Assessments for Early Childhood Programs Essay Example for Free

Assessments for Early childishness Programs EssayWilliam J. Wilson once said, The person who scored well on an sit d have will non necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not streak character, leadership, creativity, or perseverance. Why do we test pupils? What is the intent of appraisals? Do these tests and assessments benefit the assimilators? These atomic number 18 questions educators have been asking for years. It is impossible for one to narrow down a youngsters academic abilities based solely on a test. Yet there still demandfully to be some form of assessments performed in order to evaluate the academic level each student has reached. But how much assessing is too much? How heavily do educators rely on the results of these assessments? The main(prenominal) issues, when it comes to assessing primal childhood students, be the consequences of the assessment results and how they affect the child. According to The National Academies of Sciences, there atomic number 18 both separate regulations that support the success of assessment. The first is that the mapping of an assessment should be a guide for assessment decisions.The purpose for any assessment must be fructifyd and clearly communicated to all stake- holders before the assessment is designed or implemented. Most important, assessment designed for programs should not be used to assess individual children. Because antithetic purposes require different kinds of assessments, the purpose should drive assessment design and implementation decisions (The National Academies of Sciences, 2008). The second principle is that any assessment performed should be completed in a reproducible system of health, educational, and family support service that promote optimal development for all children.Assessment should be an integral part of a coherent system of early childhood cargon and education that includes a range of services and resources ( The National Academies of Sciences, 2008). These two principles explain the main purpose of why assessing is important and how assessments should be conducted. After having an understanding of the purpose of assessments, why is it so important to begin evaluations at such a young age? What is the purpose of evaluating infants and toddlers? source Sue Wortham explains evaluating toddlers and infants determine whether the child is developing normally or if they show any signs of hamper and need assistance. All in all, the main purpose of assessment is to benefit the child (Wortham, p. 32). The NAEYC believes that during a childs early years, evaluating and assessing their development should be the primary focus. They want to study how young children grown and learn. All the results of assessment atomic number 18 used to inform the planning and implementation of experiences, to communicate with the childs family, and to evaluate and make better teachers and programs effectiveness (W ortham, p. 4).Teachers also use assessment results to in order to plan their syllabus accordingly. So exactly do assessments search for? Assessments look not only for what the child is already equal to(p) of doing independently but also what they tramp do with the help of a teacher or other student (Wortham, p. 35). So how are they assessed exactly? There are many different assessments given to children crossways the U. S. everyday. These whitethorn be administered orally or as written works, such as questionnaires, surveys, or tests. These may include standardized tests, observations, checklists, rank scales, rubrics, interviews, or portfolios.Each of these serve a different purpose in order to give different pieces of information needed to evaluate the child in question. Standardized tests, though many disagree with them, are meant to measure individual characteristics. Observations, on the other hand, are one of the intimately effective ways to measure students characteris tics. When children are young, it rear be hard at times to determine if there are any developmental delays (Wortham, p. 39). Developmental checklists, or scopes, are mainly used at all levels of education.These checklists are lists of the learning objectives that have been established by the teacher in order to discover track of their learning and development. Items on a checklist are rated with a cast out or positive solvent from the teacher. Rating scales, unlike checklists, provide measurement on a continuum and are used when a allurement of criteria is needed to attain specific information. Another form of assessment teachers commonly use is Rubrics. Rubrics were created to evaluate current and performance assessments (Wortham, p. 41). Rubrics, like rating scales, have a range of criteria that must be met.However, unlike rating scales, rubrics can be used to not only determine the quality of performance required, but are also used to assign grades. Rubrics make it easy for students to understand what is expected and is makes it easier for teachers to grade assignments. The final types of assessments that are most frequently used are performance and portfolio assessments. These evaluations might be administered through interviews given at one time by the teacher in order to understand the childs thinking and understanding (Wortham, p. 41). Teachers may present these evaluations through directed assignments, activities, or games.The performance results are typically kept in a student or teacher portfolio. These portfolios contain samples of students work and are used as a sort of progress report card. Keeping detailed reports of students work in the portfolios help teachers keep track of their students progress and help determine which areas of learning are lacking attention (Wortham, p. 41). Overall, according to Wortham, these tests, whether administered to an individual child or a group of students, are meant to determine a students abilities, achi evements, aptitudes, interests, attitudes, values, and personality characteristics (Wortham, p. 9).Now having an understanding of the different types of assessments used to evaluate students and the purpose, let us turn to the negative and positive effect of these evaluations. It is crucial for educators to administer tests and evaluations conservatively, because it they are poorly articulated, it can lead to decisions that are unfair or unclear, and they may do harm to programs, teachers, and, most importantly, children (Snow, C. E. Van Hemel, S. B. , p. 341-342). Evaluations and assessments are not meant to punish a child, and therefore, should never be overseen lightly.It is important that the information gathered outweighs any negative effects. Editors of Early Childhood Assessment Why, What, and How, Catherine E. Snow and Susan B. Van Hemel, explain that although the same measure may be used for much than one purpose, prior consideration of all potentiality purposes is es sential, as is careful depth psychology of the actual content of the assessment instrument. Direct examination of the assessment items is important because the title of a measure does not always reflect the content (Snow, C. E. Van Hemel, S. B. , p. 346).So what are some negative effects? Negative consequences of assessment findings may include program de-funding, closing a center, firing a teacher, mislabeling a child, or a reduction in program resources (The National Academies of Sciences, 2008). These effects, such as mislabeling a student, can follow students for the rest of their education career. Once a child is entered into a program, it can be thorny at time for teachers to look past that label. Children all develop at different his or her own pace. No one child will develop and learn the same way as other child.They all grow up and develop at different stages. Yet educational theorists have been subject to observed and gather enough information to conclude that children , if divided in age groups, do die hard to follow a certain development pattern. The problem is, it is hard to determine which children are the outliers in these results without carefully administering proper assessments. Assessments are not used to necessarily judge student or punish them. Their main purpose is to help students, teachers, and parents. So what are some positive effects of assessment and evaluations?Students that benefit from assessments and evaluations are those that are properly observed and tested. Teachers also benefit from the use of assessments because it helps them create an appropriate curriculum for their students. Evaluating children at a young age can have a positive effect if a delay or disability is in fact open up, and because it was caught early, the student has a better chance of exceeding their potential in school. Catching developmental delays or disabilities at a young age is the same as finding cancer at an early stage in the sense that the earl ier the cancer is found the chances of survival are greater.Assessment results are used to plan for instruction, evaluate instructional programs, and report student progress. These are all positive results of assessments. Without the results of assessments and test, how can educators determine what to teach their students? Evaluations, if planned and administered properly, can be more beneficial than harmful. Unfortunately, not all teachers evaluate children fairly or appropriately. So it is important for parents to stay manifold in their childrens education in the event that the results of an evaluation do not match the potential of their child.Parents should know the norms and abnormalities of their childs behavior. Therefore, it is always beneficial to the child for parents and teachers to communicate. This way if a child is acting up in class, and the teacher notifies the parent, the parent may confirm any fears right away by simply saying, that isnt like him or hes just nervo us. Avoiding drastic measures and not jumping to conclusions is the proper way to evaluate a child fairly. What are the predicted long-term benefits to Early Childhood Assessments?Are assessments and student evaluations accurate? Should teachers be required to assess and evaluate students as much as they already do? These are just a few of the questions that plagued educators for years. Too much assessing has placed so much pressure on students and teachers, inevitably taking away a childs proneness to learn for the sake of learning. The purpose of assessments and evaluations is a great concept, but placing too much pressure and strain on the test results is tainting the original purpose of learning.