated with extramural assessors but substantial for teacher assessors, indicating that large portions of the variability in teacher-administered assessments have nothing to do with children's unique performances. Recommendations are provided to assist the interpretation of assessment outcomes in future research and practice.
President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are promoting an early learning initiative focusing on the agenda of every four year old having equal access to high-quality early learning environments (Administration for Children and Families, 2013). One way the Federal government is supporting this proposal is through a grant; Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) (U.S. Department of Education, 2013). As this grant is being implemented throughout the states, policymakers are pushing for higher teacher accountability through the “workforce” heading of the grant. One way many states are implementing a plan focusing on the early learning workforce is through developing a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). These systems focus states’ efforts on teacher accountability by depicting certain teacher evaluation models that are currently being researched and implemented (U.S. Department of Education, 2013). The three main teacher evaluation models, focused on in this article, are observation, feedback, and self-assessment. These three models can be implemented separately or in conjunction with each other, which is also discussed.