Observing and Assessing young children Flashcards
What is assessment and why is it important?
A series of steps done continuously to collect information about children’s development. It is used to make appropriate decisions on how to educate them
Why is assessment information needed?
Teachers need assessment information to plan instructions for teaching and learning, and to inform parents the progress of their child. This is important as it could help parents to assist their child at home
Some programmes use assessment for the diagnosis of disabilities or developmental delays
List the purposes of assessment for the children
- To identify prior knowledge and understanding
- To identify their special needs
- To determine appropriate placement or refer to appropriate services
List the purposes of assessment for families
- To provide information on children’s progress
- To relate school activities to home experiences
- To enable collaboration between teachers and parents
List the purposes of assessment for the teachers
- To inform lesson and activity plans and establishing goals
- To create new arrangement in classrooms
- To assist in selecting appropriate materials
- To improve the teaching and learning process
List the purposes of assessment towards early childhood programmes
- To group instructions according to children’s abilities
What are the types of assessments?
- Formal
- Informal
- Authentic
List the purposes of assessment for the public
- To assist in establishing appropriate policies
- To assess quality of programs
- To ensure curriculum is relevant to children
- To monitor children achievements
- To provide useful statistical information
- To provide as a basis of public policies
What types of formal tests are there?
- Achievement tests
- Developmental screening tests
- Intelligence tests
- Diagnostic tests
What is formal assessment?
Standardised tests given according o approved time limits, instructions, grading procedures, and administration guidelines
What is informal assessment?
Not standardised tests, but observations & work samples that are continually done and focused on the child’s performance, learning processes and products over a selected period of time and in various contexts. Portfolio systems are normally used
What is authentic assessment?
It’s a concept that shows that students are given the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills as they are being used in the real world outside of school
What are authentic work samples?
Authentic work samples are children’s work that reflect real-life circumstances and problems which are addressed in the learning environment. It needs to rely on informal procedures
What are some children’s work samples?
- Drawings
- Writing of stories
- Regular recorded observations of children’s interactions and comments
What are the characteristics of authentic assessment? (8 are written)
- Ongoing throughout the whole school year
- All areas of development are assessed
- Uses multiple ways to assess children’s achievement
- It’s part of everyday learning activities that occur in the classroom
- It’s curriculum embedded where children are assessed only on what they are actually learning and doing
- It takes into account every child’s development, social, cultural and language status and other needs as children mature at different rates
- It’s a cooperative process that involves children, teachers, parents and other professionals
What is another way to refer to authentic assessment?
Assessment based on performance
How is authentic assessment useful?
It’s useful when teaching children who are from different backgrounds as well as for children with disabilities
What are the methods of authentic assessment?
- Observation
- Anecdotal
- Running record
- Event sampling
- Time sampling
- Rating scale
- Checklist
- Work sample
- Portfolio
- Interview
What is anecdotal?
Written records of a teacher’s observations
What are guidelines for authentic assessment?
- Assess children based on their work
- Assess children based on what they are actually doing and through the curriculum
- Assess what each individual child can do or already learned, rather than comparing one child with another
- Make assessment part of the learning process. Encourage children to show what they know through presentations and participations
- Learn about the child as a whole
- Involve children and parents in a cooperative assessment process. Authentic assessment is child centred
- Provide ongoing assessment over the entire school year
- Use developmentally appropriate assessments and techniques
What is the importance of observation?
It’s a vital tool useful in investigating children children as individuals. It is the basis of reflection
How do you conduct an observation?
Give the child a task to do and see how they perform
What are the objectives in assessment?
- To determine progress on significant developmental achievements
- To decide placement or promotion decisions in schools
- To understand and determine learning and teaching problems
- To help in instruction and curriculum decisions
- To serve as a basis for reporting to parents
- To assist a child for assessing their own progress
What are the advantages of an intentionally, systematic observation?
- Opportunities for teachers to look for information from other sources
- More appropriate as children learn naturally through play
- Reveals children’s prosocial development and peer interaction
- Useful when children refuse to respond
- Provides a good mode of assessment of what children are developmentally able to do
- Useful to assess children’s performance over time
- Provides concrete information that could be used as evidence during conferencing with parents
What to do when a child doesn’t respond to an activity?
Analyse on why they don’t respond and how to make it better to make them respond
What are the steps to conducting an observation?
- Plan for observation
- Conduct the observation
- Interpret the data
- Implement a plan
How do you plan for observation?
- Who, what, where and how will you observe
- Set a goal for the observation
What are possible objectives to observation?
- The physical classroom environment or effectiveness
- Social interactions
- Improvement to children’s learning activities
How do you conduct the observation?
Through note-taking, a checklist, a sketch of an indoor and outdoor environment, videotaping or tape recording
What is meant by interpreting data?
Drawing conclusions about what has been observed and making recommendations for the actions that you will take
What is an example of interpreting data?
Eg: Mark is able to identify colours but not shapes. He is able to obtain the knowledge but is unsure of how to utilise it
What are the functions of interpreting data?
- Helps to apply professional knowledge to understand what’s been seen
- Helps to anticipate behaviours which are associated with normal growth and development, as well as what isn’t
- Provides direction for the implementation of programmes and curriculum
How do you meet the responsibility of reporting assessment information to parents?
- Be honest and realistic with parents
- Communicating and explaining results to parents so that they can understand
- Share student’s work samples and portfolios with parents
- Provide parents with ideas and information that will help them help their children learn
What is a portfolio?
A compilation of academic & professional materials that are an example of your beliefs, skills, qualifications, education, training, and experiences
How does assessment help in identifying children with disabilities?
Assessment also helps determine delay or learning problems in children. They can help identify disabilities and have the child have the necessary arrangement for their learning experience
How does assessment support children with disabilities?
- To provide information for appropriate decisions to be made about the child’s educational placement
- To develop and plan instruction appropriate to the child’s special needs
- Evaluating learners’ progress
