Assessment In Preschools

By Author: Kinder Pillar
Total Articles: 11
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According to Huba and Freed, “Assessment is the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences; The process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning.”

What are the Goals of Assessment

•To DESCRIBE the learner
•To DOCUMENT the learning
•To DISCUSS the learner & his learning
•To DECIDE what to do next

Methods of Assessment

1. Observation – It is a process to watch carefully or to notice everything a child does in a particular environment provided to him/her. Observation helps to fill the gap between theory and practice. “Observing child’s behavior is the foundation of “best practices” in early childhood education. Some common types of observation are Naturalistic Observation, Structured Observation, Longitudinal Observation, Snapshot Observation

2. Anecdotal Records- Anecdotal records are the written ...
... observations. Some guidelines for writing anecdotes:

• Mention the date, beginning-middle-end, and objective of anecdotes.
• A pan and a note pad should always be kept handy to quickly jot down the remarks.
• And then finally these should be transferred to a final assessment record sheet.

3. Interview - This is another Face-to-face interaction which is used to investigate a child’s knowledge, reasoning, and understanding.

4. Rating Scale - The observed behavior is scored on a specified scale. It gives us information about a quantitative or a qualitative attribute. It is most commonly used to assess children’s social and emotional development but can also be used for cognitive and language abilities. Soliciting parent ratings is an excellent way for teachers to involve them as partners in the assessment of their child’s performance.

5. Checklist - This is an easy way to gather specific information. Behaviors are listed and the observer just has to observe and mark. Good checklists have clearly defined items, with one behavior to observe per item. Checklists can thus be completed naturally without putting the child in a “testing situation.” It’s easier to see at a glance what a child’s strengths are and the areas for growth.

6. Child’s work sample - The work samples can be drawings, tape recordings of the child reading or telling a story, worksheets or writing samples. It can also be documentations of what the child has spoken or narrated in the class. All the work should be dated to track the developmental progress of child in all areas.

7. Portfolio - it is a purposeful collection of child’s work that tells the story of his/her efforts, progress, or achievement. Parents and teachers must work together to select work samples. Regularly recorded observations and comments serve to show the progress over time and in a variety of situations. Include checklists or other examples of systematic observations. All the samples should be dated with a brief note about that work.

8. Case Study – it’s an in-depth analysis of a particular child. It looks into the past and present events in the child’s life and gathers information from various sources. It provides a great deal of information about the child. But the results are often difficult to generalize to larger populations.

How assessment is done in preschools?

Assessment helps to highlight strengths, concerns, and plans. It could be done through various methods as follows-

• Keeping a check on child’s learning Outcomes.
• Rubrics
• Progress tracking sheets
• Parent-Teacher meetings
• Achievement Book.

Doing it the right way

1. Assessment should not make children feel anxious or scared.
2. It should not threaten their self-esteem
3. Observe for what children know rather than penalizing them for what they do not know.
4. Respond sensitively to each child’s reactions to the testing situation.
5. Information should be obtained over time.
6. The test is then measuring the child’s interest or willingness to respond rather than the child’s knowledge or ability.
7. Assessments should take place in the natural environment.
8. It should avoid placing the child in an artificial situation.
9. The assessment may measure the child’s response to the settling rather than the child’s ability to perform on the content.
10. Assessment activities should resemble child’s ordinary activities as closely as possible.

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