31.4: Types of Commonly Used Assessments

Caregivers should evaluate and select reliable, valid, and universally designed child observational assessments. Assessments must be developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically sensitive, and fully cover the diverse learning needs of children with disabilities or other delays. At the infant/toddler level, assessments should be broad in scope, including children's knowledge, skills, behaviors, temperaments, and health.[1]

Ages and Stages

The Ages and Stages Questionnaire 3 ed. (ASQ-3) is a widely used screening tool for infants and young children's development that assesses development in 5 domains: Communication, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Problem Solving, and Personal Social [Squire et al., 2009]. Developmental areas covered by this screening tool include self-regulation, compliance, communication, adaptive functioning, autonomy, affect, and interaction with people.[2] The ASQ system is initially a parent-completed questionnaire, but it may also be completed by a professional interacting with the child (Kvestad et al, 2013). The ASQ-3 provides an opportunity to address parental concerns, educate parents on child development, and empower parents to advocate for their children. It identifies children at risk of having possible developmental delays, detects a child's strengths and needs, and can be used to predict future school-related challenges.[2]

Parental reports provide a risk of inaccuracy or overstatements regarding the child's development (Fernald et al., 2009). However, the ASQ system is developed and based on the conviction that families can provide information for proper assessments of their children. For instance, a study comparing the ASQ completion of low and middle-income parents in the US, followed by subsequent assessment by the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, shows no differences in the accuracy of scoring in the 2 groups of parents. These results support the idea that parental completion of child development questionnaires gives reliable data in high-risk groups. [Squires et al., 1998; Kvestad et al, 2013)].

Developmental Profile (DRDP)

The DRDP for infants and toddlers consists of 29 items divided into 5 domains, covering approaches to learning/self-regulation, socio-emotional development, language and literacy, cognition, and physical development. The DRDP helps early educators observe, document, and reflect on the developmental progress of individual children. The Desired Results assessment system documents the progress made by children and families in reaching desired results and provides information to help practitioners improve childcare and development services.[1] As teachers gain familiarity with the DRDP, they find that they can use their daily observations to complete it without taking time out of their day for special attention to the forms.[3]

Environment Rating Scale (ERS)

The ERS assesses the quality of the learning environment. Teachers use the ERS to assess the quality of the interactions, space, schedule, and materials they provide to their group of children. The ERS is completed, summarized, analyzed, and considered in program improvement plans once a year. Teachers combine information gained from the ERS with other sources for long-term planning and continuous program improvement.[3]The ERS has a long history of use worldwide: the first use of the original ERS in the USA dates back more than 30 years ago (Harms and Clifford 1983). The Environment Rating Scales (ERS) were developed to evaluate process quality in early childcare settings. Process quality refers to children's experiences within the childcare environment, including their interactions with others, materials, and activities (Phillipsen et al., 1997). It is assessed primarily through observation and is more predictive of child outcomes than structural indicators of quality (such as staff-to-child ratio, group size, cost of care, and type of care) (Whitebook et al. 1989).[4]

---

[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] Ministry of Children and Family Development: British Columbia. Ages & stages questionnaire. Early Years Professional Development licensed CC BY

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

[4] Vermeer, H.J., van IJzendoorn, M.H., Cárcamo, R.A. et al. Quality of Child Care Using the Environment Rating Scales: A Meta-Analysis of International Studies is licensed CC BY