SYLVIA SANTILLA

EED 280

IMPLEMENTATION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD ASSESSMENTS

IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES ARE ORGANIZED IN THREE AREAS

Preparation for Administration: Clarifying the purpose of assessment,
communicating with parents, training of assessors, and protection against
unintended use of data.
Administration of Assessments: Degree of familiarity of the child with the
assessor, childrens responses to the assessment situation, issues in
administration of assessment to English language learners, adaptations
for children with special needs.
Following up on administration: Helping programs use the information
from assessments and taking costs to programs into account in planning
for next steps.

PURPOSE OF
ASSESSMENT
To plan and adapt curriculum to meet each childs developmental needs.
Helps teachers and families monitor childrens progress.
To screen all children and recommend follow up for a child with potential
or special needs.
Evaluate and improve program effectiveness.

COMMUNICATING WITH
PARENTS
A young childs growth and development is shaped within the context of
relationships with parents and other primary care providers. It is essential
for teachers to partner with parents to support their participation
throughout all aspects of screening and assessment including: engaging
families in discussions about typical child development, creating
opportunities to provide observations about their childs development,
contributing to decision-making and guiding a childs learning and
development.

ASSESSOR TRAINING AND UNINTENDED USE OF

DATA
Screening and assessments requires that all assessors have access to
professional development opportunities to acquire the necessary
knowledge and skills to adequately carry out screening and assessment
practices.
Assessments of children must serve to optimize learning. Assessment data
may offer unintended negative consequences for some children.
Assessments must demonstrate solid consequential validity: the
consequence of the time and resources invested in the assessment should
demonstrably positive for the children assessed.

DEGREE OF FAMILIARITY OF THE ASSESSOR TO THE CHILD AND HOW CHILD

RESPONSES

To gain a comprehensive understanding of a childs health and

development, it is important to gather information from multiple
informants, tools, and settings. This includes information about the childs
development as well as individual learning style in a variety of settings
(home, school, community) in which the child lives and learns.
The younger the child, the more difficult it is to obtain valid assessments.
Early development is rapid, episodic and highly influenced by experience.
Performance on an assessment is affected by childrens emotional states
and the conditions of the assessment.

ASSESSING IN MORE THAN ONE LANGUAGE

Children with limited English proficiency are unable to process information in
the classroom can become inattentive and distractible. These differences
could be mistaken for lack of motivation, or even developmental delay.
It is necessary to determine skill and fluency in the language or combination
of languages that a child uses. Difficulty in communication can be due to
limited English skills, the process of second language acquisition, or a
communication disorder.
Assessing childrens non-English language competency is important because
age appropriate skills in the childs home language would eliminate concern
for a communication disorder.

FOLLOWING UP ON
ADMINISTRATION
The impact evaluation determines the casual effects of the program. This
involves trying to measure if the program has achieved its intended
outcomes (program outcomes.)
Finally, cost-benefit or cost-efficiency analysis assesses the efficiency of a
program. Evaluators outline the benefits and cost of the program for
comparison. An efficient program has a lower cost-benefit ratio.

REFERENCE
Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How Catherine E. Snow
and Susan B. Van Hemel, Editors, National Research Council of the National
Academies