31.2: Purpose of Assessment

Why?

In early childhood settings, assessment is the process of obtaining information about various areas of children's development, learning, and progress. Ongoing assessment helps families and caregivers know how a child is progressing and helps teachers set goals and plan experiences for the program. As part of engaging in continuous quality improvement, programs assess infants' and toddlers' developmental progress and learning. [1]Caregivers must understand diverse assessment approaches, purposes, uses, benefits, and limitations.[2]

Caregivers use assessments for various purposes (Snow and Van Hemel 2008). In the Principles and Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments (National Education Goals Panel 1998), 4 broad goals for early childhood assessment were established: [1]

· To promote learning and development of individual children

· To identify children who may have delays, disabilities, or health conditions

· To monitor trends in programs and evaluate program effectiveness

· To obtain benchmark data for accountability purposes at local, state, and national levels

Although a one-time, easily administered assessment may offer some information about children's development, it is better to use a variety of instruments and methods over time to gain a more comprehensive picture of development.[1]

Developmental Monitoring

Caregivers usually have primary responsibility for collecting information on children's learning and development. Continuous assessment provides feedback about children's progress and guides learning experiences.[1]

Caregivers should regularly add anecdotes, photos, and samples to a child's portfolio or file: this provides a basis for assessing each infant or toddler's developmental progress. These items provide evidence and information to complete formal assessments later, which produce profiles of each child's developmental progress. Assessments for developmental monitoring should occur on a regular schedule, such as every 4 or 6 months. Designing a schedule for each child or facility helps ensure this type of assessment occurs regularly. [3]

Assessment profiles give caregivers a general orientation for supporting each infant or toddler over weeks and months; they help the caregiver be sensitive to the next steps in each child's development and plan accordingly.[3]

Screening

Assessing children's development helps caregivers and family members identify children who need a referral for further assessment. The importance of gathering information from multiple sources applies to all children, but it is essential when assessing children with disabilities or other delays. Periodic assessment of children's development provides a firm basis for referral if a delay or disability is suspected.[1]

For children receiving services from other sources (such as therapy through insurance or special education through an Individual Family Services Plan or IFSP), work with family members to gather input from specialized service professionals. The specialized service professional may send reports to or talk directly with caregivers with the families' permission. Comprehensive development tests, such as the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development and the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, are often considered the gold standard in the developmental assessment of infants and young children [Walder, 2009]. These tests offer comprehensive information on a child's current developmental status, are administered directly with the child, and offer scores for the assessed areas (Albers,2006).

Briefer approaches to developmental assessments often function as screening instruments designed to identify children with developmental delays who require further assessment (Rydez,2005). Screening instruments will differ in whether they are based on direct assessment with the child or secondary reports [Fernald,et. al,2009; Macy,2012; Kvestad et al, 2013)

Curriculum

Curriculum planning requires caregivers to reflect on children's learning and plan strategies that foster children's progress in building knowledge and mastering skills.[3] Assessments offer insights for teachers planning appropriate learning environments and when or how to offer engaging materials to children. Assessment for curriculum planning, environment planning, and other early learning experiences is essential to ensuring high quality early learning and care programs. [1]

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[1] California Department of Education, 2019 Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Program Guidelines, Second Edition by the California Department of Education is used with permission

[2] Head Start| Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (Ed.)Child observation: The heart of individualizing responsive care for infants and toddlers. is in the public domain

[3] California Department of Education, 2015 Infant/Toddler Curriculum Framework by the California Department of Education is used with Permission