As I study more about the process of evaluating early childhood programs I think about the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC’s) Standards for Initial Early Childhood Professional Preparation. These are the standards that are used in higher education programs that seek accreditation by NAEYC (NAEYC, n.d.). The program in which I work as an assistant professor of early childhood education, is accredited through NAEYC. NAEYC Standard 3 is Observing, Documenting, and Assessing to Support Young Children and Families. This standard poses that candidates in early childhood teacher preparation programs know and understand how to use appropriate assessment and documentation and in partnership with families.
I think the content of my graduate course, Evaluating and Supporting Early Childhood Environments, will validate some of the strategies that we use to help preservice teachers grasp these concepts. Our program for preservice teachers has several assignments that teach how to assess individual children, family engagement, and program quality. These assignments are embedded throughout the program with a NAEYC key assessment assignment given in the capstone/student teaching course. In addition, my own course work will keep me current with best practices and recommendations for ongoing improvement when it comes to teaching about assessment. Ongoing professional development is key to ensuring that teachers use effective assessment practices based on evidence (NAEYC, 2003). I can impact the process of evaluating program quality by instilling an understanding of the benefits of assessment to preservice teachers.
Questions and Past Experiences
1. Currently, our program stresses the importance of documentation as an appropriate assessment practice. How do others view this documentation? Is it widely used throughout early childhood education classrooms? Is it considered valid and reliable?
2. Our program teaches preservice teachers how to write anecdotes to assess individual children’s development. The objectively written anecdotes are used to write a summary based on the child’s strengths and how to further the child’s development. Is strength based assessment widely used or will teachers be required to use more standardized assessments to determine child’s abilities?
3. Ongoing professional development is key to ensuring that teachers use best practices when assessing young children. How will I convey to preservice teachers, the importance of becoming an advocate to speak out against practices that are not appropriate and learn to speak out on maintaining the use of appropriate assessments?
References
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/CAPEexpand.pdf
NAEYC (n.d.) Summary of the NAEYC professional preparation standards. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/accreditation/higher-ed/standards/summary
Photo Credit
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