Unit ; Assessing the child's Developmental Level — i j OBJECTIVES ‘After eating this unit, you shouldbe able to Explain the Notional Counc of Teachers of Mathematics’ basic assessment standards, Explain the Nation Research Counc’ base asessemt standars for science Explain how to nthe chi’ ve of concent development Explain the value of commercial assessment instruments or concept assessment, Make a developmental assessment tsk file, Be able to assess the concet development level of young cite, Understand howto record, report, and evaate using natuastiperfarmance-based assessment ® Plan how to maintain equity when assessing children's progress. iain the advantages of portale asessment. Children's levels of concept development are deter- ‘mined by seeing which concept tasks they are able «0 perform independent. The frst question in teaching crete operational stage, when they begin to deal ser Is “Where is the child now?" To find the answer to this ously with abstract symbols in math and independent ss _investgatlons in seience. Following the methods and se that they have a strong foundation in basie concepts tat will ake them Chrough the transition ino the com question. the teacher assesses, The purpose of as ‘ment is to gather information und evidence about stu- _quencein this text helps reach this goal and at the same dent knowledge skills, and attitudes (or dispositions) 1e- sgarding mathematics and science. This evidence s then ‘used fo pla program of instruetion for each child and (o evaluate each chik’s progress and the effectiveness of instruction, Assessment may be done through ob- rvation, through questioning as the child works on a probes ation, and/or through interviews in Which the child is given a specific task to perform. This information is used to guide the next steps in teaching. The long-term objective for young children is to he sure Ci {Ume achieves some furiher objectives: Bulls a postive feling in the child toward math and science Buills confidence in the chil that he can do ‘math and seience activites Bullds questioning attitude in esponse to children’s curiosity regarding math and science problemsThe National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) assessment principle (2000, p. 22) states that should support the learning of important gnuthematies and furnish useful information to both tcachers and students.” IC should be an integral part of Instruction, not just something administered at the end of instruction. Assessment should include the following clement. Itshould enhance children’s learning by being @ part of everyday instruction. Assessment tasks that are simular or identical ‘olnstructional tasks can indicate to students exactly what they should be able to know anda, tent communication skills can be enhanceel when assessment involves observations, conversations, interviews, oral reports, and journals, Evaluation guides (or rubies) can clarify for the students exactly what thelr strengths ‘and weaknesses are and so enable their self assessment Assessment should be integrated into everyday activities so that is mot an interruption but rather # part of the instructional routine. Assessment should provide both teacher and student with valuable infor- ‘mation. There should not be overreliance on formal paper-and-pencil tests; instead, information should be gathered from a variety of sources. “Many assessment lechniques can bo used by mathemties teachers, in tuding open-ended questions, constructed-response tasks, selected response items, performance tusks, ob- servations. conversations, journals and postlolios (NCTM, 2000, p. 23). In this text che focus is on obser vations, interviews, and portfolios of children's work, which may include problem solutions, journal entries, results of conversations, photos, and other documen lation. Tis also important to take heed of the equity principle and diversify assessment approaches to meet the needs of diverse learners such as English language learners, gited students, and students with learning. disabilities. ‘The NCTM (1995) also advocates decreased atten tion to. number of traditional assessment elements: UNIT Assessing the Childs Developmen 6 Assessing what students do not know, ‘comparing them with other students, and/or Using assessments to track students relative 10 apparent capability. Simply counting correct answers on tests forthe sole purpose of assigning grades. Focusing on assessment of students’ knowledge of only speciic facts and isolated skis Using exercises or word problems requiring only fone or two skills Excluding calculators, computers, and ‘manipulatives from the assessment process Evaluating teacher success only on the basis of test scores. The NCTM (1989) has this to say about the assess ‘ment of young children: “methods should consider the characteristics of the students themselves... At this stage, when children’s understanding is often closely lied to the use of physical materials, assessment tasks ‘hat allow them to use such materials are better indica tors of learning" (p. 202), The National Research Council created stan- dail for assessment in seience education (NRC, 1996), According to the NRC, assessment is primarily a w to obtain feedback. For young children. the feed! k tolls how well students are meeting the expectations of teachers and parents and tells teachers how effective their instruction is, Through assessment, data are col- ching and guiding learn- The important areas for data collection focus on uudents’ achievement and attitudes (dispositions), For young children, the important assessment methods in Science are much the same as in mathenatles: perfor- ‘munce testing, interviews. portiolios. performances, and observations. A variety of methods should be used to get an accurate assessment picture. Furthermore, methods should be auentio—that 1s, they should ‘match the intended science outcomes and be situations that match how scientists actually work. There are five assessment standards designed for K-12: the following are modified to meet pre-K-3, fected for use in planning ten Assessment Standard A: The consistency of ssessinents with the decisions they are designed62. SECTION 1 toinform. There should bea clear purpose that assesses specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Decisions are made on the basis of the assessment data, Assessment Staulard B: Achlevement in science must be assessed. Assessments and instruction should be guided by the science content standards, Assessment should provide information on the students’ ability to inquire toknow and understand facts, concepts, and principles; to reason scientifically; and to communicate about science, Assessment Standard C: The technical quality of the data collected is well matched to the decisions and actions tnken on the basis of their ioterpretation. Assessments actually ‘measure what they say they are measuring, tasks are authentic, an individual student's performance is similar on at least two tasks designed to measure the same concept) and students have adequate opportunity to demonstrate their achievements. Assessment Standard D: Assessment practices must be fale. Tasks must be modified to accommodate the needs of students with physical disabiltes, learning disabilities, or limited English proficiency. Assessment tasks mus! beset ina variety of contexts, be engoging to students with diferent interests and experiences, and must not assume the perspective or experience ofa particular gender, racial, or ethnic group. Assessment Standard B: The inferences made from assessments about student achievement must be Concept Development in Matbematis and Seience sound. In other words, decisions should be made in.an objective manner. Following these standards willenable teachers tocallect Information for improving classroom praetice, planning curricula, developing sel-ditected learners, and report: Ing stadent progress. ‘The 1996 National Science Education Standards (the NSES Standards) were developed over the course of four years and involved tens of thousands of ede tors and sclentists in extensive comment and review. ‘The resultant standards offered a vision of effective se- cence education for all students. However, more guid ‘ance was needed in some areas to sufficiently develop the deep understanding of key topies that is needed for classroom implementation. Groups of experts were con vened with an appropriate balance of viewpoints, expe- rience, and expertise in the research to develop adden- ddums to the NSES Standards in the Mentified azeas. Asa result of thiseffort, the report Classroom Assessment aid the National Science Edueetion Standars (NRC, 2001} was developed. This document takes a closer look at the ongoing assessment that occurs each day in classrooms between teachers and students and provides vignettes of classroom activity wherein students and teachers are engaged in assessment. Highlights of these findings are integrated into Units 5 and 7 and throughout the units of this book that addvess science content. Observation and interview are assessment methods that teachers use to determine childs level of development. Examples of both of these methods were included in ‘The National Science Education Standards envision the following changes in emphases: Less emphasis on assessing 1 what is easily measured 2 discrete knowledge «scientific knowledge 1 to learn what students do not know More emphasis on assessing a what is most highly valued 1 rich, well-structured knowledge 1 sclentiic understanding and reasoning 1 to learn what students do understandUnit 3. and more are provided in this unit. Assessment is ‘most appropriately done through conversations, obser. vation, and interviews using teacher-developed assess ‘ment tasks (Glanfield, Bush, & Stermark, 2003). Cony mercial instruments used for intial sereening may also supply useful information, but their scope is too limited ‘or the everyday assessment needled for planning. Ini- tial screening instruments usually cover a broad range of areas and provide a profile that indicates overall strengths and weaknesses. These strengths and weak- nesses can be looked at in more depth bp the classroom ‘cacher to glean information needed for making normal instructional decisions or by a diagnostic specialist (.« «2 school psychologist or speech and language therapist) when an initial screening indicates some serious devel- ‘opmental problem. Individually administered screening instruments should be the only type used with young children. Child responses shoud require the use of con: crete materials and/or pletures, verbal answers. or mo- toric responses such as pointing or rearanging some ‘objects. Paper and peneil should be use only for assess ment of perceptual motor development (i, tasks such ‘as name writing, drawing a person, or copying shapes). Dooklettype paper-and-pencil tests administered 10 groups or individuals are inappropriate until childeen are well into concrete operations, can deal with abstract symbols, and have well-developed perceptual motor skills Assessment information can be obtained through ‘observations of children working with materials to solve problems and ingot nte questions. UNIT 4 © Assessing the Child's Developmental Level 63 Observation Is used to find out how children use eon cepts during their daily activities. Observation can oc. cur during naturalistic informal, and structured activ. ties. The teacher has in mind the concepts the children should be using. Whenever she sees a concept reflected ‘in a child's activity, she writes down the incident and places it in the chila's record foldet. This helps her plan fatare experiences Throughout this book, suggestions are made for behaviors that should be observed. The following are examples of behaviorsas the teacher would write them down forthe childs foie, Brad (18 months old) dumped al the shape blocks on the rug. He picked out all he circles land stacked them up. Shows he can sort and organize. Rosa (4 years old) carefully set the table for lunch, all by herself She remembered everything, Rosa understands one-to-one correspondence. Chris (3 years old) and Kai (5 years old stood! back to back and asked Rosa to check who was taller. Good cooperation—it isthe frst time Chris has shown ar interest in comparing heights, Mary (5 years ol), working on her own, put the right number of sticks in juice cans marked with the number symbols 0 through 20, Shei ready. for something more challenging, Last week Iset out a tub of water and a variety of containers of different stein the mathematics and science center. The children spent the week exploring the materials. Trang Fung and Sara seemed especially interested in comparing the ‘amount o quid that could be held by each, container, gave each of them a standard one- cup measure and asked them to estimate how ‘many cups of water would fill each container Then | eft it up to them to measure and record the actual amounts, They did a beautifl job of setting up recording sheet and working together to measure the number of cups of water each container would hold. They then lined up the containers from largest to smallest volume,Pr 64 SECTION 1 ‘which demonstrated thelr understanding of ordering or seriation, Today [read Chin’s (second grader) math journal. Yesterday's entry included a chart showing the names and amounts ofeach typeof baseball card in his collection. He also wrote his conclusions about which players and teams were his favorites as evidenced by the number of cards CChin is skied at organluing data and drawing. conclusions, and he understands the concepts of ‘more ind less. Ann and Jason (8-year-okis) argue about which materials will float and sink, They tasked thelr eacherifthey could test their theories. They got the water collected some objects, and set up a chart to record theic predictions and then the names of the items that sink and those that float. This demonstrates understanding of how to develop an investigation tosalve n problem, Observational information may also be recorded ona For example, concepts ean be listed and then. each time the child is observed demonstrating one of the behaviors, the date can be put next to that behav tor. Soon there will bo a proile af the concepts the child demonstrates spontaneously (Figure 4-1), As children explore materials, the teacher can infor: mally make comments and ask them questions about their activity in order to gain insight into thee thinkin Glanfickd and colleagues (2003, p. 56) suggest several types of questions that can prompt students to share their thinking ‘Tell me more about that. Can you show me another way? Help me understand. Why did you...? How did you know what todo next? What elsedo you know about ‘What were you thinking when you Concept Development in Mathemates and Science The in vidual interview Is used to Rnd out specific in formation in a direct way. The teacher can present a task to the child and observe and record the way the child works on the tasi as well as the solution she a= tives at for the problem presented by the task. The ae ‘curacy of the answers is not as important as how the child arrives at the answers, Often a child starts out on the right track but gets off somewhere in the middle of the problem, For example, Kate (age 3) is asked to match four saucers with four cups. This isan example of one-to-one correspondence, She docs this task easily Next she is usked to match five cups with six saucers Here are some cups and saucers. Find out if there is a ‘cup for every saucer” She pats a cup on each saucer, Lett with an exira saucer, she places it under one of the pairs, She smiles happily. By observing the whole task, the teacher can see that Kate does not feel comfortable \with the concept of “one more than,” This is normal for a preoperational 3-yearold. She finds a way to “solve” the problem by putting two saucers under one cup. She uunderstancl the idea of matching one to one but can- not have things out of balance, Only by observing the whole task can the teacher see the reason for what ap pears tobe a "wrong" answer to the task, Another example: Tim, age 6, has been given 20 Uniflx Cubes", 10 red and 10 blue. His teacher asks ‘himtocount he redcubesandthen the bluecubes, which hhedoes with careand accuracy. Next,sheasks him tosee hhow many combinations of 10 he can make using the red cubes and the blue cubes. Todemonstrateshe counts out nine blue cubes and adds one red cube to hee group tomake 10. She els him to write and/or draw each com bination that he find, His teacher watches as he counts ot eight bluecubesami! wo redcubes. He then drawvson, hispaper eight blue squares and two red squares, Finally, in the second-grade class, ‘Thecesa’s teacher notices that she Is not very accurate in work. The class is working on two-digit addition and ‘subtraction with ao regrouping, and the teacher is eon- cerned that Theresa willbe totally lst when they move ‘on to regrouping. He decides to assess her process skills by having her show bim with Unilix Cubes hovw she per- celves the problems. For 22 + 31 she takes 22 cubes and 31 cubes and makes a pile of $3. For 45~ 24 she takes a ple of 45 andl adds 24 mote cubes. Her teacherCONCERT ACTIVITY OBSERVATION CHECKLIST (is Name — Birt Dae Seta You bicep Concept Activities (Coneptt nd ectoies are deseribed i the tet) Dates Obverved boheme onan Scat opt oak seecacensoes sete ual wer ert ses si Sec ply mess gal poe ee et pst es i es Werks widh perro matrials Demonststes an uodersaning of oer and seqvene Rims wat mart sys in the enviroment Demonstrates cus by asking questions, ‘xplring the eavtonment, an ting observations Uses emespe word 14-1 Concept observation checks.66 SECTION? Concept Development in Mathematics aad Selene An individual interview can help the teacher understand a chil’ thinking about math, realizes that'Theresa is not attentive tothe signs for plus ‘and minus. te also decides she needs to work on place value and grouping by 10s and Is. IF Kate's, Tim’s, and Theresa's answers were ob- served only at the endpolnt and recorded as right or wrong, the crux of thelr problems would be missed, Only the individual interview offers the opportunity to ‘observe a child solving a problem from start to finish ‘without distractions or interruptions. ‘An important factor in the one-to-one interview is that i must be done in an accepting manner by the adult, The teacher must value and accepi the child's answers regardless of whether they are right or wrong, from the adult point of view. W possible. the interview should be done in a quiet place where nothing clse might take the child's attention off the task, The adult should be warm. pleasant, and eal, Let the child know that he is doing well with smiles, gestures (nods of ap- proval. a pat on the shoulder), and specific praise (“You ‘are very careful when you count the cubes": “I exm see you know how to match shapes"; “You work hard until ‘you find an answer"; et.) If someone other than a teacher does the assess- ‘ment interview, the teacher should be sure that the as- sessor spends time with the children before the Views. Advise a person doing an interview to sit on a lov chatr or on the floor next to where the children ue playing. Children are usually eurious when they see a hnew person. One may ask, “Who are you? Why are you ‘An individual interview can provide insight into chil's thnking about science here?” The children can be told. “I am Ms. X, Someday Tam going to give each of you a turn todo some special work with me. It will bea surprise Texay’ want to see ‘what you do in school and leara vour names.” Ifthe ine ferviewer pays attention to the children and shows an interest in them and their activities, they will eel come fortable und free (odo their best when the day comes for their assessment interviews, I the teacher does the assessment herself she also should stress ihe special nature of the activity for her and each child: “Tim going to spend some time to- day doing some special work with each of you. Every. fone will got 2 turn Bach chill and each group of ehildren is ilferent. The teacher needs to have on hand questions to ft each age and stage she might meet in individwal young chikiren, She also needs to add new tasks as she discovers more about children and their development. A card file or loose-leat notebook of assessment tasks should be set Up. Such ale or notebook has three advantages. ‘The teacher has personal involvement in creating her own assessment tasks and is more Likely to use them, understand therm, and val them,The ile card or loose Leaf notebook format makes iteasy to add new tasks and to revise or remove old ones, ‘There Is room for the teacaer to use her own creativity by adding new questions and making materials. Use the tasks in each unit and in Appendix A to the fil, Other tasks can be developed as students proceed through the units in this book and during the acher's fiture career with Young children, Dinections or each task can be put on five-by-cightinch plain White fle cards, Most of the tasks will require the use of concrete materials and/or pictures, Conerete mate ms found around the home and center. d os can bei Pictures can be purchased or cut from magazines readiness-lype workbooks and glued on cards. The basic materials needed are a five-by-cight- inch file card box. 5" x 8" unlined fle cards, 5” X 8° file tlviders 0° @loose-leat notebook with dividers, a black pen, a sct of colored markers, a ruler, seistors, glue clear Contac or laminating material, and preschool! kindergarten readiness workbooks with artwork. In Appendix A, each assessment task fs sot up as it would be on a 5” X 8" curd, Observe that. on each card, what the adult says to the child is always printed iin CAPITAL LETTERS so that the instructions ean be found and read easily. The tusks are set up developmen lally from the sensorimotor level (birth to age 2) to the level (ages 2-7) to varly concrete op- ations (ages 6-8). The ages are flexible relative to the stages and are given only to serve as a gulde for seloct- ing the first tasks to present to each chil, Trach ellis at his ar her own level If the first tasks are too hard, the interviewer should go to a lower level. f the first tasks ace quite easy for the child, th Interviewer should go toa higher level, igure 4-2 is @ ‘sample recording sheet format that could be sed to keep Inc of euch child’ progress. Some teachers prefer un Individual sheet for each child: others prefer a master sheet for the whole class, The names and numbers of e tasks to be assessed are entered in the first column, Several columns are provided for entering the date and the level of progress (+. accomplished: V, needs some help: —, needs a lot of help) for children who need re- Peated periods of instruction. The column on the right UNIT © Assessing the Child's Developmental Level 67 4s for comments on the process used! by the child that ‘might give some clues as to specific instructional needs ‘The assessment tasks included in each content unit and in Appendix A address the concepis that must he ‘acquired by young children from birth theougl the pri mary grades, Most of the tasks require an individual interview with the child. Some tasks are observational land require recording of activites during playtime or lass time. The infant tasks and observations assess the development of the child's growing sensory and motor skills, As discussed in Unit 1, these sensory andl motor skills are basie to all ater learning. The assessment tasks are divided into nine devel- ‘opmental levels. Levels J and 2 are tasks for the ehild in the sensorimotor stage. Levels 3-5 inclucle tasks af in creasing difficulty for the prekindergarten clld. The Level-6 tasks are those things that mest children can do "upon entering kindergarten berween the ages of 5 nd 6 ‘thisis the level that children are growing ‘owacul during the prekindergarten years. Some children wil be able to accomplish all these tasks by age 5; thers, not until 6 oF over. Level 7 summarizes the math wors that are usually a part of the child's natural spevch by age six Level 8 is included! as an assessment for advanced pri kindergartners and for children enrolled in a kindergar ten program. The child about to enter frst grade should be able to accomplish the tasks at levels 6 an 8 a should also he using most of the concept wons level 7) correctly. Level # includes tasks to be accomplished dur ing the primary grades, able 4-1 recounts part of the level-5 assessment in: terview as given to Bob (4% years old). A corner of the storage roota has been made into an assessment center Mrs. Ramirez comes in with Bob. "You sl there, and I'l sit here, Bob. We have some important things to do.” ‘They both sit down ata low table, and Mes. Ramirez be gins the interview68 SECTION Concept Development in Mathematis and Scene DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS RECORDING SHEET aid Nae Birth Dae Schoo! Yer Sehoot Teacher GradeiGroup arson Doing Assesment Loess +, acmmplihes; para; ~, eanane do es - Levels ‘rane Date Date Commente Recording shoo for developmental tasks, An interview need not include any special num- ber of tasks. For the preoperational child. the teacher can begin with matching and proceed through the ideas and skills one ata time, so each interview ean be quite short If necessary If the interviewer has the time for longer sessions and the children are able to work for @ longer period of lume, the following can serve as suggested maxkmum amounts of time. 15 10 20 minutes for 2-year-olds 30 minutes for 3-vear-olds 45 minutes for -year-olds Upto an hour for 5-year-olds and olderUNIT 4 Assessing ie Chil’ Developmental Assessment Interview Mes: Remix: HOW OLD AREY! COUNTTD 1OFOR ME: HOM (Ar, Ramer Her he up and don) HIRE ARE SOMEBLOCKS, FlOW MANY ARE THERE? |Sheputsout 1b) ‘Gob, YOU EauTED A1-THEMEDCKS, HOD. Nowe ‘CODNT THESE She pu out 5 Boks) {She puts the blocks fg nd ets up ive plac Iorse and ies IND OUT IF EACHRIDER Has, HOSE INE YOU FOUND A RIDIR YOR EACH HORSE. Ros (She puts theses en horas way. She takes car oun nh cub lok She paso tes beck Ieyelow andro orange DOES ONE GROLP HAVE MORE ‘OKAY She pus out urbe and thes roo ows ONHGROUP HAVELAS ‘coon THINKING (Sh tes oun ive cutauts boars ue diferentes) FIND THE RIS MEA, IND THESMAULEST BEAR, PUPAL -THEBEAASIN A ROW MoM prea TOSMALLEST Mes, amines) {90D MIR YOU. BOL. VOLTRE A HARD WORKER. The records of each child's progress and activities are kept in a and a The record folder contains anecdotal records and checklists, as sealy described. The portfolio is a purposefal collection of student work that tells the story of the students ef- forts, progress, and achievements. It isa systematle col- lection of material designed to provide evidence of un= derstanding and to monitor growth, Portfolios provide €@ vehicle for “authentic” assessment —that is, examples BoUeResponse: Tn fou ie habeus fr) On, thre fur ,shsever ot ngs scrne pre venti, hicen cet ra {He pints, sayy) “One two thre, our. es even igh. nse ten seven. ele” (ie piniste sme more dan one (He couns pushing each one he cuts tothe ‘One. re, ur {Mola oer the has adr, He ns pth has ‘ove and then puts alder ocx "Yeu ther ree Hepat tothe ee lacks) eres" pla biggest.) He piso thes.) {ob works sly sn caeils "AP done” wot he mide ersare eee of student work done in many real-world contexts. St dents and teacher work together to gather work, reflec on it, and evaluate it Te physical setup for porlflios Is important. A box or file with hanging folders is @ convenient place {o begin. As work accumolates, t can be placed in the hanging folders. At regular intervals, teacher and child 0 through the hanging files an select work to place in the portfolio. An expanding legal-size fle pocket makes convenient portfolio container: [ts riteal that each Plece of work be dated so that growth can be tracked.70 SECTION 1 ® Concept Development in Mathematics and Science Sticky notes or self-stick mailing labels can be used to write notations on ench piece of work. Labels should in clude the date, the type of activity, and the reason for selecting each sample. ‘An essential attribute of a portfllo is that items fre selected through regularly scheduled student! teacher conferences. Teachers have always kept folder of student work, but portfolios are more focused and contain specially selected work that can be used for sessment. A portfolio offers a faller picture than does traditional assessment because the former provides a tebicle for student reflection and self-evaluation. ‘ere are some examples of tems that might be in- cluded ina portfolio: ‘written or dictated descriptions ofthe results of investigations pletures—drawings, paintings, photographs of the child engaged ina significant activity: teacher or student sketches of products made with ‘manipulatives or construction materials such as unit blocks, Unix Cabes, buttons, and soon dictated (from younger children) or written. (rom older children) reports of activities investigations, experiences, ideas. and plans diagrams, graphs, or other recorded data excerpts from students’ math, science, and/or social studies journals ‘samples of problem solutions, explanations of solutions, problems created, and the like videotapes and/or audiotapes Journal entries This material Is invaluable for evaluation andi for ing portfolio reporting progress to parents. When beg! SAMPLE PORTFOLIO RUBRIC Suong, Well eginning Nov Yee 1. Can anganire an reco ats 2 ples, yes, os or pats 3, Ves comer mater or drawings a ald snsotvine poblons 4. tnvestigton and acivites lp develo ences Posse, eile, self deeted 6, Wor cooperaely 1. Rojoys math and sce eral format for a rubric abiied oA ObservedccHit.p's NAME - ‘OVERALL EVALUATION STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS Format or portfolio summary analyst assessment, its wise to start small, Pick one focus such as mathcmaties or science, or focus on one particular ‘area (eg. problem solving, data from thematic invest gations, artwork, writing, ete.) Beginning with a scope that is too broad can make the task overwhelming, Evaluating a portfolio involves several steps. First, a should be developed. A rubric is alist of gen- ‘ral statements that define the attributes of the portfolio that should be evaluated, that is, a ist of the qualities you believe are Important. Rubrics should be developed bbased on what you are looking for in your class—not on {solated skills but rather on broad criteria that reflect understanding. ‘The statements will vary with the con- tent focus of the portfolio, Figure 4% provides a gen- cral format and sample statements, Next, a summary providing an overview should be written (Figure 44), I grades must be assigned, then there isa final step: the hols vation (Rigure 4-5). For a holistic evaluation, the portfolios are grouped inta piles UNIT4 Assessing the Childs Developmental Level 71 10 SUMMARY ANALYSIS 44 Suong ona ie chracterisics tin th rae, 3. Conisem evidence of te presen of most the sarees. 2 Some presence of the charters but iacaplte ‘omricaton o esence of es, once, adr behaves, 1 Lint oro presence of desired cars z Sample ofa habs orig format. strong, average, andl weak (or very strong, strong, high average, low average. somewhat weak, and very weak) based om the rubric and the summary: This comparative ‘analysis can then guide grading, See the relerence list for publications that offer additional ideas regarding the evelopment of portfolio assessment practices. Ganfeld and colleagues (2003) suggest rubrics for evaluation of K-2 work samples72 SECTION t MAINTAINING EQUITY ‘As already mentioned, it is extremely important to maintain equity in assessment. Assessment must be done in an appcoprtate manner relative to culture, pen der, language, and disabilities. Iti Important to gather information from mulkiple sources (Je Melendez & Beck, 2007). Observations by teachers and family members fs well as specialists should be documented. Anecdotal records, photos. videos and audiotapes can be extremely valuable, Conversations with children and parents hhome visits and interviews with family members and ‘with other professionals can provide important informa: tion, Porvflies of work products and information from, checklists can be compiled. Formal testing, i used at all should be just one source of Information and should never constitute the sole criteria for making high-stakes decisions. De Melendez and Beck underscore the impor- tance of making modifications and adaptations for chile dren with special needs or with cultural and linguistic differences, Ideally, assessments are done in the child's primary language. Authentic assessment tools such as portlolios are recommended for equitable assessment. For young children with special needs assessment should be “multidisciplinary, multidimensional, mult ‘method, multicontext. proacilve and should involve on- ‘going information exchange” (Gargiulo & Kilgo, 2005. p. 103). Assessment of young children with disabilities is done by a team of professionals and family members. However. day-to-day assessment isthe responsibility of the individual teacher. As with other children, the as- sessment must be authentic, Teachers and parents need to know when to request assessments by specialists such, holistic e portfolio Find out what the expectations are for math- fenaties concept development for students entering Kindergarten and/or first grade in your local school system. Compare the school ‘Concept Development in Mathematics and Science as the physical therapist or the speech-language thera- pis. Equity requires that appropriate materials are used for instruction 10 allow for fair assessment. In addition ‘adequate time must be allowed for students with dis ablities to complete tasks. Gargiulo and Kilgo empha- size the importance of regular and systematic collection fof assessment information. The goals tncluded in the IFSP o¢ IEP must be checked for progress The focus of assessment in mathematles and science is ‘om assessment integrated with instruction during natu- ralistic classroom activities and during activities that in- volve performance of concrete, hands-on prablem solv ng and chiké-drected investigations. The major ways to assess the developmental levels of young children fare informal conversation and questioning, observa tion, interview, and the collection of materials in a port- folio. Observation is most useful when looking at how children use concepts in thelr everyday activities. The {nterview with one child ata time gives the teacher an ‘opportunity to look at specific ideas and sll, We have given guidelines for conducting an inter- view and a summary of the nine levels of developmen- tal tasks, which are included in Appendix A. A sample of part of an interview showed how the exchange be- ‘ween interviewer and child might progress ‘We described a system for record keeping, repo ing. and evaluation wsing a record folder and a port follo.A holistic approach to evaluation is recommended, ‘and we have emphasized the importance of equitable systems and methods of assessment fold system list with the tasks suggested at levels © and 7in the text andin Appendix A. What are the sinllarities and diferences?74 SECTION + ‘National Counc of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000) Principles and stendars or school mathematic Reston, VA: Autor, National Research Counel (1996). National sence ‘efuotlon standards, Washington,DC: National ‘Academics Pest. 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