When it comes to viewing the whole child, I think that authentic assessment should be used. According to the text, "Authentic assessment (also called classroom assessment, alternative assessment, and performance-based assessment). This type of assessment occurs in the ongoing life and daily activities of the early childhood classroom. Authentic assessment is evaluation of a child's development or performance in the context of everyday life. In a natural or "authentic" approach, the teacher observes and documents real life examples in which skills and knowledge are demonstrated tasks that are meaningful to the child. It is not a onetime event. Instead it is an ongoing process. It uses the input of teacher, parent, and child. Authentic assessment includes multiple kinds of information, collected throughout the day, while children are engaged in a range of activities including self-selected play, teacher-directed activities, routines, and transitions. In authentic assessment a variety of methods are used to record or document what children do, but the most important is teacher's observations of children engaged in meaningful activities. Photographs, videotapes and audio recordings, interviews with children and family members, and examples of children's work also can provide authentic evidence of a child's understanding and ability" (Feeney, Moravcik, Nolte, Christensen, 2010).
In England, at the moment, "most of the children start school in nursery or reception classes at the age of three or four and are taught using the Early Years Foundation Stage, a compulsory "nappy curriculum". They are assessed against targets set out in the EYFS, which covers areas such as personal and social development, communication and early numeracy, before moving on to formal lessons in the first full year of school aged five. Children are then subjected to further assessments in the three R's at the age of seven" (Paton, 2013).
I think that when we assess children, we should make sure that whatever we assess them with it should be developmentally and educationally significant for children. We should make sure that the instruments we assess them with have goals that are aligned with early learning standards, program goals, and curriculum rather than a narrow set of skills.
Feeney, S., Moravcik, E., Nolte, S., Christensen, D. (2010). Who Am I in the Lives of Children? An Introduction to Early Childhood Education. Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Paton, G. (2013). The Telegraph. Retrieved December 7, 2013, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Great Post! I agree with your understanding of how we ought to be accessing children. It should be authentic in that the child should be assessed in their natural environment. With consequences of high stakes standardized testing being so dire for both student and school district, i find that it simply isn't fair to assess students through a single test. Thanks for your thoughtful comments on this matter.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! I agree that an authentic assessment should be used. I believe using one assessment to test a child doesn't adequately give the right information about them. A child could be having a bad day when the test is given and could hurt the child gravely.
ReplyDeleteHi LaShaunda. Thank you for your post. I love the discussion of "authentic assessment." In my role as a trainer, I lead workshops on Assessment and Curriculum for educators. I believe that moving away from flashcards and "test" and watching children in their natural environment is the best way to truly assess what children know. You can learn so much by watching a child interact through dramatic play with classmates or as he or she works on a puzzle! Taking anecdotal notes is an excellent way to keep track of children's progress over time. Authentic observation is a great way for educators to alter their teaching to best meet their students' needs.
ReplyDeleteThank you for discussing authentic assessment as a way to test children's intelligences, it is so important in early childhood education to create meaningful testing to see what a child knows and can do, as it gives up a place to start our individualized education for them. I once had a German exchange student who told me that by the time they are 10 they have taken a test that will determine what educational path they would take...I was quite alarmed...what sort of educational opportunities are those children who are "late bloomers" missing out on?
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