EDE3123

ASSESSMENT IN EARLY
CHILDHOOD

TOPIC 11:
SUPPORTING OBSERVATIONS WITH OTHER
EVIDENCE AND MAKING ASSESSMENTS & USING
OBSERVATIONS
 OVERVIEW
• Normative or norm-referenced assessment and
criterion-referenced assessment
 REFERENCED TESTS

Norm information on how the performance of an

provide
referenced individual compared to others
tests

Criterion
provide information on how the individual performed
referenced on some standard or objective
tests
 REFERENCED TESTS

NORM-REFERENCED CRITERION-REFERENCED

• Broad in content to assess • Focuses on mastery of

overall achievement objectives, more detailed
• Test items: cover a wide • Test items: specifically for
range of difficulty learning tasks & evaluate
how well a child has learned
for one grade level
 REFERENCED TESTS
• USES of norm referenced tests with preschool children:

⁻ To measure individual achievement within a designated

group (numerical descriptions of the test performance)

⁻ Established at the international, national & local level

⁻ Commonly used to measure school achievement,

intelligence, aptitude & personality traits

⁻ Uniformity in test administration: have procedures to be

followed

⁻ Quantifiable scores (numerical): can be interpreted to

evaluate child’s performance
 REFERENCED TESTS

⁻ For preschoolers: to determine the ECE’s success & identify

children who need/benefit from special instruction

⁻ Examples: Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of

Intelligence, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, etc.
 REFERENCED TESTS

• USES of criterion referenced with preschool children:

⁻ Describe individual performance in specific objectives

⁻ To screen, diagnose and plan

⁻ Examples: DIBELS Individual Sounds Fluency (ISF),

Denver II, Early Screening Inventory-Revised, etc.
 REFERENCED TESTS

REPORTING STANDARDIZED TEST RESULT

Individual test
Class reports
record

Norm-
School and
referenced
district reports
scores
 EDE3123
ASSESSMENT IN EARLY
CHILDHOOD

TOPIC 12:
PORTFOLIO OF OBSERVATION
 OVERVIEW
• What is a Portfolio?
• Types of portfolio
• Setting up a portfolio
• Advantages, disadvantages
WHAT IS PORTFOLIO?
 WHAT IS PORTFOLIO?

• Portfolios contain examples of a child’s work and teacher

data to evaluate development and learning over a period of
time

• Should include many examples of a child’s work, with

multiple assessments to present an accurate picture of
what the child understands

• May include work samples, observation reports,

checklists, records of directed assignments, or other
evidence of achievement
 TYPES OF PORTFOLIOS
1. Working portfolio
• collect examples of children’s work for further evaluation
• selected mainly by teacher or the children

2. Evaluative portfolio
• the teacher uses the materials included to evaluate the children’s
developmental advances and needs for future growth & learning
• important to be reported to parents & for curriculum/instruction planning

3.Showcase portfolio
• to exhibit children’s best work
• the most frequently used to share children’s accomplishment with
parents
 TYPES OF PORTFOLIOS

4. Archival portfolio
• a portfolio from one year to another (archival/past-along
portfolio)
• can be used by next/future teacher
SETTING UP A PORTFOLIO
 HOW WILL IT BE ORGANIZED?

• Table of contents
• Title page identifies the student and purpose
• Dividers with content labels for each section
• Dates on all entries
• Review section that includes both teacher and child
assessments and teacher comments
 ORGANIZATIONAL APPROACHES

• By content area

• By topics or themes
1.“All About Me”
2.Literacy portfolio
3.Math portfolio
4.Creative Expressions
5.Physical skills
 SETTING UP QUALITY
PORTFOLIOS

1. What is the purpose?

2. How it will organized?

- table of contents, dividers with labels, dates for all entries,
etc.

3. Where will it be stored?

- boxes, CD-ROM, large mailing envelopes, files etc.

4. What will go in the portfolio?

 ORGANIZATIONAL
APPROACHES
• By developmental domains

• Example:
1. Physical-fine motor skill: art activities
- drawings of events, persons or animals: ways of making
lines or other shapes
- photos of unusual block constructions or project (must be
labeled & dated)

2.Language:
- tape recordings of a child rereading stories
- examples of children’s written activities
 ORGANIZATIONAL
APPROACHES
3.Socio emotional:
- anecdotal records on how the child interact with peers
- video recording while playing
 COLLECTING AND
ORGANIZING WORK
• Teacher and child decide how they will collect and organize
portfolio entries

• Pieces are selected periodically

• Over a year, decisions are made as to what remains

 SELECTING PORTFOLIO
ASSESSMENTS
• Have a balance between process and product work

• Process work reflects progress toward a goal or skill (e.g.:

building-making)

• Product work is the final step in the process where the child
has achieved success
 WRITING A NARRATIVE
REPORT
• Develop reports that promote positive home–school
relationships

• Describe what the child can do; focusing on strengths,

rather than weaknesses

• Use a positive tone when addressing weaknesses or

concerns

• Contain goals and plans (suggestion) for the child’s future

 TEACHER BIAS IN NARRATIVE
REPORTS
• Potential difficulty in reporting objectively about some children

• Unaware of overestimating the child’s progress because they

have very positive personal feelings about the child

• For a child who poses disruptive behavior, the teacher might put
a negative emphasis in the report, rather than stressing the
child’s accomplishments
 USING PORTFOLIOS TO PREPARE FOR
DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE CHILD

• Conduct an analysis based on established learning

objectives, indicators of developmental progress, and
other criteria

• Study work samples, assessments, and performance tasks to

determine what the child has learned

• Develop a profile of the child’s strengths and weaknesses,

as well as the interests and creative expressions revealed
in the work samples
ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES
 ADVANTAGES OF USING PORTFOLIOS
TO REPORT STUDENT PROGRESS

• Permit a wide range of assessment methods and a

variety of ways for the child to demonstrate competence

• Allow flexibility in how a teacher demonstrates student

progress

• Allow the child to participate in his/her own assessment

• Provide families with extensive information

• Provide evaluation beyond a letter grade

 DISADVANTAGES (CHALLENGES) OF
USING PORTFOLIOS TO REPORT
PROGRESS
• Requires time for implementation

• If used for grading, the evaluation process may be more

difficult

• Concerns about the validity of the assessment strategies

 TUTORIAL 12
Go through the items below and design a portfolio for the child. Include
appropriate categories or headings under which you would file the items listed.

List of songs the child sings A list of books read by the child brought to
school by the child’s mother
Running records assessing the child’s Photographs of the child’s work on a
social development science project at school
A graphic scale which contains information Interview with child about his/ her hobbies
on the child’s emotional development
A booklet in which the child forms pictures Parent communication on child’s ability to
by connecting numbered dots dress up
A drawing of the child entitled ‘A visit to the List of songs the child sings
zoo’
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THANK YOU