Assessing in Early Childhood

Today the focus in on accountability.  That is the ability of teachers to demonstrate growth in their students.  As a result of this, the education movement focuses more and more on standardized assessments.  Several early childhood professionals  agree that children should be assessed.  The question is, how should they be assessed?  Often times this manner of assessment is deemed to be developmentally inappropriate.  For example, as a kindergarten/first grade educator I feel as though I find myself conducting more assessments than instruction.  Is this the environment that we desire?  It is my belief that young children should be assessed through observation and authentic assessments or through producing a product.  Verbal assessments serve as a critical way of determining student progress as well.  Only then, with a combination of the above assessments can we get a true holistic picture of the growth a child is achieving.  A standardized assessment is only a glimpse into how a child thinks.  Nonetheless, some children are excellent test takers while others are poor test takers.  As a result of this, how can we ensure that the assessment is both a reliable and valid indication of a child’s progress?  

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment, Australia ranks sixth in reading, eighth in science, and thirteenth in mathematics amongst fifty-six countries (Wikipedia, n.d.).  This intrigued me and made me what to investigate their approach to primary education.  In Australia, children attend preschool-kindergarten between the ages of four and five (Wikipedia, n.d.).  This is not a part of compulsorily education.  It serves to aid children in social learning and introduce them to formal schooling the next year.   Kindergarteners are between the age of five and six.  This experience is categorized as transitional.  As a result of this, emphasis is not placed on this part of the educational experience (Wikipedia, n.d.).  This would lead us to believe that assessment are not valued at this part of the educational experience.  A few years ago, an Aussi foreign exchange student  informed our English literature class that they were not given grades.  Rather, their performance was looked upon holistically to determine promotion to the next grade (Personal Interview, 2002).  Will we ever begin to view education as a holistic approach as opposed to isolated evidence of an assessment?  If so, what strides must we take to get there.  I too agree that observations and work samples should be used to determine promotion.  How and when will our educational system evolve to include more than standardized assessments?    

References

Education in Australia. Wikipedia (n.d.). Retrieved from www.wikipedia.org