Guidelines for Assessments

The following Indicators of Effectiveness are also included in the position statement as guidelines for planning and implementing various assessments for young children (adapted from the NAEYC and NAECS/SDE Position Statement, 2003):

 

  1. Ethical principles guide assessment practices. Ethical principles underlie all assessment practices. Young children are not denied opportunities or services, and decisions are not made about children on the basis of a single assessment.
  2. Assessment instruments are used for their intended purposes. Assessments are used in ways consistent with the purposes for which they were designed. If the assessments will be used for additional purposes, they are validated for those purposes.
  3. Assessments are appropriate for the ages and other characteristics of the children being assessed. Assessments are designed and validated for use with children whose ages, cultures, home languages, socioeconomic status, abilities and disabilities, and other characteristics are similar to those of the children with whom the assessments will be used.
  4. Assessment instruments are in compliance with professional criteria for quality. Assessments are valid and reliable. Accepted professional standards of quality are the basis for selection, use, and interpretation of assessment instruments, including screening tools. NAEYC and NAECS/SDE support and adhere to the measurement standards set forth in 1999 by the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Center for Measurement in Education. When individual norm-referenced tests are used, they meet these guidelines.
  5. What is assessed is developmentally and educationally significant. The objects of assessment include a comprehensive, developmentally, and educationally important set of goals, rather than a narrow set of skills. Assessments are aligned with early learning standards, program goals, and specific emphases in the curriculum.
  6. Assessment evidence is used to understand and improve learning.Assessments lead to improved knowledge about children. This knowledge is translated into improved curriculum implementation and teaching practices. Assessment helps early childhood professionals understand the learning of a specific child or group of children, enhance overall knowledge of child development, improve educational programs for young children while supporting continuity across grades and settings, and access resources and supports for children with specific needs.
  7. Assessment evidence is gathered from realistic settings and situations that reflect children’s actual performance. To influence teaching strategies or to identify children in need of further evaluation, the evidence used to assess young children’s characteristics and progress is derived from real-world classroom or family contexts that are consistent with children’s culture, language, and experiences.
  8. Assessments use multiple sources of evidence gathered over time. The assessment system emphasizes repeated, systematic observation, documentation, and other forms of criterion- or performance-oriented assessment using broad, varied, and complementary methods with accommodations for children with disabilities.
  9. Screening is always linked to follow-up. When a screening or other assessment identifies concerns, appropriate follow-up, referral, or other intervention is used. Diagnosis or labeling is never the result of a brief screening or one-time assessment.
  10. Use of individually administered, norm-referenced tests is limited. The use of formal standardized testing and norm-referenced assessments of young children is limited to situations in which such measures are appropriate and potentially beneficial, such as identifying potential disabilities.
  11. Staff and families are knowledgeable about assessment. Staff members are given resources that support their knowledge and skills about early childhood assessment and their ability to assess children in culturally and linguistically appropriate ways. Pre-service and in-service training builds teachers’ and administrators’ “assessment literacy,” creating a community that sees assessment as a tool to improve outcomes for children. Families are part of this community, with regular communication, partnership, and involvement.

 

In addition to the recommendations listed above, it is important to note the role of curriculum-based, or classroom-based, assessment procedures. Curriculum-based assessment (CBA) refers to procedures that teachers use to identify curriculum goals and objectives (assessment) and to monitor progress toward learning goals after teaching has occurred (evaluation).